Scots are set to be hit with a multi-million-pound bill for ­hundreds of new wind turbines as experts warn that most will need to be replaced after only half their predicted lifespan. It is claimed household bills will rocket as energy firms prepare to renew two-thirds of the country's 188 wind farms by the end of the decade.

The closure this month of Trinity's Tank Car Inc.'s freight railcar manufacturing plant in Oklahoma City affected about 250 hourly and administrative employees. Tulsa-based Trinity Structural Towers Inc., which produced towers for wind farms, closed Jan. 16. About 130 hourly and administrative workers lost their jobs. Employees at both facilities were given a 60-day notice, the company said.

The Bruce County Federation of Agriculture is calling for measures to protect the county's tourism industry, farming operations and municipalities from the rapidly developing wind energy industry. "Recent studies in other countries have shown that large wind generating areas and tourism are not compatible. It would be a shame to lose the gains we have made in tourism by not having planning in place to make sure our tourism industry stays vibrant," federation president Robert Emerson told Bruce County council's agriculture, tourism and planning committee on Thursday.

The landscape of Shetland could be changed forever if the giant windfarm project goes ahead, those in the tourism industry told representatives from Viking Energy at a meeting on Wednesday. Members of Shetland Tourism Association, including accommodation providers and tour operators, expressed concern about the size of the proposed development, which could see as many a 192 turbines being erected in the central and north-east mainland. They feared the visual impact of the windfarm would deter tourists, although this was disputed by David Thomson of Viking Energy who produced the results of surveys carried out in other parts of the UK that windfarms made no difference. A suggestion was made to give questionnaires on the subject for tour guides to give to tourists.

An explosion of proposed wind farms near Canberra and their divisive nature have turned communities against them, the Liberal candidate for Hume claims. Angus Taylor said neighbouring farmers were terrified their land values will plunge 30 per cent.

The number of wind turbines in Michigan will increase more than tenfold this year, to the delight of dozens of farmers in the state's Thumb region.

Campaigners fear the impact of plans to use the Port of Ramsgate in Kent as the operating base for the world’s largest wind farm in the Thames Estuary. The government granted permission on Monday for the 341-turbine scheme off the Kent and Essex coasts along with a smaller 100-turbine project off Thanet. The Ramsgate First group said it was concerned about the effect of the base on residents and visitors to the town. Thanet District Council said it would not allow any serious disruption.

On jobs, the promise fell short. The White House said its clean-energy stimulus funds created 224,500 jobs. An independent study this year concluded that 70,000 jobs were added to clean technology industries from 2007 to 2010. That study was done by the Brookings Institution, the Breakthrough Institute and the World Resources Institute.

Nobuo Tanaka, executive director of the International Energy Agency, says it is "inevitable" that the manufacturing of renewable energy components - mainly solar modules and wind turbines - will move to China and, to a lesser extent, India. "The PV cells made there are not of as high a quality yet [as those made in Europe] but they will get there." This view is echoed by George Frampton, former chairman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality and a member of the Obama campaign's transition team. He says: "There is a very strong momentum. And it's not just because of the cost, it's also that I'm not that optimistic that this market is going to boom in the US."

Sir Ranulph Fiennes, the adventurer and outdoor campaigner, has launched a scathing attack on the Scottish executive’s renewable energy policy, claiming the country’s landscape is being ruined by wind turbines. Fiennes, a world-renowned explorer and mountaineer, accused ministers of creating a blight across much of rural Scotland and of putting the country’s tourism industry at risk. He said rural communities were threatened with destruction and urged Jack McConnell, the first minister, to scrap his renewables target until other methods of green energy generation are found.

Renewable energy's gone in the space of a few months from market darling to whipping boy. Shares in solar- and wind-power companies have suffered even more than the market at large. The outlook for new projects is growing increasingly cloudy. But that's not because renewable energy suddenly got uglier. It's because of the fallout from financial-market turmoil ..."Natural gas at $6 makes wind look like a questionable idea and solar power unfathomably expensive," said Kevin Book, a senior vice president at FBR Capital Markets.

The Norwegian fish industry fiercely fights goverment plans to build windmill parks at sea. The windmills will hinder fishing and shipping, a fish industry association argues. In its annual conference this weekend, the Norwegian Fishery Association unanimously supported a proposal to fight the development of windmill parks at sea.

Fluor Corporation today announced that its third quarter results will include a charge of approximately $163 million, or $0.90 per share, for estimated cost increases on the Greater Gabbard Offshore Wind Project. During the third quarter, the project experienced a variety of execution challenges, including material and equipment delivery issues.

Property values were at the center of a court case that pits homeowners against a planned $300 million wind farm in West Virginia's Eastern Panhandle that one lawyer labeled a "brothel on top of the hill." The state Supreme Court heard arguments Tuesday in a case that pits a group of property owners against NedPower Mount Storm LLC and its owner, Shell Windenergy Inc. The companies want to build a 10 1/2-mile string of 200 wind turbines along a ridge top in Grant County. Residents claim the project would severely damage the value of their property. The companies argue the 330-foot-tall turbines will not only bring economic gain to the area, but the homeowners' concerns have already been dismissed by the state Public Service Commission.

Minnesota's wind-energy industry is about to get a turbo-charged boost from the $789 billion economic stimulus package ...An extension of the production tax credit to three years plus the addition of an investment tax credit will inject new life and urgency into projects that were starved for financing, tax experts said. And the Energy Office in the Minnesota Department of Commerce estimated the bill could inject about $220 million into Minnesota.

But there's no sign that demand for solar-panel installers, wind-farm workers and other green positions will be strong enough to drive California's unemployment rate below the national average, the forecast said. "As we look at the hype around 'green is going to drive the economy,' the fact is, not really," Jerry Nickelsburg, author of the forecast, said in an interview.

DOUGHERTY - Landowners symbolically began construction Wednesday on a $100 million wind farm in Floyd County. As they stuck silver shovels into the soil, it became clear that perhaps gold-plated shovels would have been more appropriate as the venture holds a huge potential economic impact. Renewable Energy Systems, an international wind development company with offices in Austin, is launching the endeavor with 26 turbines in the works, reaching across 8,320 acres.

MALONE "" Two wind-energy facilities under review in Franklin County would pump between $25 million and $75 million into the local economy during construction and $1.45 million to $3.8 million a year after that.

An Internet-style bubble is looming in renewable energy stocks with valuations reaching the ozone layer and businesses managing to secure flotations with little or no turnover, a French investment fund has warned. With raw material prices showing no sign of abating, companies that supply renewable energy or equipment such as wind turbines and solar panels could see their margins suffer, Matteo Novelli of Star Innovation at CFD Capital Management said. "There is clearly a bubble forming in the eco-energy market and there could be a hefty correction at some point," Novelli told Reuters in an interview on Thursday. European Union leaders have pledged to get a fifth of the bloc's energy from renewable fuels like wind, solar and biofuels by 2020, three times the current level. Political pressure for a cleaner environment and high oil prices have sparked an investment rush into alternative energy. But Novelli said such businesses were so fashionable that valuations could not be sustained in the short to medium term.

Fuel bills will soar as green targets leave Britain reliant on expensive imported gas, the energy regulator warned yesterday. Alistair Buchanan, chief executive of Ofgem, also raised the spectre of 1970s-style blackouts because 10 per cent of coal and oil-fired power production is being shut down next month.