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Thursday, July 28, 2011

Wind farms in the UK face challenges



The UK Government has set a target to be 15% reliant on renewable energy by 2020, but there are challenges to this goal. Those challenges range from financial, technological and political, but another challenge is local – the residents of England and Wales.

The opposition has resulted in half of all applications asking to build wind farms to be rejected in England. In an 18 minute podcast (See below for link), a reporter interviews an environmental minister and asks about the local opposition to an economy with lower carbon emissions. There is also a visit to Morocco, which is expanding their wind power with far less opposition.


There are many hurdles towards alternative or renewable energies, one of which is the comfort of the  familiar (like coal energy), but in order to move forward into a world with cleaner energy, innovations have to be embraced, especially ones that don't pollute and are renewable and free (like wind). Of course, there are other alternatives out there, and each new innovative, clean energy source is another step way from dirty fossil fuels. 


Listen to the podcast here (opens in new window): http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/p00hxp16


-Wallace Chan

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