Ecotricity has released a time-lapse video and documentary to mark the completion of a 100m windmill at the RSPB’s headquarters near Sandy in Bedfordshire.
The windmill was constructed over the course of a few weeks, but the new time-lapse film shows it shooting up in just one minute during February 2016.
An extended four minute documentary includes a section where the RSPB’s director of conservation Martin Harper explains why the charity decided to commission the windmill and discusses the wildlife mitigation methods employed to ensure that it is a good neighbour to birds, bats and all wildlife.
These methods include installing a bat detection monitor onto the windmill and switching the turbine off at low wind speed during the summer months – the first time these methods have been used to protect bats in Britain. Simon Pickering, senior ecologist at Ecotricity, discusses the extensive research that took place on the site and the positive impact the windmill will have on the environment.
The RSPB windmill will generate around two million units (kWhs) of green energy every year, equivalent to over half of the electricity the RSPB uses across its 127 UK locations.
With this one wind turbine, Europe’s largest nature conservation charity will reduce carbon emissions by almost 600 tonnes every year.
Ecotricity has financed and installed the wind turbine, which will now produce affordable green energy at a discounted cost to the charity.
Ecotricity pioneered this unique approach fifteen years ago, and its windmills currently power operations for Ford, Michelin, Sainsbury’s and B&Q.
The new turbine is the latest development in a growing portfolio of RSPB projects that are making the charity more energy efficient and greener. The RSPB says it has aligned its carbon emissions reduction ambitions with the 2008 Climate Change Act, which includes a legal duty for 80% reduction of greenhouse gas emission by 2050.
