Our correspondent assesses the options available for those planning Britain’s future energy needs. Generating electricity from nuclear reactors is as effective at combating global warming as any known form of renewable energy and is likely to remain so indefinitely.

TALLINN - Wind power has fallen out of Estonia’s favor in recent months, with the Economy Ministry deciding to limit support to wind-power producers and Parliament adopting amendments to the energy law that will give preference to other forms of renewable energy. Einari Kisel, head of the Ministry of Economy and Communications’ energy department, puts it bluntly: “We do not want to have too many wind mills,” he says. “The price of wind energy is expensive. The unstable production causes additional costs to other producers.”

TALLINN - Wind power has fallen out of Estonia’s favor in recent months, with the Economy Ministry deciding to limit support to wind-power producers and Parliament adopting amendments to the energy law that will give preference to other forms of renewable energy. Einari Kisel, head of the Ministry of Economy and Communications’ energy department, puts it bluntly: “We do not want to have too many wind mills,” he says. “The price of wind energy is expensive. The unstable production causes additional costs to other producers.”

PARIS (Reuters) - France plans to boost the use of solar power with cash incentives and to hit motorists with higher taxes on the worst polluting cars as it beefs up the fight against global warming.

They introduced the world to "environmentally friendly" energy, but now some of Europe's "greenest" countries are under pressure to backtrack on wind farms as public anger grows over their impact on the countryside.

The hostility aroused by the Parham project is not unusual either. Some locals complain that wind farms are noisy, ugly and (citing estate agents) that they reduce property prices. Others, like John Constable, who lives 700 metres away from the airfield, say they are just inappropriate. “I happen to like the Chrysler building,” he says, “but I don't want it near my house.”

In conclusion, this study has shown that in many countries deregulation is having the expected effect of increased competition leading to price reduction. However, it is evident that pricing in markets depends not just on the status of deregulation, but also on the broader aspects of competition. Key factors here include the balance of supply and demand, generation fuel costs, the learning process that new markets go through, competition within different market segments and the costs of access to transmission and distribution networks. Deregulation is a long-term process that requires sustained attention.