The UK government's recent approval for several new offshore wind farm sites around Britain was good news. Even better news was that this is part of a strategy for getting 25% of our energy from wind by 2020.
However, it would seem that the 25% figure is a bit of political sleight of hand. Most will assume that this is 25% of ALL our energy needs but that's not the case.
According to the Department of Trade and Industry's own 2001 figures, only 9% of our energy requirements come from electricity. The rest is largely fossil fuel (Natural Gas 40%, Petrol 32%, Coal 17%, plus 1% from renewables). Meaning just 2.2% of our total energy needs will come from wind.
Our use of petrol and coal will inevitably decline by 2020, but what, if anything, is being done about our dependence on natural gas? Looking at government projections for 2020, absolutely nothing.
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