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Why wind energy?
 Wind
is an abundant source of energy that will never run out. It's
also the world's fastest growing energy source and in the
UK we're lucky enough to have around 40% of Europe's wind
resource, potentially enough to power the country 3 or 4 times
over.
Building new wind capacity is crucial
in the fight against climate change
At Ecotricity we're building new turbines to make clean
electricity to replace the conventional polluting sources
that cause climate change. Every unit of green electricity
from wind power replaces one unit of electricity normally
generated from conventional polluting sources such as coal.
Wind is a sustainable fuel source that doesn't produce pollutants
of any kind and its energy can be harnessed without causing
any damage to the environment. The energy used in manufacturing
and erecting a wind turbine is paid back in the first 3 to
6 months of operation. At the end of a wind turbine's lifetime,
typically 30 years, it can be removed, leaving behind no lasting
legacy.
Windpower now costs the same as conventional
electricity
The manufacture of wind turbines is becoming cheaper and more
efficient with the improved productivity of newer designs.
This means that more electricity can be produced from more
cost-effective turbines. As a result, the cost of electricity
from wind is now on a level with conventional electricity
costs. Since 1992, unit prices of electricity from wind power
have come down from 11p to around 2p - a significant drop,
making it the cheapest form of renewable energy.
Wind turbines are one of the most
popular renewable energy technologies
National surveys consistently show over 80% of people
in the UK are in favour of wind energy. They are loved mainly
for their cleanliness and beauty but they also have an exemplary
industrial safety record - no members of the public or members
of the wind industry have ever been killed by a wind turbine,
either in the UK or world wide (over 35,000 turbines world
wide). No other power industry can claim this.
We use Enercon turbines and since the Enercon E66/E40 has
been in production, none have been damaged by excessive wind
speeds. They are designed to withstand winds in excess of
120 mph, which equates to a tornado. In the southern UK wind
speeds over 73mph are considered to be one-in-200-year events
and Enercon turbines automatically shut down in wind speeds
over 60mph.
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