Cheap energy turbines urged for use on public land - 05/06/2009
People switching gas and electricity companies could be encouraged that the Environment Agency (EA) has called for public land and buildings to be used for wind turbines.
If this was to go ahead, thousands of buildings held by the public sector and around one million hectares of public land could be used to host wind turbines for both lowering energy prices and reducing carbon emissions.
Less than 0.1 per cent of public land is currently used for renewable energy generation, but the EA estimates that three gigawatts of electricity could be generated at a cost of around £2 billion if this was to change.
Tony Grayling, head of climate change and sustainable development at the Environment Agency, said: "Investment in green technology such as wind turbines not only helps cut carbon emissions and secure more home grown energy - they also make financial sense to those involved and ultimately save the taxpayer money."
He added that environmental factors should be considered despite the pressures currently faced by the public sector.
Onshore wind turbines tend to be unpopular due to their size and their visual appearance.
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