Scotland on Sunday readers' letters: Renewables are destroying the rural environment

The world has wasted close to $10 trillion, yes trillion, on so-called “unreliables” yet 20 years later wind and solar combined produce less than 3 per cent of the world’s energy. 97 per cent of all machines that move are still powered by oil, with oil, coal and natural gas still providing 84 per cent of the world’s energy.

The mining for the raw materials required to make short-lived “renewables” will have to increase by more than a staggering 1000 per cent! On top of that, the energy to process and convert these non-renewable materials into “renewables” will require even more planet-devouring mining! The whole lot will require replacement by 2050.

A World Bank Study has recently confirmed that “green” technologies are significantly more materials intensive than our current energy mix.

Expanding wind and solar would require 25 to 50 per cent of the land surface area, says reader.

To quote recent, revealing documentaries – “You use more fossil fuels to do this than you’re getting benefit from” and actually you are “better off burning the fossil fuels in the first place”.

Expert calculations also show that our present energy mix occupies 0.5 per cent of our land surface, expanding wind and solar would require an astonishing 25 to 50 per cent of the land surface area. What room will that leave for farming, food production, people, nature and wildlife?

Before any more damage is inflicted on besieged, rural residents and wildlife, the crucial question our ever-so-green politicians should urgently be asking is: if “renewables” are so great for the environment, why do they keep destroying it?

George Herraghty, Elgin, Moray

No quick answers

There is a direct formal link between speed of the Crown Office investigation of Covid-19 deaths in care homes and the progress the Scottish Covid-19 public inquiry (“Families stuck in limbo over Covid deaths”, October 23).

If the Crown Office decides to bring criminal prosecutions, the public inquiry will have to wait until any trials have ended before it can start public hearings to prevent prejudicing the outcome of the trials.

If the current speed of establishment of Fatal Accident Inquiries is a guide to the rapidity of Crown Office decision making, it is reasonable to conclude that the relatives of those who died of Covid-19 in care homes will not get answers to their questions any time soon.

Hugh Pennington, Aberdeen

Law condemned

We were concerned to hear that The SEC in Glasgow has been ordered to pay almost £100,000 in damages to a US preacher after cancelling his event. Franklin Graham, the son of the late evangelist Billy Graham, has faced criticism over remarks about homosexuality.

The event was opposed by Glasgow City Council, Glasgow’s LGBT+ Interfaith Network, politicians and other church leaders but its cancellation was deemed to have breached equality legislation and “religious freedom”. We must not police private church attitudes, however distasteful, but a law which condemns homophobic hate and yet champions it at public events when it is religious homophobic hate is an ass.

Neil Barber, Edinburgh Secular Society

Sunday, Monday

Visiting in-laws in Dumfries recently I asked for a Scotland on Sunday in an otherwise well-stocked shop. The response was "They dinnae come in tae Monday”. “Does anyone buy a Sunday paper on a Monday?” I asked. “Aye, folks that order it,” was the reply. Strange, because the Scotsman seems readily available in the area.

Alan Hill, Inverkeithing, Fife

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