It is openly acknowledged that wind power is not viable without the substantial economic assistance which we pay for through higher taxes and electricity bills, that it is the least green of all the low-emission technologies, with significantly higher lifetime CO2 release than hydro, tidal and nuclear, and that it can never provide a significant and reliable part of our ongoing power demand. It does not "provide power for hundreds of thousands of homes"; it provides power for industrial companies in the south for commercial carbon trading.

I read the recent open letter on wind farms to Jim Mather, Energy Minister, with growing astonishment and bafflement as to how the signatories could have allowed themselves to believe that on-shore wind farms bring any benefit to Scotland, far less that they are vital to economic wellbeing. They certainly bring benefits to the power companies and land owners, but at what cost?

Fact: Scotland already exports more than 20% of all the electricity it generates; we don't need any more, especially when it involves the destruction of our greatest asset - the land.

Fact: the only benefits to local communities are in the form of so-called community funds from the generating companies, and industrial rates paid to local authorities. But the losses will last for years to come when residents and visitors desert the blighted, barren landscape.

Fact: wind farms do not create permanent jobs, only temporary construction work.

Fact: there is no wind-related renewable technology to be developed in Scotland - it already exists in Denmark, where I used to work, and Germany, and that is where the real economic benefits rest.

It is openly acknowledged that wind power is not viable without the substantial economic assistance which we pay for through higher taxes and electricity bills, that it is the least green of all the low-emission technologies, with significantly higher lifetime CO2 release than hydro, tidal and nuclear, and that it can never provide a significant and reliable part of our ongoing power demand. It does not "provide power for hundreds of thousands of homes"; it provides power for industrial companies in the south for commercial carbon trading.

The sad fact is that so far we have failed to encourage and develop the integrated technologies which bring about large-scale energy saving, recovery and redistribution, and instead are wasting huge amounts of money and natural resources on the gesture that is wind power. It is not too late to make Scotland the centre for that really relevant technology which would create indigenous high value industries, exports and jobs. The signatories should do their homework and promote what we really need.

 

Web link: http://www.theherald.co.uk/features/letters/displa...