My former employer, Lancaster University, has made a further planning application to install a single wind turbine, right next to the busy six lane M6 motorway. The previous application was for two turbines, but that was rejected earlier in the year.
The proposed single turbine will produce about 20% of the university's electricity needs - that's a massive amount! If you want to read more about the proposals, look here. This kind of saving will have a significant positive impact on the carbon emissions of the university, and it will also help to make the university's 1960s campus a good deal more financially sustainable; as the biggest employer in the area, and during difficult financial times, these kinds of issues need to be considered as well.
My reason for posting on this topic is that if you feel strongly about this matter, I would urge you to go to the council website and leave a comment for the planners. Clearly, I would prefer it if your comments were supportive of the application, but you are, of course, free to say what you like.
Many of the objections to the last application claimed that the university was doing nothing else to save energy. That's rubbish! I worked in the Facilities Division, and I can assure you all that there are few issues further up the agenda than energy saving and environmental issues. You just need to look here to see how much is actually being done.
I know some people will be affected by this proposal, but I would happily live in their place! So much of this argument is aesthetic and subjective! The fact is, we really need to get moving on carbon reductions if we are to have any impact on climate change. If we keep saying no to good applications like this, we're never going to make any progress, and our grandchildren will not thank us.
Rant over. Essay to write. Greek to translate.
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