Greenpeace today welcomed the news that the Government has given the go-ahead for the UK's largest wind farm out at sea. The North Hoyle project which will be built off the North Wales coast by National Wind Power, will generate clean electricity for people who have signed up to "Juice" - the UK's first non-premium truly green domestic electricity product. "Juice" was launched last year by electricity provider npower and Greenpeace.
Summary The Government urgently needs to find alternatives to oil, coal and gas to help stop global warming. The options are building more nuclear power stations or using renewable energy from the wind, waves and sun.
The decision should be easy. Renewable energy is affordable, safe and clean and the UK has some of the best renewable energy resources in Europe. Wind power at sea alone could meet our electricity needs three times over and bring thousands of jobs to the UK.
Greenpeace projects '72% say no' on Sizewell nuclear reactor
Nearly three-quarters of the British public would rather their electricity came from renewable energy like wind, wave and solar power than from nuclear plants. In a national MORI poll commissioned by Greenpeace 72% said they preferred renewable energy to the nuclear option (cost being similar). The poll also found that 41% of the public would be less likely to vote for a political party if it supported nuclear power (1).
The world's most famous environmental group will descend on Kings Lynn today (Tuesday) as Greenpeace urges locals to back a new plan to build thousands of wind turbines off the coast of East Anglia.
Turbines off East Anglia coast could provide 25% of UK electricity
A quarter of Britain's electricity needs could be met by building wind turbines off the coast of East Anglia, according to a new report by a team of renowned energy experts. The vision is being backed by a group of companies - including power giant TXU - which have joined forces with Greenpeace to call for the plan to be realised.
The plan was set out today in a study by AEA Technology. The authors of the report - entitled Sea Wind East - found that a large scale East Anglian wind industry could create 60,000 jobs and attract investment of 20 billion pounds.
The Sea Wind East report will be launched today at an event in Great Yarmouth, where Greenpeace will begin a tour of the region to promote the plan. The environmental group is going on the road with a mobile cinema and a team of experts. They will be visiting sixteen towns in three weeks, telling local people how their region could become a world centre for clean energy.
Matthew Spencer of Greenpeace said: "This report nails the lie that renewable energy can't deliver on a large scale - just one technology in one region of Britain can deliver a quarter of our entire power needs. If implemented this plan would massively decrease energy pollution in the UK and make East Anglia a powerhouse of the global renewable energy industry."
Posted by bex — 30 October 2001 at 9:00am
-
Comments
Earth from space
Greenpeace has always fought to defend the atmosphere from industrial pollution.
From the early 1980s, we confronted factories across Europe and North America who were causing acid rain and documented its effects: dead lakes and forests and acid-eroded historic buildings.
Greenpeace also launched an international campaign to halt the depletion of the ozone layer. In 1992 Greenpeace scientists developed Greenfreeze, a refrigeration technology that uses hydrocarbons in place of ozone-eating CFCs and climate-busting HCFCs and HFCs. Greenfreeze was the world's first refrigerator technology which is safe both for the ozone layer and the climate and it has spread like wildfire throughout Western Europe and to other parts of the world.
Getting renewable energy to the world's poorTwo billion people one in three of us on the planet live without the basic energy services such as electricity that the rest of us take for granted. Every day they have to meet their essential needs with expensive, dirty and unreliable energy sources such as kerosene lamps, candles and fuel wood. These damage people's health, reinforce the cycle of poverty and contribute to environmental destruction. This can and must change.
