that are more than 2 km from any human settlement. These areas are largely
excluded from wind-farm development because they are tranquil, and it’s
essential to protect tranquil places from industrialization. If you want to
avoid objections to your wind farm, pick any piece of land that is not
coloured black or white.
Some of these environmentalists who have good hearts but confused minds are almost a barrier to tackling climate change.
Malcolm Wicks, Minister of State for Energy
We are drawing to the close of Part I. The assumption was that we want
to get off fossil fuels, for one or more of the reasons listed in Chapter 1 –
climate change, security of supply, and so forth. Figure 18.9 shows how
much power we currently get from renewables and nuclear. They amount
to just 4% of our total power consumption.
The two conclusions we can draw from Part I are: