This from the News & Star,--
Governments should follow Cumbrian borough's lead on renewable energy
10 March 2016 12:13PM
WORLD leaders and national governments should take a leaf out of Allerdale’s green book, according to environmental think tank Green Alliance.
A study by the think tank found that Allerdale is leading the way with regard to renewable energy in the north west.
Allerdale gets 86.6 per cent of its power from renewable sources, predominantly from on-shore wind turbines, biomass and solar panels. It is the leader by a long way – the next closest authorities are in Lancashire: Rossendale with 54.7 per cent and Hyndburn with 29.9 per cent.
Most local authorities get less than 10 per cent of their power from renewable sources, including Eden, 5.1 per cent, and Carlisle, 3.9 per cent. Copeland is in the top six authorities in the north west with 20.5 per cent.
Power generated by renewable energy across the county is put into the national grid and then sent to where it is needed, so to calculate the figures Green Alliance compared the amount of energy generated by renewable energy sources in an area with that area’s total energy consumption.
Offshore wind was not included in the calculations, though it is the dominant source of renewable energy in the north west. There is enough offshore wind capacity in the north west to meet the electricity needs of one million households.
Amy Mount, senior policy adviser at Green Alliance, said part of the drive behind the research was to show that investment in renewable energy at a local level can have a wider impact.
She said: “Climate change can be a very daunting issue because it’s about the whole planet heating up, but, actually, what these figures show is that communities are already benefiting from the investment.”
Following on from the United Nations Climate Change Summit in December, she argued the research demonstrates that changes are already happening at a local level.
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