Various things got me thinking about this one having posted about the pathetic attempt to improve things contained in last weeks budget.
So the government admits that we will not make the 2010 target at the current rate of progress.
The budget adds a few tweaks but clearly more needs to be done.
Meanwhile in Mondays Guardian there was a report that Britain's wind energy is set to exceed expectations with 50% more wind farms powering British homes and industry by 2010 than predicted four years ago.
http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,,1740698,00.html
So if exceeeding expectations won't do it then we clearly need to do more
There was a positive report in the Sunday Observer about Planning policy statement 22 which gives local authorities the right to insist that new housing schemes get 10 percent of their energy from renewables.
According to the article the first authority to integrate PPS 22 into its policies is Surrey County Council.
I know I would like to see it compulsory in all new houses nationwide but this looks as if it might at least be a start.
I do not know how many local authorities have done this or are in the process of doing so but perhaps we should all start checking this out. I know I shall and then if it has not be done I will be asking some questions.
Tags Environment Politics
2 comments:
The words "glass houses" and "stones" come to mind for some reason. As the owner of a 2000 Fatboy I wonder how its emissions might compare with those from say (to pick a bike at random) a 1997 Fatboy based on an older engine technology??
Motorcycles in general produce more harmful emissions per mile than a car, so on that basis alone one should always use the car and leave the bike at home! However, there are of course other benefits which accrue from the use of motorcycles. They are more infrastructure-friendly meaning they cause less damage to the roads, they alleviate congestion and they take less space to park.
Hmmm well on the parking question you might think that I couldn't possibly comment
As for pontificating on a blog. I plead guilty. As it says at the bottom "The views expressed in this blog are mine and mine alone. Yes I know I am opinionated!"
My point is about what we do to address the emissions from energy production and how we meet our future needs for energy.
Whilst vehicle emissions are important a lot has been done over the last decade or so to reduce the impact of vehicle emissions.
It may be healthier but of course that will depend on the quality of the air and I guess the safe riding of the motorcyclist concerned, the state of the roads and the quality of roadcraft exhibited by othe road users
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