BACKGROUND
Britain’s largest energy firms received almost £900 million last year through a consumer subsidy added to household bills, analysis of the industry’s figures shows. The subsidy is worth £200 million more than the income from the electricity actually produced by Britain’s on and offshore wind farms. In total, the big six received more than £1.5 billion in revenues last year from wind farms they own. The scale of the revenues will anger critics who claim subsidies for wind farms are excessive. Full story >>
CARTOON
In his cartoon from The Daily Telegraph, Bob uses a play on words to highlight the inefficiency of wind power as a means of helping to meeting Britain's energy needs. On the left we can see Great Britain during the Industrial Revolution, which took place from about 1760 to 1840. On the right, there is a picture of Great Britain covered in offshore and onshore wind farms. The caption 'Inefficient Revolutions' (a play on 'Industrial Revolution') makes it clear that the cartoonist does not believe that wind turbines are a cost-effective energy solution.
VOCABULARY
A revolution is a great change in conditions, ways of working, beliefs, etc. that affects large numbers of people. It is also a circular movement made by something fixed to a central point, for example, the rotor blade a on a wind turbine.
