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UK’s Conservative Party driven by climate denialism, and anti wind power fervour

Anti-wind zeal already runs through the party…… the objections of many Tories suggest a deeper animus, fuelled by Euroscepticism, climate-change denial

Mr Cameron made a windpower sceptic, John Hayes, energy minister, and appointed yet another, Owen Paterson, as environment secretary.

as turbines get bigger and more efficient, the costs for operating and maintaining them are falling

Wind farms and renewable energy A lot of hot air The government’s energy policy gets mired in politics
http://www.economist.com/news/britain/21566680-governments-energy-policy-gets-mired-politics-lot-hot-air Nov 17th 2012  THE hatred some Conservative MPs feel for windmills is  amazing.On November 14th Chris Heaton-Harris, a Tory MP charged with running his party’s campaign for a by-election in Corby, was secretly taped bragging that he had supported a rival, James Delingpole. A climate-change sceptic, Mr Delingpole had briefly stood as an independent on an anti-wind platform. Mr Heaton-Harris suggested this was a put-up job, designed to implant the issue into the “DNA of the Tory party”.

That was hardly necessary. Anti-wind zeal already runs through the party. Green energy is meant to be a cornerstone of the government’s policy, which aims to decarbonise the country’s power sector by 2030. Britain is committed to getting 15% of its energy from renewable sources by 2020, and onshore wind power is the cheapest available.

But earlier this year Mr Heaton-Harris had 105 mostly Tory MPs sign a letter to David Cameron, the prime minister, urging him to stop subsidising wind power. Evidently swayed, Mr Cameron made a windpower sceptic, John Hayes, energy minister, and appointed yet another, Owen Paterson, as environment secretary.
This is part of a wider retreat from the green policies that the Conservative Party once trumpeted. In hard times, reticence is driven by fears over their high costs. George Osborne, the chancellor of the exchequer, is now fighting to shrink the green ambitions of a forthcoming energy bill.

But the objections of many Tories suggest a deeper animus, fuelled by Euroscepticism, climate-change denial and an
attachment to a turbine-free English landscape. Last month Mr Hayes fulminated against windmills sprouting across this “green and pleasant land”.

Many are concerned about the growing clout of the United
Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP), which is keen to collect votes from
the Tories in the 2015 general election. UKIP lambasts onshore wind
farms as “uneconomical and inefficient” and accuses the government of
backing them “to secure the ‘green’ vote and to keep the EU happy”.

Subsidies for onshore wind are valued at some £400m ($640m) a year,
but the cost per megawatt hour is half that of offshore wind or solar
panels. Renewables now generate around 10% of the country’s
electricity, which means more need building to reach the 2020 goal.
Though the target has involved overspending and government meddling,
it has also served as an important green light for investors. And as turbines get bigger and more efficient, the costs for operating and maintaining them are falling. Subsidies for the technology were cut
10% this year, and may soon be snipped further. Michael Liebricht,
head of Bloomberg New Energy Finance, a research firm, predicts that
onshore wind could soon compete with coal and gas, as prices rise for
fossil fuels and carbon.
Polls show that most Britons back the technology, although views
change when turbines are planned nearby. The government is now looking
into ways to get the NIMBYs on board. Most proposals involve some sort
of compensation, either through reduced electricity bills or
investments in local infrastructure. This approach has helped to
pacify critics in Denmark, where wind power is meant to generate half
of all electricity by 2020. Developers there must also reimburse
residents for any loss in property value. In Britain, though, the
government—and green investors—seem to be twisting in the wind.

November 16, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | climate change, renewable, UK