Davies0004

Ky . wi^fw

tire wrong "something" will be done. Eolian energy is anti-productive, anti-ecological and anti-safety. i assume you don't actually know now The Electric Grid works. Please concern yourself with the facts before expressirig an ignorant rant, which appeals to the egually ignorant. Scientific education might be a better mvestment than half-baked assertions. Lets put the science and rigor back into public debate. Happy to send Mr Linklater a 5-page primer on why wind energy makes NO SENSE AT ALL.

Karl fWassey,,

Dear Magnus, Since we last debated, probably in 1S56,1 have been amongst otherthings, a rotary wing aerodynamicist. My rather elementary calculations indicate that the claims madę for these grotesque structures are grossly exaggerated. The power is proportional to the cube of the wind speed, which means that at say 1/2 the design wind speed, which seems to be about 30 mph, there is only 1/8th of the power available. Is it really worth despoiling our land for so litile return? There must be better Solutions.

James AM. Glfford, Banff, Scotland

While the fact that the climate is changing is beyond doubt the effecł that man is having is open to debate. Even the United Nations, that great body of disinterested service for glory of numankind. has recently published a report saying that the effect that man has is less than previously thought. Yes we need to protect our pianet, mainly from the intentions of people like yourself. When I see the government banning the sale of new cars and ploughing the runways at Heathrow then I will believe that they are taking this so called problem seriously. Until then I shall wait for the ice age that I was promised in the late sixties.

Barry MelHsft, Brorafey, England

What a piece of utter nonsense, Mr Linklater. Wind farms do nothing towards alleviating climate change, even assuming that the pseudoscientific predictions (which get changed every six months. vide the latest UN report on the matteiif are anywhere near the truth. By allowing unfettered erection of wind farms ali over Scotland, we destroy the countryside without any benefit whatsoever in terms of carbon emissions (especially if we 'disturb' the carbon-absorbing peatlands of Lewis) Your piece preys on the crudest fears of mankind— the feeiing of being at the mercy of naturę. The solution to our energy needs must go through a show of respect for naturę, not, once again. a policy that does violence to our hills. I do not expect you to understand this, because you‘re only interested in cheap rhetorical shots.

Georg© Lorirrser, St Andrews, Scotland

Wrong solution. We need to build nuclear power stations and we need to start right now. The French are 80 per cent nuciear and have a carbon footprint half that of the UK’s. Wind energy is pure folly Ultimateiy what we do in this country will have little impact if the Chinese continue to open coal fired power stations at the ratę of one per week for the next 10 years...

T Duke, St ASbans.

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l’ve read spme rubbish about globai warming, the need for alternative sources of energy etc but this is the worst. Mr Linklater clearly hasn't taken the trouble to research any of the science nor the consequences of this and other windfarms. The science is elear, the only answer to av'ert disastrous climate change over the next 50-80 years is a combination of contraction and convergence. We, the humans, have to bite the buliet of contracting our demand for energy, whilst at the same time introducing generation and distribution methods which are excessively morę efficient than the methods we currently use, including off-shore wind-generation. Let's be elear, the Lewis wind farm will require thousands of tons of concrete, miles of new roads, miles of cables and a number of transmission stations. The energy produced will then suffer losses as it is transmitted to the grid on the mainland. In carbon terms the project will still be in deficit when the turbines have to be replaced in 25 years

Clive, Surrey,

There is a sense in which the man from Lewis is right - if we all had the same environmental impact as the crofters of his grandfather's generation did, then there would be no problem. But we don't. Morę importantly, neither does he. In order to live on Lewis at all, he enjoys many subsidised services courtesy of the civilisation he doesn't care much for. Is he prepared to give up his ferries, his postał service, his electricity supply? I doubt it. Let him learn to regard the wind farm as simply a return favour paid back to those who enable his rural idyll.

lan Kemmish, Siggleswade, UK

The mam assumption is that wind power wili actually reduce C02 emissions. Given that 100% backup power from nori-wind sources will be necessary, for those days when it is not windy, and the installations themseives can cause considerable C02 emissions from the effect they have on peat moorland structure in particular, this remains to be demonstrated adequately. It might be true, convince me. I want to see the sums, not the rhetoric, and by someone trustworthy, not an industry hired gun - a elear case for funding of serious research. Wildlife effects are treated cavalierly; in Norway the first big Coastal wind farm is killing sea eagles at the ratę of one a month, and those are just the ones that have been found. Siting is critical - why is the UK (unlike Ireland) not zoned indicatively? With a world population doubling every 35 years and energy consumption per head rising much faster, drop in the ocean is hardly the word. Current wind power policy is an alibi, not a solution.

David, Glasgow,

So what have wind farms to do with the melting polar ice cap? Absolutely nothing whatsoever, apart from the fact that the masters of the globe fear that when liquid hydrocarbon fuels run out in less than 40 years time there will be nothing left to replace them. Why not, instead, learn to live with less energy. Transport alone consumes, either directly or indirectly, FIFTY EIGHT PER CENT of all oil fuel produced. In the valley where I live there are five or six ruined 18th-century honzontal-wheel water mills. These could be restored. fitted with mini-turbines, and used to generate electricity. Sufficient for local needs The Government could provide 100 % grants for solar panels. Our valley faces south. We could then as a community become a net producer of energy. We could return to the horse and cart to take us to the local station, to catch frequent and cheap electric trains to go shopping. And we could all live at a slower pace of live, live longer and be happier!

MIKĘ BE,NT, OVIEDO, SPAIN

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