JUST SO YOU KNOW

Yesterday, we learnt that the majority of people in Britain want to see more windfarms and think that government subsidies to support wind energy is the right thing to do.

Today, we learn that certain highly irresponsible newspapers in the UK have been lying about the costs paid by the consumer for renewable energy.

The Committee on Climate Change (CCC) is an independent body. In a report released today, the CCC analyses the dramatic increase in the average household's energy bills.

In 2004, the average home paid £604 for energy. Last year, that had shot up to £1,060. But contrary to what the running dogs of the right-wing press would have you believe, that was not the fault of renewables.

The CCC has broken down that massive £455 increase to show that rising wholesale gas prices accounted for £290 of that. Only £30 went to investments in renewable energy (of which windfarms form only a part). £45 went to covering the costs of energy efficiency schemes. In other words, the consumer is paying 50% more to subsidise energy efficiency measures than they are to all renewables, and nearly TEN TIMES as much to cover the increasing costs of importing gas.

As usual, we find that all the demented claims about renewables being "inefficient", "too expensive", "totally reliant on subsidies" and a "massive burden on the consumer" are all tommy rot. They are lies. The nimby diddymen love to keep spouting this sort of gibberish, but gibberish it is. If you want to know why your bills are going up, look at the increase in wholesale gas costs and don't keep blaming renewables because only an idiot does that.

Oh, and by the way, the average household in the UK is paying £240 per year towards the costs of decommissioning useless nuclear power stations. That's £240 from every household going to NOT generating any electricity at all!! In comparison with which, £30 towards creating a level playing field for all forms of renewable energy is a pittance. The average consumer is paying over £500 extra per year for more expensive gas and the closure of nuclear power stations. Windfarm "subsidies" account for a few quid each year.

So, in the light of the CCC's report, which merely sets the record straight, we at Wind of Change are offering a humble suggestion to the right-wing press and the nimbies who read that rubbish for a New Year Resolution. Let's all promise to make 2012 the year in which we STOP TELLING LIES ABOUT RENEWABLES, shall we? Let's start getting properly patriotic and actually support the vital drive towards a sustainable, low-carbon future. Let's tell the truth about renewables so that tin-pot dictators in the Shires can't keep pulling the wool over everybody's eyes.

Let's stop being idiots and stand up for renewables!!!