Serious crime: The Vastmanlands district court found that downloading copyrighted material was not illegal at the time. But it ruled that distributing the film breached Sweden's copyright law. "This kind of crime should be taken seriously," said the ruling. "Making a film available to the public on the internet has significant consequences for the film industry. Illegal material can in this way be spread quickly and reach many people, which can lead to heavy economic losses for the copyright owners," the court said. File-sharing carries a maximum sentence of two years in prison, but in this case the court chose just a fine as the man was not trying to profit financially from his actions. Bawer's lawyer said his client had not yet decided whether to appeal against the verdict. "It's a lot for uploading one film on one occasion and without financial gain," said Torbjorn Persson. The Swedish Anti-piracy Agency, which represents the entertainment industry, hailed the verdict as a big step forward. "This sends a very strong signal to file-sharers," said Henrik Ponten, legal council at the group. "Now we have taken the first step toward a functioning copyright law." The decision to fine rather than send Bawer to jail could have serious implications for the fight against internet piracy. Swedish police can only request personal details from an internet provider about who own a specific net address if they are suspected of a crime that warrants a prison sentence.

Photo: NISBET'S WINDMILL.

His motivation was both financial and environmental and he was inspired by seeing two windmills at the Ford plant where he works. Although he says the concerns of others have been allayed, the first few months haven't been as windy as he hoped. "In the last eight to 10 years we've had strong south-westerly winds but not this year," he says. "It's been fickle and I'd put this six months down as a lean year. "It's been generating electricity but not as much as I had hoped for. It's connected to the grid and any surplus flows back into the grid." The wind provided 80% of his electricity in the summer and he estimates it will heat the house through winter, thereby saving him a total of £1,000 a year in heating bills. In 10 years, he hopes to have paid off his investment, but he will still have been buying electricity from the grid during that time. It isn't possible to be totally dependent on wind because it doesn't blow every minute, says Alison Hill at the British Wind Energy Association. "You may get the 4-5,000 units a year to run a household but not every single hour of every day so you would need to have standard electricity grid connection to get electricity from the grid. "We are quite lucky in the UK because when we have most wind we have most demand - winter. That profile of generation is quite beneficial, but no-one can have 100% self-sufficiency on wind alone. "If it looks like you have a big wind resource and a good turbine, you can connect that turbine to the grid and sell that, so there's an additional revenue for householders there."Typically, a household sees a reduction of between a quarter and a third in its annual electricity bill." Solar panels can supplement wind to boost a home's renewable sources but some households do claim to make a profit purely from wind, by generating so much electricity that the amount they sell back is greater than the amount they buy. That would require a very energy-efficient house and living in a particularly windy part of the UK, says Ms Hill. And the future is bright - despite the end of government grants in February - because big companies like British Gas are investing in new kinds of turbines which have yet to come on the market, she adds.