NEWS: When the wind blows

British Gas, one of the largest utility supplier's in the UK is now...wait for it...selling household wind turbines. They have powered up (pardon the pun) with Windsave to help household wind turbines make the leap to the mainstream.

We urge you to support both British Gas in this pioneering jump and Windsave: write to them, support them, talk to people about them, and if you can afford it we recommend you get a turbine. They cost less than £1,500, reduce your energy dependence and your bills by a third and will eventually pay for themselves. Plus you can sell surplus energy back to the grid at the billable rate and you are less likely to experience a power-cut.

If you get three turbines you can probably drop off the grid entirely. Energy independence can only be a good thing. Let us know if you have a turbine...would love to hear from people using them.

In the same week as British Gas were embracing alternatives Max Hastings argues in the Guardian that we should forget about wind farms and embrace nuclear power.

His article is well-formed but leaves some teeny-weeny gaps in the argument.

Let's assume we could prevent any large-scale radioactive accidents, be it on the road or at the plant itself.

Even though we have been very lucky so far not to have had any such disasters in the UK let alone the world, Three-mile Island and Chernobyl aside.

Even though recently a serious UK nuclear leak 'went unnoticed for nine months'

Let's assume we can prevent anyone determined enough from getting hold of fissionable material.

Even though we can't and as recently as last year a high profile Pakistani Nuclear scientist was found to have passed information (and who knows what else?) to Iran, Libya and North Korea (and who knows who else?).

Let's assume we can dispose of the waste products in a safe and eco-friendly manner.

Even though we can't get even close to safe disposal and even the UK Government's own independent Committee on Radioactive Waste Management (CORWM) states that 'nuclear power plants and weapons have left the UK with a radioactive legacy which presently has nowhere to go'.

So assuming Nuclear power is safe to use (IT'S NOT!!!), store (IT'S NOT!!!) and dispose of (IT'S NOT!!!) and assuming the government have exhausted all safer and less expensive (to people and planet) alternatives (THEY HAVEN'T!!!) then City Hippy is proud to endorse the further development of the Nuclear Industry. (WE DON'T!!!)

Incidentally the title of this post comes from a great movie called 'When the wind blows' - we recommend you see it. Awesome!

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