Shock news - a civil servent with sense!

I read in today's Telegraph that the head of the UK's Environment Agency, Lord Smith proposes that more should be done to increase the use of renewable energy on public land. His proposals include fitting all public buildings with solar PV and solar heat technology, making sure all new public buildings have the minimum environmental impact possible, and the use of vacant public land for the siting of wind turbines where practical.

Whilst his proposals would be relatively costly, I believe it will have multiple benefits for the country. Firstly it will reduce the carbon emisions through decreased use of fossil fuels, which would also help tthe balance of payments at the national level. Secondly, it is likely that at least part of this new equipment will be constructed within the UK creating and safeguarding jobs at this time of economic woe, with further jobs being created at the installation stage. Linked to this, such a large procurement of such technologies may help in reducing their cost through increased unit production, and therefore greater efficiency. Finally such a scheme will prove to be an example that such radical changes can be done (as has already been proved elsewhere), which will hopefully encourage greater uptake of renewable technologies within the private sector.

The original article can be found here.