Consciousness of Sheep
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Public support for renewable energy is very high according to the latest issue of the DECC Public Attitudes Tracker. Eighty-one percent of us now favour renewable energy, while just four percent oppose it and two percent strongly oppose it. This is in stark contrast to public attitudes toward the UK government’s preferred energy options of nuclear and shale gas. Nuclear power is supported by just 38 percent of us, while just 19 percent of us support the use of shale gas.
Concern about climate change has been increasing. Seventy percent of us are now worried about the impact of climate change. Eighty-four percent of these believe that climate change is either wholly or partially the result of human activity, while just ten percent believe that it is down to natural processes.
Energy security worries have increased too. Two-thirds of us are concerned that the UK has become too dependent upon other countries for our energy supplies; with 60 percent of us anxious that supplies of fossil fuels are not sufficient to meet UK demand. Sixty-six percent of us are worried that the UK is not investing fast enough in alternative sources of energy.
What all of this suggests is that the public are ahead of the politicians when it comes to energy. As we at The Consciousness of Sheep have warned for some time, Britain is indeed facing an energy crisis that, together with climate change, threatens to wreak havoc on our economy and our society. The solution – as the British people appear to understand – is not to be found in the illusion of shale gas or in white elephant nuclear plants, but in a distributed system of millions of small, medium and large renewable energy generators.
