Wind & Solar Fact Sheet

Wind Power Facts taken from BWEA site:

Britain has Europe’s best wind energy resource

Clean, renewable forms of energy, such as wind power, are essential if we are to tackle climate change. They are also vital in ending the threat of nuclear power, which would leave a legacy of nuclear waste that will remain a threat to our health and the environment for hundreds of thousands of years.

A UN panel of scientists and over 160 governments agree that the burning of fossil fuels (coal, oil and gas) is causing our climate to change dramatically. Last year the UK Government predicted that global warming will expose many millions more people to the risks of hunger, drought, flooding and diseases like malaria, and produce irreversible losses of species. (Friends of The Earth site).

Clean, renewable forms of energy, such as wind power, are essential if we are to tackle climate change. They are also vital in ending the threat of nuclear power, which would leave a legacy of nuclear waste that will remain a threat to our health and the environment for hundreds of thousands of years.

Wind is abundant and reliable. The UK is the windiest country in Europe and the resource is much greater during the colder months of the year, when energy demand is at its highest. Wind power, in combination with a full range of renewable energy technologies, such as wave and solar, could meet all of our electricity needs.

Denmark already gets 20% of its electricity from wind power.

It's safe. Unlike nuclear power stations, wind turbines are unlikely terrorist targets.

Wind energy is one of the most popular energy technologies. Opinion surveys regularly show that just over eight out of ten people are in favour of wind energy, and less than one in ten (around 5%) are against it.

Solar energy is the acquisition of heat or power directly from the rays of the sun (unlike, for example, biomass and ground source heating which use the sun indirectly).

The amount of sunlight falling on any area of ground obviously depends on its location and the time of year. In Britain, for example, a square meter will absorb about 900 kWh over a year. As the average household uses 20,000 kWh of power annually, you can see that it is unlikely that you could supply all of your energy use from solar alone, even if all your south-facing roofs were covered in collectors. As the sun does not shine at all at night, and much weaker in the winter (1/6 of the summer energy) when demand is higher, massive batteries would be needed. Nevertheless solar can contribute much to reducing energy needs and should not be overlooked.
Source: http://wolf.readinglitho.co.uk/subpages/renewables.html#geothermal