GREENPEACE'S SOLAR SOLUTION TOUR ARRIVES AT THE EDINBURGH FRINGE FESTIVAL
12 August 1997
On Sunday 17th August the Greenpeace Solar kitchen visits The Edinburgh Fringe Festival. The fully functioning solar electric kitchen is touring the country this summer visiting 15 venues, to show that solar power works in the UK and is a key part of the solution to the problem of climate change.
The kitchen uses an array of 24 solar panels to generate electricity, which powers a range of ordinary appliances including a washing machine and hob. In a series of practical demonstrations throughout the day visitors will be able to experience first hand, solar electricity being generated.
In addition to the demonstrations, local campaigners will be showing campaign videos and detailing the progress of Greenpeace's campaign to halt oil expansion on the Atlantic Frontier. The latest phase of the campaign has seen Greenpeace activists occupying the Stena Dee, a mobile drilling platform. Activists were placed in the sea in front of the platform and were also chained to the anchor chain and support legs of the Stena Dee to prevent it continuing on its planned route to Foinaven.
The Stena had been on its way to install one of the final pieces of equipment necessary to enable BP's Foinaven field to commence oil production.
The Atlantic Frontier is a pristine deep-sea area to the West of the Shetland Isles. It is here that the Government is licensing massive new oil fields that will expand oil production well into the 21st century.
Such an expansion has huge implications for our ability to control the rate of climate change. During the last two hundred years human activities have resulted in emissions of greenhouse gases, mainly from the burning of oil, coal and gas. As a result the Earth's temperature is rising and the climate is changing.
At the Edinburgh Festival as at all stops on the tour this summer, Greenpeace will be collecting signatures for a international petition running from now until November which calls on Tony Blair as Prime Minister to prevent climate change by stopping new oil exploration in the Atlantic Frontier and investing in clean energy such as solar electricity. Greenpeace has already collected 75, 000 signatures and throughout the summer will be collecting many more, both here and abroad, from people who want the UK government to take action on climate change.
The signatures will be delivered to the Prime Minister before he leaves to attend an international climate meeting in December. The meeting, in Kyoto, Japan, will be an opportunity for the world's leaders to take the first step towards limiting greenhouse gases and stopping climate change.
Tony Blair speaking at an international conference in New York in June this year said "We are all in this together. No country can opt out of global warming or fence in its own private climate. We need common action to save our common environment."
Greenpeace Campaigner Stephanie Tunmore said, "Our solar kitchen is showing people at the Edinburgh Festival that solar power is a viable, clean alternative to climate damaging fossil fuels. We need to invest in this sort of renewable energy now to save the climate".
Notes for correspondents
The Greenpeace Solar Electric Kitchen will be located at The Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Hollyrood Park, Edinburgh, Scotland.
The Greenpeace ship `MV Greenpeace' is currently in Atlantic Frontier waters monitoring oil company activity.
Twenty-four panels installed on a house will meet 50% of an average family's electricity needs over a year, thus avoiding the emission of approximately 40 tonnes of carbon dioxide during the thirty year lifetime of the system.
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:
Greenpeace Press Office on +44 (0)171-865 8255/6/7/8