We are going to post a condensed blog for our time around the Birmingham area. In the mean time here is an observation from me that really doesn’t fit in anywhere else.
During our travels I have been surprised by the number and extent of “Wind farms” and more strangely “Solar Farms” through-out southern England.
There are wind turbines seemingly everywhere, from extensive farms out in the English Channel to massive farms spread over many rolling hills to random isolated turbines in small paddocks. The wind seems to be providing a lot of power into the English grid. Every now and then as you drive along paddocks that would normally be used for growing crops have been transformed into Solar farms (often they were side by side).
Acres of solar panels, all facing south. Apparently in the past there were large government subsidies for solar farms, these subsidies have since been removed, but the farms seem to live on. Maintenance on a lot of them looked to be a thing of the past. It is something of an embarrassment when you consider how much sunshine they have here compared to anywhere in Australia and then compare how many solar farms we have!
A debate has also began here on reducing the amount of meat being produced/eaten due to the green house gas contribution its production produces.
I think in Australia we seem to be a long way behind England in both mind set and action, but this is just my opinion. Either way, it has been interesting taking in what is happening here.
