Posted on 2-7-2003
Winds
Of Change
From Greenpeace NZ
Auckland, Wednesday 2 July 2003: Greenpeace today launched a
groundbreaking
new report Winds of Change.
The Greenpeace report, Winds of Change: Exploring New Zealand's
phenomenal
wind resource and options to drive renewable energy development
is
available at www.greenpeace.org.nz
on how our electricity needs could be
met by harnessing the power of wind. "New Zealand is the Saudi
Arabia of
wind and has one of the best wind energy resources in the world.
We have
enough potential wind energy to produce three times our present
power
generation each year," said Greenpeace climate campaigner Vanessa
Atkinson.
"The new report Winds of Change underlines the importance of
a strong long
term energy strategy to help protect the environment from dangerous
climate
change and secure a sustainable energy supply". "Wind energy
is the fastest
growing energy sector in the world and New Zealand is being
left behind
despite having one of the best wind energy resources on the
planet. Total
global wind energy capacity has reached 32,000MW, which is over
four
hundred times larger than New Zealand's installed wind energy
capacity,"
continued Ms Atkinson. "18% of Denmark's electricity comes from
wind and in
Germany, 45,000 people are employed directly or indirectly in
the wind
industry. It is ludicrous that New Zealand gets only about 0.5%
of its
electricity from wind."
"If we look to the success stories of Denmark, Spain, the US
and the UK,
major renewable energy development only occurred when the Government
had
strong national policies and regional plans, supporting mechanisms
such as
mandatory renewable targets and financial incentives." "The
New Zealand
Government must do the same here and develop a long term energy
strategy so
the country can be running on electricity from 100% renewable
sources by
2020. Initiatives such as mandatory renewable energy targets
and tradeable
renewable energy schemes, combined with changes to the electricity
market
and financial incentives, are urgently needed to make a renewable
energy
future a reality for New Zealand," concluded Ms Atkinson. Traditional
energy sources such as burning fossil fuels like coal, oil and
gas release
carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that contribute to
climate
change. Global warming causes glaciers to melt, sea levels to
rise and
extreme weather events such as droughts and floods. Coal produces
more
global warming carbon dioxide than any other fossil fuel.
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