Be Careful What You Pray For....

Roman Catholics who used to pray for the retreat of glaciers from their Swiss Alpine communities are now petitioning the Pope to allow them to switch their prayers to fight global warming.

So much ice has melted due to the power of their prayers (or maybe global warming) that drought is regarded as a potential threat. The Aletsch glacier has shrunk by several kilometres in recent times and is regarded as one of the most visible examples of global warming in action. The faithful in the districts of Fiesch and Fieschental have been prying since the 17th century for it to melt as they blamed it for flooding.

Meanwhile, back in the UK we have recently been aware of the closure and job losses of the Vestas Wind Systems factory in the Isle of White.

Wind power is now pretty much a mature technology. Production of turbines is being ramped up making it possible to add significant amounts of generating capacity within a reasonable time. Solar electricity, particularly solar thermal may well take over in the medium term in appropriate locations.

In 2008 the country with the largest windpower generation was USA, followed by Germany, Spain, China, India, Italy, France and then UK.

Many African countries with limited electricity supply are choosing windpower to add electricity capacity quickly and to avoid the cost of importing fossil fuels.

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