Friday, April 11, 2008

The public consultation into the proposed wind farm in Avonmouth, Bristol, United Kingdom closed today. According to a video released by Bristol City Council the proposal was for two wind turbines to be produced to “help power local public services” and “reduce the council’s carbon footprint.”

The Energy Director of the Bristol City Council claimed in the promotional video that not reducing the carbon footprint would be a “failure in our [the council’s] duty to tackle climate change.” He also said that the council would face fines from the European Union if the targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions are not met. In addition to this it was also claimed in the video that the amount of electricity used by the council needs to be reduced as they currently spend five million pounds per year for electricity. He finished by saying that one way the council can cut their greenhouse emissions is by producing their own “green electricity.”

Councillor Mark Bradshaw of the Bristol City Council was also featured in the video. He explained the proposals by saying that “we [the council] propose to build two wind farms on a former industrial site.”