Question: Is wind energy popular in countries which already have many wind turbines?

...Wind Energy is popular...

Opinion polls in several European countries, Denmark, Germany, Holland, and the UK, show that more than 60 per cent of the population is in favour of using more wind energy in the electricity supply.

According to an opinion poll by the newspaper Jyllands Posten taken in 2001, 65% of the Danes believe that it is a good idea to increase the share of wind energy in the Danish electricity supply. That is exactly the same share of the population as in two previous opinion polls taken five and ten years earlier.

This is a rather surprising result in view of the fact that it is a well-known fact to the Danes, that the share of wind power in Danish electricity consumption has more than trebled during the previous five-year period from 1996, and increased by a factor six since 1991.

People who live near wind turbines are on average even more favourable towards wind energy, with a score of more than 80 per cent in favour of wind energy.

In Denmark, more than 100,000 families own shares in one of the 6,500 modern wind turbines scattered throughout the country.

More than 85 per cent of the wind power capacity in Denmark is owned by private individuals or wind co-operatives.

In general wind turbines tend to be good tourist attractions when they are new in an area, and large wind farm developers often establish visitors' centres at their wind farms. There are no systematic surveys on the relationship between tourism and wind farms. (Tourism in Denmark has increased by some 50% since 1980).

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