The World in 2030

212 The World in 2030
of parts. Several firms are building new factories:
Vestas has just announced its first American plant,
which will make blades in Colorado. But new factories
will take several years to get up to speed. In
the meantime, buyers are putting down deposits to
reserve their turbines. GE Energy, the largest turbine
installer in America, is already booked up until the
end of next year. 404
And George Monbiot makes the case for British
conversion to industrial-scale wind power very eloquently:
The wind, waves and sun are not going to run
out – or not while we still occupy the planet. Neither
Mr Putin nor any other energy monopolist can
switch them off. No wind farm can ever melt down,
or present a useful target for terrorists. Decommissioning
is cheap and safe. The energy required to
build the machines on the market today is a small
fraction of the energy they will produce, and as soon
as that has been accounted for, they emit no carbon.
While renewable technologies can dominate a landscape
this impact is surely less significant than the
destruction of the biosphere…
The United Kingdom – islands surrounded by high
winds and rough seas – has the best resources in
Europe. 405
Clearly, harnessing wind power on a global scale will be a
priority from now until 2030. Turbines will become more
efficient (with non-corrosive plastics playing a major part 406