Wind Energy
Britain is the windiest country in Europe and its up to us to promote this resource to the full. Here is a recent history of wind energy. Following the OPEC Oil Embargo of 1973, interest in wind energy resurfaced in response to climbing energy prices and questionable availability of conventional fuels. National tax incentives and aggressive government research programs triggered the development and use of many new wind turbine designs. Some experimental models were very large. With a blade diameter of 300 feet, a single machine was able to supply enough electricity for 700 homes. A wide variety of smaller scale systems are now available for domestic, business, and remote sites such as farmhouses.
Meanwhile, a new market for wind systems, "wind farms," began in the early 1980s. This market evolved thanks to rising concerns around global warming, legislation, injections of cash and proactive planning. As of 2003, nearly 5% of the UK's electricity is generated by the wind. As the cost of the technology behind wind energy has reduced there is now an ever growing interest within the UK in the development and utilisation of wind energy.
Increased concerns of climate change has reinvigorated interest in "micro-generation" or domestic energy production in the last 10 years. This has led consumers to consider not only what they may save through energy efficiency, but also how additional local capacity can be produced. The cost of the technology has also reduced within this sector allowing previously large applications to be scaled down to domestic and commercial usage. The introduction of the Feed in Tariff by the UK Government in 2010, Wind energy has seen consistent growth as people see the benefits of generating their own electricity.
The UK government is currently legislating for a large rollout of micro-generation over the next 10 years as part of a concerted effort to meet carbon emission targets.
RSEC can advise on all aspects of microgeneration and wind energy for home and business.
