Although the Met Office quite rightly says no individual weather event can be definitely linked to evidence of climate change, the trend of extreme weather seems rather ominous.

The International Energy Agency reported in 2011 that: “On planned policies rising fossil fuel energy use will lead to irreversible and potentially cat-astrophic climate change con-sistent with a long-term global temperature increase of 3.5C”.

The World Bank recently warned that that unless carbon dioxide emissions are drastically reduced we are heading for a 4C global temperature rise by the end of this century.

The average global temp-erature has risen by 0.8C over the last 100 years, therefore I believe it is time to stop and think about what kind of world we are leaving for our children and grandchildren.

Unlike your correspondent Roy Martindale (Wind farms are no solution) I am heartened by the significant progress currently being made in developing renewable energy resources and costs are reducing rapidly as the global renewable energy market grows. No one would recommend relying solely on wind power, but some of the world’s leading economies are leading the way with a mix of renewable energy technologies.

Germany currently generates 25 per cent of electricity demand from renewable energy (almost half of which is wind power) and has a target of 80 per cent renewable electricity by 2050.

Last year the USA generated 16 per cent of electricity from renewables, mainly hydro electricity and wind power, considerably more than the nine per cent of electricity supplied by nuclear power.

Closer to home, the UK generated 15 per cent of electricity from renewable energy in the last quarter of 2013, without power cuts and without requiring a substantial amount of additional fossil fuel back-up because of the mix of renewable energy technologies.

Pete West, The Old House at Home, Salisbury Street, Dorchester

 

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