CO2 reduction

Joss Blamire of Scottish Renewables, in trying to defend the desecration of Scotland’s treasured landscapes by thousands of wind turbines, claims renewables are displacing 11.9 million tonnes (MTe) of carbon dioxide every year (Letters, 17 December).

It might benefit readers to get some perspective on this claimed carbon emissions reduction, which is theoretical and not actually measured either by the Department of Energy and Climate Change or Scottish Renewables.

Since 2000 China’s carbon emissions have risen from about 3,000 MTe to 10,000 MTe, namely around 500 MTe per year. Hence the annual reduction of 11.9 MTe in carbon emissions claimed by Mr Blamire corresponds to the emissions China is adding every 8.5 days.

Not only is the claimed emissions reduction for these 
turbines a mere pinprick on a global scale, but the ever-increasing subsidies we are all paying for the intermittent and unreliable electricity wind turbines generate are ramping up our electricity bills and causing ever more households to endure fuel poverty.

GM Lindsay

Whinfield Gardens

Kinross

Guy Hands, chair of Terra Firma (Business, 16 December), is quoted as saying the government has confirmed that “onshore wind generation will be the cheapest form of new-build electricity within a few years”. Presumably this is great news for consumers who will no longer have to pay the ridiculously high subsidies to wind farm operators which we were told were needed to allow wind farms to compete with other forms of energy.

Alan Black

Camus Avenue

Edinburgh