Ten Years Of Ecotricity Turbines

15 February 2007

Ten years ago, we switched on our very first wind turbine. I remember the day well, it was the 21st of December 1996 and we'd fought a ferocious 5 year battle to build one of the UK's first wind turbines.

Building it brought the end to an incredible saga, and started a new one. Day by day and year by year this machine disproved every claim made against it during the previous five years. It couldn't be heard, didn't wreck TV signals or house prices, didn't upset bats or kill one thousand birds per year, and it didn't interfere with pacemakers or turn milk sour (OK I made the last one up, but not the others).

A few months after building it I went to the climate conference in Kyoto. A friend of mine had connections with the UN and got us a couple of passes. We just went there, set up a small stand and talked to anybody that would listen, about the role wind energy had to play in the fight against climate change. Across the hall from us the nuclear lobby was, even then, promoting itself as a climate friendly technology.

That was pretty much ten years ago, outside of the conference very few people had heard of climate change and even fewer held it to be real - it was the preserve of enthusiasts - scientists, hippies and a few politicians.

Fast forward to today and Climate Change is on everybody's lips, it has become not only a widely known concept but a widely accepted truth, a fact of life. It appears regularly now in TV dramas and Hollywood films. The last few months particularly have seen spectacular media coverage - we've had the Stern report published by Gordon Brown aiming to be our first green chancellor. This report breaks new ground in making the economic case for fighting climate change as the far cheaper option. Al Gore has released his stunning film - the Inconvenient Truth and David Cameron has put green issues not just at the centre of the New Tories agenda, but right under the spotlight. Even the Telegraph has a green page (who'd have put money on that?), the supermarkets are going toe to toe to 'out green' each other and just about every other well known company in the UK is talking about climate change, carbon footprints or Fairtrade - you name it. It.s a massive change in that respect.

But there is a gulf still between words and action.

Take Tony Blair for example, head of easily the greenest government we've ever had, he believes that Climate Change is the biggest threat we all face, bigger even that global terrorism - he said so. Sounds good, but the actions don't match the talk. If Climate Change was Iraq, we would have invaded it by now (probably twice). We would have spent £50 Billion or so along the way and thrown away the lives of hundreds of thousands of innocent people - and to some, none of these would be prices that were too high to pay. Compare that to the price we're prepared to pay to fight climate change - there's a vast difference. We're throwing small change and fine words at it.

We need to fight Climate Change as if it was a war, with the same cash, and the same commitment - but not the disregard for human life.

It's not just in the wider world out there that actions don't match words. It's closer to home too:

Take our own backyard, Stroud. Today ecotricity has built 27 wind turbines (10% of the wind energy in England) and next year we're building another 30 - none of them except the first one, will be in Stroud. Its not that our council doesn't think its green or that it doesn't like green electricity, it.s been using it for many years (supplied by ecotricity) and its won awards for that. Despite our best efforts we have been unable to build more sources of green energy right here. The talk doesn't match the action. And it's not right. Every part of the country needs to take responsibility for where their own power comes from, no village, no town and nobody should be too precious to accept that responsibility.

Closer to home again: It comes down to each of us, Climate Change is our responsibility, all of us collectively - we cause it. What have we all done about it? Nowhere near enough.

That's my perspective then, much has changed in 10 years - but it.s more perception than concrete action, yet. Climate Change is widely held to be both real and urgent, that's a big step. Now we need to get serious about tackling it, that's the job for the next ten years.

Cheers

Dale Vince OBE. Ecotricity

Notes to Editors

Lynch Knoll turbine: The facts

• The turbine has a 500KW capacity.
• Standing 42m tall this was the first of a new taller generation turbine in the UK, before this turbine heights had typically been just 30m.
• Lynch Knoll was the first and only turbine in Gloucestershire and the UK.s first variable speed direct drive machine making it quieter and more efficient.
• The Nympsfield turbine has generated over 11 million kilowatt hours of electricity since 1996.
• This represents a saving of 9790 tonnes of carbon emissions, produced in the generation of conventional 'brown' energy. That's equivalent to the annual emissions of 3263 cars.

About Ecotricity

Ecotricity were the first 'green' energy company in the world. The company was founded back in 1995 when climate change was a little known concept. Having founded the green energy industry in the UK, ecotricity continues to innovate and lead the way in wind turbine development. Ecotricity is the UK.s leading independent electricity company, supplying homes and businesses across the UK. Ecotricity believes that only by continuously building new sources of green energy can we make a real impact on the root causes of climate change in the UK. By changing where our electricity comes from, carbon emissions from burning fossil fuels can be reduced. Using existing cables and meters Ecotricity can supply any home or business in mainland UK. It also guarantees to match the standard price of local suppliers so switching to green energy needn.t cost more.

*Calculation based on the annual emissions of a petrol car doing 10,000 miles a year.