Wind turbines will be supported by rural communities within 25 years, according to a study of “future villages” by the Royal Institute of British Architects.
Wind and solar will be supported as communities will get a share of profit and discounts on their fuel bills

By Louise Gray, Environment Correspondent
In a series of essays entitled ‘A Thriving Village: Visions for 2035’, the country’s leading architects predict that the countryside will experience a renaissance thanks to affordable new homes for the young to live in, superfast broadband and new industries.
All predict renewable energy will play a major part, with many villages able to power their efficient new homes, as well as exporting to the grid through hosting renewable power sources.
Wind and solar will be supported as communities will get a share of profit and discounts on their fuel bills.
It comes as a BBC survey found that the public broadly support investment in wind and solar energy systems.
The poll of 1,035 by ComRes found 84 per cent were keen on more solar panels where they lived and 67 per cent wanted more wind farms. Among the 25 to 34 age group 82 per cent were in favour of wind.

The RIBA essays predict more parents will work from home or work for tourism and food production in the village, selling goods via the internet.
More food will be grown locally and supplied to nearby homes. Land will be open to the public via concessionary footpaths or new rights of way, as local farms embrace the diversification potential of the ever more popular ‘stay-cation’.
Pubs will be owned by the community and one name suggested was the “badger and the turbine.”
Children at school will be “fluent in nature and technology” as they will be taught how to spot wildlife as well as how to record it online.
Charles Holland, director of the London based architecture practice FAT (Fashion Architecture Taste) and a visiting professor at Yale University, invited more people to join in.
“There are pressing social and economic needs for answers to the problems of rural housing shortage and unemployment. Already villages are increasingly the preserve of a wealthy elite whose economic activities take place elsewhere. With decreasing numbers of jobs available and a chronic undersupply of affordable homes, the children of rural families are priced out of rural life,” he said.
“The answer can’t be to view rural areas solely as a leisure facility for wealthy urbanites and place further levels of protection over their development. Nor is the answer to deregulate planning laws and hope for the best, as the current government seems to suggest. Is there a way then to imagine a future for rural life that avoids either gross exploitation or aesthetic and social mummification?”
:: Meanwhile the Government has published a consultation on “biodiversity offsetting”.
The scheme would allow developers to “replace” land they have built on by protecting and enhancing land elsewhere.
But the RSPB said it must not be a “licence to trash”.
Mike Clarke, chief executive of the RSPB, said: “Offsetting can be a useful tool for compensating harm to wildlife when all other options have been exhausted. But it is very difficult to get it right, and it is much safer to maintain wildlife habitats where they are


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2 Comments

Bill Slycat · September 5, 2013 at 8:09 pm

If we need to fight global warming then we need solutions that work. However, I doubt that villages will support wind power because it has been proven ineffective to the task of providing reliable energy. INDUSTRIAL WIND TURBINES ARE A SHAM AND DO NOT PROVIDE CLEAN ENERGY! Not one coal or gas plant the world over has been decommissioned because of IWTs…and eliminating our dependence on fossil fuels is their whole purpose. Even the UK is using more diesle and coal to back up wind power. To quote an expert: “Because wind blows intermittently, electric utilities must either keep their conventional power plants running all the time to make sure the lights don’t go dark, or continually ramp up and down the output from conventional coal-or gas-fired generators (called “cycling”). But coal-fired and gas-fired generators are designed to run continuously, and if they don’t, fuel consumption and emissions generally increase.” This is happening worldwide, and in places like Colorado and Texas where CO2 and power plant pollution have increased since installing wind farms:
http://www.forbes.com/2011/07/19/wind-energy-carbon.html
http://www.denverpost.com/headlines/ci_15081808
http://www.clepair.net/IerlandUdo.html
http://www.thespec.com/news/ontario/article/610422–cost-of-green-energy-40-higher-than-government-estimates
The wind industry is built on crony capitalism, it is the only way it can exist. Taxpayer and ratepayer subsidies build them and power companies are mandated to buy wind generated power at much higher rates than conventionally produced power. There is no true benefit, except to wind power companies, politicians and lobbyists.

    SAS web admin · September 8, 2013 at 11:08 am

    Thanks for sharing the links bill, a really good read.

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