Wind Power

Prepare to be unsurprised. Very unsurprised. Those lovable energy giants EDF and E.ON have put their collective boots into government plans to generate 35 per cent of our electricity from renewable sources.

According to their submissions to the latest energy consultation, the figure is not only unrealistic but also damaging to alternative schemes such as nuclear plants. So damaging that, um, they may be forced to drop their plans to build a new generation of nuclear power plants in the UK unless the government scales back its targets for wind power.

You wouldn't necessarily expect the Financial Times, that bible of the corporate world and the money markets, to be a champion of environmental causes but they've been upping the ante on renewable energy, specifically wind power.

This week, they've been publishing a series of articles and news reports on the UK wind farm industry and they've been particularly critical of how various government policies, which were put in place to encourage the development of renewable energy industries, are actually having the opposite effect. It has been scathing about the renewables obligation, a mechanism which has all of us paying extra on our energy bills to subsidise new projects such as wind farms.

As much as any announcement from the EU can generate enormous anticipation, the proposed renewable energy targets for member states has been eagerly awaited by our climate change team. It's been pretty much public knowledge for some time what the target for the UK is expected to be but never the less, being told to produce 15 per cent of our energy from renewable sources by 2020 will necessarily kick-start a clean energy revolution - currently our renewable energy total is less than 3 per cent, just behind Malta in the EU league table.

We recently launched a new film about the real solution to climate change (clue: it's not nuclear power - and the film explains exactly why not). The film's been sent to every MP in the country and is making its way around the interweb nicely. But we think its message - that the UK needs a new, and sane, energy system now - is crucial and we want to push it out further. So we've produced this new trailer.

There are plenty of ways you can help us get the word out: write to your MP asking them to watch the film; embed the film or the trailer on your website, blog or MySpace page; send it to a friend; Hugg it, Digg it or add it to your StumbleUpon favourites.

Climate change is happening. We know exactly what needs to be done to stop it. The technologies already exist. Let's do it.