Opinion
It’s a wind-up
Roderick Pettigrew urges the UK government not to carry
on wasting any more taxpayers’ money on wind power when
the money could be better spent elsewhere
T
he British government is forever telling us that Our most pressing problem is reducing energy
climate change is the biggest issue we face, consumption in existing buildings. Homes account
but of the £175bn the Chancellor is borrowing for 27 per cent of our total energy bill, and the building
this year to prop up the public finances, only services industry already has a whole range of
a fraction will be spent on really getting to grips with cost-effective solutions to tackle that problem. Think
carbon emissions. how much could be achieved with wind’s £12bn if
There is no coherent strategy for tackling our energy it were spent on upgrading ageing heating systems;
problems. The government has approved 11 sites for fitting loft and cavity wall insulation; double glazing;
new nuclear power stations at an eye-watering cost of better heating controls; variable speed pumps,
£4.5bn each, but the first of these will not be on stream and so on.
for at least 15 years – assuming they are built at all. We could even look at a comprehensive programme
The British Wind Energy Association also wants the to fit whole house ventilation systems that reclaim
government to bail out off-shore wind farms to the heat while simultaneously
tune of £2bn. Nine major projects are already in the reducing the condensation
pipeline at a total cost of £12bn, but investors say they and airborne bacteria
will not be completed without this extra money. The problems that blight so Wind farms
government has put a lot of faith in wind energy and many homes in deprived
are simply
the London Array in the Thames Estuary, set to be the areas.
world’s largest offshore wind farm, has now been given That money could also not economically
the go-ahead. The first phase alone will cost £2.2bn help to tackle fuel poverty,
viable; moreover,
to build. which is on the rise again
We are being held to ransom because taxpayer after more than a decade of their carbon
support will not end with these huge construction costs. falling numbers.
credentials are
Off-shore wind farms will also need generous public A fraction of those billions
subsidies for the next 25 years at least, if they are to could also significantly questionable.
make “economic sense”; this is according to the energy boost the modest £45m
firms themselves, who will be raking in the profits. announced in the Budget for
Wind farms are simply not economically viable; small-scale renewables and
moreover, their carbon credentials are questionable. micro-generation technologies. The Renewable
Each new wind farm has to be backed up by a Energy Association estimates that £625m would
conventional power station for those days when the provide a meaningful boost to the solar thermal
wind inconveniently refuses to blow. So, not only market and other carbon-reducing building projects,
does wind come with no guarantees, the electricity while also delivering much quicker and more
it generates is far more expensive than our existing impressive results.
supplies and could actually increase our carbon It would also help to stimulate the market for
footprint. Look at Denmark, where wind turbines cover ‘traditional’ building services engineering and give
the countryside. Their carbon emissions, like ours, are employers the confidence to retain and retrain both
still rising. experienced and apprentice engineers, so preserving
If the giant energy firms holding out the begging and creating thousands of jobs. l
bowl to the British taxpayer want to pull the plug –
let them! We have much better things to spend the
Roderick Pettigrew is deputy chief executive of the Heating
and Ventilating Contractors’ Association. www.hvca.org.uk
money on.
26 CIBSE Journal June 2009 www.cibsejournal.com
CIBSEjun09 pp26 opinion.indd 26 29/5/09 12:20:51
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