Mistake to sacrifice our landscape to unpredictable wind power schemes

Published on Tuesday 15 April 2008 22:14

What a brave article ("Wind farms or peat bogs: Scotland's green dilemma", 15 April), at last you are beginning to tweak out some of the hidden truths of which many of us who have campaigning to have wind farms put anywhere but in our national and regional parks have been well aware. If only wind farms were the solution, then life could be simpler.

No-one can predict when these machines will supply power. They need a power station ticking over in the background at 70 per cent in case the wind drops and they can't supply. Take away the renewables obligation subsidy, which should appear on your energy bill but doesn't, and they are uneconomic. They add to fuel cost inflation.

Sadly, some politicians look on them with pride because they think they are a sound solution without regard to the whole picture.

THOMAS BEGG

Church Street

Lochwinnoch, Renfrewshire

The Scottish skiing season is expected to extend into May (your report, 12 April). What is more, it is almost a decade since the global high temperature record was last broken, with world temperatures now flat-lining or falling.

The time has surely come for the people of Scotland to realise that man-made global warming possibly never was or, if it was, that it has come to an end. Time to polish up your skis, skates and curling stones and enjoy the real delights of the Highlands as winter takes hold again. But we warn you that your wind turbines may become even less productive than the last year's 27 per cent of maximum, as ice and snow play havoc with blades and transmission lines.

(DR) DAVID BELLAMY

Bishop Auckland

County Durham

(DR) JOHN ETHERINGTON

Llanhowell

Pembrokeshire

G M Lindsay's expert demolition of wind power claims is a stark reminder we're being conned. It's just a wheeze to let politicians seem active and their industrial friends make money.

Politicians' behaviour shows they don't believe their own claims of climatic disaster. Switch off room lights and TV remote controls, they order. Yet buildings remain floodlit and retailers have masses of TV sets on all day.

Even more laughable is their deadline for avoiding the death of the planet. First it was 2011, according to Kyoto. Then Kofi Annan declared 2015 absolutely the last chance.

They have two reasons for endless extension of Destruction Day. First, they know that people, themselves included, will never give up the activities they identify as the danger.

Second, if we reach the appointed date with global warming still in full swing, there'll be no point in caring.

ROBERT DOW

Ormiston Road

Tranent, East Lothian

The decision by Scottish ministers to give their consent to proposals for a wind farm at Gordonbush (your report, 10 April) is premature. Many issues remain unresolved and lessons have not been learned from other wind farms constructed on deep peat.

It is a political decision rather than one based on best environmental practice. The site is inappropriate. Other industrial brownfield sites are available and should be used before damaging pristine areas of wilderness.

The Scottish Government is pushing through plans to export surplus renewable energy to Norway. To generate the surplus , many areas similar to Gordonbush will be lost. There may be short-term gains but there will be long-term losses which cannot be measured in financial terms.

ALLAN TUBB

Golspie

Sutherland