This discusses the background to the sustainable development philosophy
with a specific focus on the role of wind turbines in the efforts to decarbonise the
economy. There is a global drive towards a ‘green economy’. Traditional electricity
generation has focused on the burning of fossil fuels to power the majority of the
generating plant. Wind turbine technology is expected to reduce our dependence on
fossil-fuel-driven electrical generators. This expected fossil-fuel reduction lessens
the amount of harmful Green-HouseGases,mainlyCO2, emitted into the atmosphere.
One of the weaknesses in the sustainable development sphere is identified, namely,
the methods by which the effectiveness of wind turbines is measured. This study
aims to develop an evaluation framework to address this weakness. A step-by-step
guide as to how the framework is developed is described in this chapter.