Wind of change

HEARTENING as it is to read that 44 per cent of our electricity last Sunday was supplied by wind because of Storm Atiyah, it needs to blow much harder on many more wind turbines if we are going to be net-zero carbon by 2050.

It will take about seven times as much of our existing renewable and nuclear powergenerating facilities just to replace our current total annual fossil fuel energy consumption by that date. That consumption is bound to increase due to population and economic growth.

In addition, building infrastructure for this will take more energy, which can only come from fossil fuels.

Hence, it seems reasonable to suggest that we will need to have about ten times as much renewable and nuclear electricity-generating capacity in place by 2050. Can this be done?

BILLDOWLING, Sandhurst,