Through much of the nimby madness of the Battle for Lenchwick Windfarm, the frothy-mouthed sclerotic terrorists of VVASP were praying for a Conservative victory in the 2010 general election.
They weren't taken in by David Cameron's everso slimy claims about leading "the greenest government ever". One would also hope that they weren't so completely bonkers that they actually believed their own guff about windfarms being part of some madcap leftwing conspiracy organised by Gordon Brown and the EU (although one can't be too sure - there were a lot of people believing a lot of very mad things back then). No. They wanted a Tory government - a) because most of them are Tories anyway, and b) because if you're looking for craven hypocrisy and outright opportunism, look no further than the Conservative Party of Great Britain.
Individual Tory MPs feel free to play both sides of the windfarm debate. Take Neil Carmichael, for example. The Tory MP for Stroud (sic) is smarmying up to his nastier voters by opposing a windfarm in Berkeley Vale. Meanwhile, the same Tory MP is actively trying to get a windfarm built on his own farm in Northumberland. He'd make money from it, see? So it's one rule for down south and another for up north - or, if you prefer, two different kinds of blatant self-interest: be against windfarms where there are votes in it for you, but be for windfarms where you stand to make a profit from them.
As we know only too well, other Tory MPs (such as the not-terribly-bright one for Redditch) are perfectly happy to stand up and spout lies handed to them by their local nimbies in the hopes of retaining their majority. Yes - lies. Falsified figures about public opinion. Lies.
Even Cameron himself has been known to spout the odd nugget of anti-windfarm gibberish to appease the Daily Mail readers, even though he's perfectly familiar with the convenient truth about windfarms (his father-in-law has one on the family estate, dontcha know?)
So the nasty nimbies of Lench reckoned they'd be onto a safe bet if the Tories got in at the last election. A little hypocrisy goes a long way, and a public servant who is prepared to lie to the planning committee, well, that's money in the bank to the nimbies.
But recent findings are showing just how out-of-control the coalition government really is. Thanks to a number of Freedom of Information requests submitted by Caroline Lucas (a real MP), we now know that the oil and nuclear industries have almost completely infiltrated the coalition government:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/dec/05/energy-companies-lend-staff-government
More than fifty employees of the oil and nuclear industries have been working for "free" for periods of up to two years in the government departments responsible for energy. Not one of these "seconded" employees works for the renewables industry.
It is hardly a surprise, then, to discover that the government co-operated with nuclear power companies to "control" the UK news coverage of the nuclear disaster at Fukushima earlier this year. Nor that the government shared intelligence with nuclear power companies regarding its legal battle with Greenpeace. Nor that an unprecedented alliance of environmentalist and countryside groups has attacked George Osborne for putting the government "on a path to becoming the most environmentally destructive government to hold power in this country since the modern environmental movement was born".
Astonishingly, at a time when even insurance companies are beginning to respond to the problems of climate change (Boston Globe 30 November 2011) while hundreds of the world's biggest companies (including Tesco, Shell, BSkyB and Lloyds Bank) demand a global agreement to curb greenhouse gas emissions, the UK's Met Office releases the latest detailed and really rather scary studies of climate change in 24 countries (http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/climate-change/policy-relevant/obs-projections-impacts) and the BBC is about to screen Sir David Attenborough's Frozen Planet episode about the perceptable realities of climate change (the one that viewers in America are not allowed to watch), the renewable energy industry in the UK is struggling.
Increasingly, apart from a few barking exceptions like Nigel Lawson, the world is waking up to the enormous problems that lie just over the horizon. But what is our government doing? Letting the most polluting, most expensive and most dangerous of all the power industries dictate our energy policy.
Maybe that's why the nimby nutters were so desperate for a Tory government. After all, a bunch of myopic, money-minded, thick, selfish liars is bound to want a similar bunch to be their "democratically elected" representatives.
Who cares what it costs us all - the country, the future, our children, the planet - as long as our view of the Malverns isn't affected in any way? Just keep the lies and the backhanders coming, folks, and we can all go down together.
Tuesday, 6 December 2011
Monday, 28 November 2011
VICTIMOLOGY
The world of the nimby is an upside-down one.
They claim to be trying to "save" our "green and pleasant" land from the "curse" of windfarms. This is not to say that they are trying to protect the environment in any way, but rather that they are seeking to preserve the "landscape" - i.e., the view from the end of their driveways. And yet, every responsible agency recognises that the real threat to our environment, which includes the rural landscape, is posed by global warming and the attendant problems of climate change, to which windfarms are part of the solution.
In other words, rather like the American general who famously believed that it was necessary to destroy Vietnamese villages in order to save them, the nimby fringe is seeking to "save" the countryside by destroying it.
Much the same can be said of the rural communities into which most of these nimby loudmouths have recently moved. In order to "save" their communities (from windfarms which have a proven track record of benefiting local communities), they are willing to destroy those very communities by setting neighbour against neighbour, spreading unnecessary fear and confusion and driving down the local property market with their obscene and hysterical placards.
But perhaps nowhere is the paranoia of nimbydom, with all its logical inconsistencies, more apparent than in the determination of the nimbies to cast themselves as the victims.
Victims of what, you might well ask? Well, usually they try to present themselves as the victims of some terrible conspiracy. This involves energy companies (including the small, eco-friendly ones and the co-operatives), national government and the EU. Oh, and probably those parts of the media which do not constantly broadcast a shrill nimby message of inaccurate propaganda. And anyone else who disagrees with them (like the UN and the RSPB).
This myth of victimhood is remarkable for a number of reasons. Look at any nimby campaign - and the behaviour of VVASP (Vale Villages Against Scottish Power) in the Lenches is a typical, if somewhat extreme example - and you'll soon notice that the real aggressors are the nimbies themselves. They are the ones publishing lies with the sole intent of misleading and scaring other people. They are the ones bullying their neighbours into conformity with the "consensus" or silence if they happen to know what they're talking about. They are the ones holding noisy demonstrations, making false claims and misrepresenting the facts.
It could be argued that adopting the role of "victim" is all part of the inherent dishonesty of their campaigning tactics. They want people to form the impression that a small bunch of peace-loving villagers are being crushed under foot by powerful, nebulous and unaccountable forces. It's all nonsense, of course, but you could be forgiven for thinking that this is all part of the anti-progress, anti-common sense, anti-everything game.
But it's not as simple as that. The neo-conservative ideology that came in with Thatcher and Reagan and just refuses to go away excels in the paranoid artform of victimology. In the parallel universe inhabited by these reactionary fools, the aggressor is always the victim. There are, for example, those on the British right who like to believe that Britain is the only country currently doing anything to curb CO2 emissions by forcing non-existent subsidies down the throats of energy companies in order to crowd the landscape with windfarms that "don't work". It takes an enormous leap of faith and a blithe willingness to ignore all the reliable evidence to believe any of that. But that's just the point. In this weird age created by neo-conservative loonies, faith or opinion count for a great deal more than hard fact and actual evidence.
Indeed, the very word "fact" has been up-ended by the nimbies and their right-wing ideologues. Take the VVASP campaign again - it relied entirely on opinions which it claimed were "FACTS". The real facts - objective, demonstrable facts - were shouted down. What one deranged lunatic chose to believe, or simply wanted everyone else to believe, became the new FACT. Anything else, such as evidence, data and the personal testimonies of those who knew better, was descried as some sort of propaganda.
The reality is that the creation of an upside-down world in which the aggressors are the victims, opinions become FACTS and real facts are dismissed as proganda is essential to the nimby mindset. By and large, they are rather privileged people (of course they are: they've been able to afford to move into desirable rural areas, where many of them keep their second homes, which they visit only at the weekends, and by doing so they price the real local people out of the market). Quite how this degree of privilege (which, of course, they insist is solely the result of "hard work") equates with victimhood is hard to determine. Especially when they go on to victimise their new neighbours by imposing their own form of nimby martial law on the area.
The weird thing, though, is that these people actually do think of themselves as victims. Forget the fact that almost everyone else is suffering much more than they are, or that their acts of belligerence, intolerance and aggression create yet more suffering, and that their insistence on fighting anything which might affect the view from the upstairs windows of their second home will have grave consequences for the next generation ... no, all that matters to these selfish, self-important nimby types is that THEY are the REAL victims.
Sadder still, those communities which have ended up hosting windfarms have almost invariably accepted that they were wrong about such nimby myths as "noise" and the government's guidelines - ETSU-R-97 - being "out-of-date" and "unfit for purpose". They very quickly realise that real operational windfarms (unlike the mad dreams of the nimbies) are actually quite enjoyable. They bring tranquility to an area, enhance the landscape, and prove to be a financial boon to the immediate neighbourhood (all of these statements have been made by Britons living in close proximity to windfarms). Kids, in particular, love them. All the nimby lies turn out to have been nothing but lies - self-serving lies designed to prevent necessary, desirable and beneficial change.
Ultimately, this proves that one of the biggest nimby lies of them all is that anti-windfarm protesters are "victims". How can you be the victim of something that will bring real benefits to your local area while doing no quantifiable harm to anyone or anything?
How can you claim to be trying to "protect" the countryside (where you bought your second home a year or two ago) from something that will do more to protect the real environment than anything you will ever do yourself?
The answer to these questions can only be that telling lies, misrepresenting the facts and posing as something you are quite definitely not are all second nature to the nimby class in this country.
And yet we're letting these delusional, hypocritical, vicious and aggressive liars dictate our energy and climate change policies in the UK.
No wonder the rest of the world is advancing while we're pretty much staying put. Seems the nimbies are not just false victims - they're genuine traitors, too.
They claim to be trying to "save" our "green and pleasant" land from the "curse" of windfarms. This is not to say that they are trying to protect the environment in any way, but rather that they are seeking to preserve the "landscape" - i.e., the view from the end of their driveways. And yet, every responsible agency recognises that the real threat to our environment, which includes the rural landscape, is posed by global warming and the attendant problems of climate change, to which windfarms are part of the solution.
In other words, rather like the American general who famously believed that it was necessary to destroy Vietnamese villages in order to save them, the nimby fringe is seeking to "save" the countryside by destroying it.
Much the same can be said of the rural communities into which most of these nimby loudmouths have recently moved. In order to "save" their communities (from windfarms which have a proven track record of benefiting local communities), they are willing to destroy those very communities by setting neighbour against neighbour, spreading unnecessary fear and confusion and driving down the local property market with their obscene and hysterical placards.
But perhaps nowhere is the paranoia of nimbydom, with all its logical inconsistencies, more apparent than in the determination of the nimbies to cast themselves as the victims.
Victims of what, you might well ask? Well, usually they try to present themselves as the victims of some terrible conspiracy. This involves energy companies (including the small, eco-friendly ones and the co-operatives), national government and the EU. Oh, and probably those parts of the media which do not constantly broadcast a shrill nimby message of inaccurate propaganda. And anyone else who disagrees with them (like the UN and the RSPB).
This myth of victimhood is remarkable for a number of reasons. Look at any nimby campaign - and the behaviour of VVASP (Vale Villages Against Scottish Power) in the Lenches is a typical, if somewhat extreme example - and you'll soon notice that the real aggressors are the nimbies themselves. They are the ones publishing lies with the sole intent of misleading and scaring other people. They are the ones bullying their neighbours into conformity with the "consensus" or silence if they happen to know what they're talking about. They are the ones holding noisy demonstrations, making false claims and misrepresenting the facts.
It could be argued that adopting the role of "victim" is all part of the inherent dishonesty of their campaigning tactics. They want people to form the impression that a small bunch of peace-loving villagers are being crushed under foot by powerful, nebulous and unaccountable forces. It's all nonsense, of course, but you could be forgiven for thinking that this is all part of the anti-progress, anti-common sense, anti-everything game.
But it's not as simple as that. The neo-conservative ideology that came in with Thatcher and Reagan and just refuses to go away excels in the paranoid artform of victimology. In the parallel universe inhabited by these reactionary fools, the aggressor is always the victim. There are, for example, those on the British right who like to believe that Britain is the only country currently doing anything to curb CO2 emissions by forcing non-existent subsidies down the throats of energy companies in order to crowd the landscape with windfarms that "don't work". It takes an enormous leap of faith and a blithe willingness to ignore all the reliable evidence to believe any of that. But that's just the point. In this weird age created by neo-conservative loonies, faith or opinion count for a great deal more than hard fact and actual evidence.
Indeed, the very word "fact" has been up-ended by the nimbies and their right-wing ideologues. Take the VVASP campaign again - it relied entirely on opinions which it claimed were "FACTS". The real facts - objective, demonstrable facts - were shouted down. What one deranged lunatic chose to believe, or simply wanted everyone else to believe, became the new FACT. Anything else, such as evidence, data and the personal testimonies of those who knew better, was descried as some sort of propaganda.
The reality is that the creation of an upside-down world in which the aggressors are the victims, opinions become FACTS and real facts are dismissed as proganda is essential to the nimby mindset. By and large, they are rather privileged people (of course they are: they've been able to afford to move into desirable rural areas, where many of them keep their second homes, which they visit only at the weekends, and by doing so they price the real local people out of the market). Quite how this degree of privilege (which, of course, they insist is solely the result of "hard work") equates with victimhood is hard to determine. Especially when they go on to victimise their new neighbours by imposing their own form of nimby martial law on the area.
The weird thing, though, is that these people actually do think of themselves as victims. Forget the fact that almost everyone else is suffering much more than they are, or that their acts of belligerence, intolerance and aggression create yet more suffering, and that their insistence on fighting anything which might affect the view from the upstairs windows of their second home will have grave consequences for the next generation ... no, all that matters to these selfish, self-important nimby types is that THEY are the REAL victims.
Sadder still, those communities which have ended up hosting windfarms have almost invariably accepted that they were wrong about such nimby myths as "noise" and the government's guidelines - ETSU-R-97 - being "out-of-date" and "unfit for purpose". They very quickly realise that real operational windfarms (unlike the mad dreams of the nimbies) are actually quite enjoyable. They bring tranquility to an area, enhance the landscape, and prove to be a financial boon to the immediate neighbourhood (all of these statements have been made by Britons living in close proximity to windfarms). Kids, in particular, love them. All the nimby lies turn out to have been nothing but lies - self-serving lies designed to prevent necessary, desirable and beneficial change.
Ultimately, this proves that one of the biggest nimby lies of them all is that anti-windfarm protesters are "victims". How can you be the victim of something that will bring real benefits to your local area while doing no quantifiable harm to anyone or anything?
How can you claim to be trying to "protect" the countryside (where you bought your second home a year or two ago) from something that will do more to protect the real environment than anything you will ever do yourself?
The answer to these questions can only be that telling lies, misrepresenting the facts and posing as something you are quite definitely not are all second nature to the nimby class in this country.
And yet we're letting these delusional, hypocritical, vicious and aggressive liars dictate our energy and climate change policies in the UK.
No wonder the rest of the world is advancing while we're pretty much staying put. Seems the nimbies are not just false victims - they're genuine traitors, too.
Friday, 25 November 2011
SUBSIDING SUBSIDIES
According to the new patron saint of nimbies, Philip the Intolerant, windfarms are "absolutely useless" and "completely reliant on subsidies".
You know, if you try asking a nimby about these subsidies, they tend to go a bit blank. Lots of waffle but no answers.
You'd think, would you not, that if the British government were so keen to subsidise wind power it would also be doing something to straighten out our crooked planning system, so that a small bunch of local loudmouths with honesty issues couldn't derail these important developments. Think about it: why would the UK subsidise windfarms if it can't be bothered to support them through the planning process?
Actually, there are no direct government subsidies for windfarms. There are no subsidies for windfarms during the planning stage, nor during the installation stage.
When a windfarm becomes operational and starts producing electricity, then - and only then - does it qualify for ROCs (Renewable Obligation Certificates). These are payable only on the basis of the amount of electricity actually generated (so windfarms have to "work" in order to qualify for these "subsidies"). And it's not a subsidy because it has nothing whatever to do with the taxpayer. The entire energy industry is reponsible for paying these ROCs (to all renewables, not just wind), which are funded by a small supplement on energy bills. So where's the subsidy?
Hmmnn ... interesting, isn't it? If windfarms really were "completely reliant on subsidies", then there would surely be some subsidies for them to be completely reliant upon. So when you find out that there aren't any - only a system whereby windfarm operators are compensated for the fact that other energy sources (gas, oil, nuclear) are or have been so heavily subsidised - then you do have to ask yourself, "What is all this nonsense the nimbies keep talking about subsidies???"
Another interesting fact about "subsidies" is that generally, nimbies are very happy to receive subsidies for their own things - such as the grants awarded to fund the Lenches Sports and Recreation Club - but totally opposed to subsidies for anybody else's things (such as ensuring energy security and low carbon energy sources for future generations). It's something of an age-old problem. The arch-reactionaries of Nimbyville want socialism for themselves and capitalism for everybody else. Subsidies for the things they want and a complete absence of subsidies for the things that don't appeal to them.
Which should make them very happy with the lack of direct government subsidies for windfarms.
Still, that doesn't explain why the nutty nimby fraudsters keep banging on about the non-existent subsidies for wind power, does it? So what's going on?
It's a fact of life that if you tell one lie, you usually end up telling another, and then another, and then another one on top of that. Nimbies start out with the lie that windfarms "don't work" (or, in the language of St Philip of Little England, they're "absolutely useless").
At which point an intelligent observer might ask why so many parts of the world are investing so heavily in wind energy. If windfarms are "absolutely useless", why are countries like the USA, China, Australia, India, Brazil, Germany, Spain, Denmark, France, and so on, and so on, installing so many of them?
This must have stumped the manic nimby nonsense-mongers, until one of them came up with the magic answer:
Subsidies!!!
Windfarms are only built because of subsidies (which don't exist)!
Not the good subsidies, you understand - the sort that pay for all those lovely exclusive middle-class things that the nimbies want - but BAD SUBSIDIES, like the sort that go to asylum seekers, the jobless, or injured war veterans.
Unfortunately, the market doesn't seem to agree with these two-faced nimbies. Renewable energy is now the world's fastest growing energy sector. Which is a good thing, because without renewables, we are going to be in serious trouble.
Take a look at this:
http://www.businessgreen.com/bg/news/2127695/iea-renewables-fastest-growing-energy-sector
Now ask yourself, how long has nuclear power been receiving huge subsidies? Why do governments subsidise the fossil fuel-based energy sector to the tune of $409 billion a year? And how impressive is it that relatively new renewable technologies are already achieving grid parity (i.e. cost effectiveness) in comparison with the dirty dinosaurs of gas, oil, coal and nuclear?
Like every other argument advanced by the lunatics of the NF (Nimby Fringe), the subsidies argument is nothing but hogwash.
Governments and markets all over the world have recognised a crucial fact: renewables are the primary energy resource of the 21st century and we'd better hurry up with them or else.
Which unfortunately leaves the nasty nimbies of Middle England barking at the moon and dragging us all down into the hell of their own narrow-minded selfishness and their insane willingness to terrorise their neighbours, just so that the view from their bathroom window is not in any way affected by the appearance of an elegant wind turbine quietly turning away in the distance.
It's sad, but true: nimbies are sick people. They're a danger to themselves and to everybody else. They should be locked in a room with Prince Philip and not let out, even when they're banging on the door and begging for forgiveness.
You know, if you try asking a nimby about these subsidies, they tend to go a bit blank. Lots of waffle but no answers.
You'd think, would you not, that if the British government were so keen to subsidise wind power it would also be doing something to straighten out our crooked planning system, so that a small bunch of local loudmouths with honesty issues couldn't derail these important developments. Think about it: why would the UK subsidise windfarms if it can't be bothered to support them through the planning process?
Actually, there are no direct government subsidies for windfarms. There are no subsidies for windfarms during the planning stage, nor during the installation stage.
When a windfarm becomes operational and starts producing electricity, then - and only then - does it qualify for ROCs (Renewable Obligation Certificates). These are payable only on the basis of the amount of electricity actually generated (so windfarms have to "work" in order to qualify for these "subsidies"). And it's not a subsidy because it has nothing whatever to do with the taxpayer. The entire energy industry is reponsible for paying these ROCs (to all renewables, not just wind), which are funded by a small supplement on energy bills. So where's the subsidy?
Hmmnn ... interesting, isn't it? If windfarms really were "completely reliant on subsidies", then there would surely be some subsidies for them to be completely reliant upon. So when you find out that there aren't any - only a system whereby windfarm operators are compensated for the fact that other energy sources (gas, oil, nuclear) are or have been so heavily subsidised - then you do have to ask yourself, "What is all this nonsense the nimbies keep talking about subsidies???"
Another interesting fact about "subsidies" is that generally, nimbies are very happy to receive subsidies for their own things - such as the grants awarded to fund the Lenches Sports and Recreation Club - but totally opposed to subsidies for anybody else's things (such as ensuring energy security and low carbon energy sources for future generations). It's something of an age-old problem. The arch-reactionaries of Nimbyville want socialism for themselves and capitalism for everybody else. Subsidies for the things they want and a complete absence of subsidies for the things that don't appeal to them.
Which should make them very happy with the lack of direct government subsidies for windfarms.
Still, that doesn't explain why the nutty nimby fraudsters keep banging on about the non-existent subsidies for wind power, does it? So what's going on?
It's a fact of life that if you tell one lie, you usually end up telling another, and then another, and then another one on top of that. Nimbies start out with the lie that windfarms "don't work" (or, in the language of St Philip of Little England, they're "absolutely useless").
At which point an intelligent observer might ask why so many parts of the world are investing so heavily in wind energy. If windfarms are "absolutely useless", why are countries like the USA, China, Australia, India, Brazil, Germany, Spain, Denmark, France, and so on, and so on, installing so many of them?
This must have stumped the manic nimby nonsense-mongers, until one of them came up with the magic answer:
Subsidies!!!
Windfarms are only built because of subsidies (which don't exist)!
Not the good subsidies, you understand - the sort that pay for all those lovely exclusive middle-class things that the nimbies want - but BAD SUBSIDIES, like the sort that go to asylum seekers, the jobless, or injured war veterans.
Unfortunately, the market doesn't seem to agree with these two-faced nimbies. Renewable energy is now the world's fastest growing energy sector. Which is a good thing, because without renewables, we are going to be in serious trouble.
Take a look at this:
http://www.businessgreen.com/bg/news/2127695/iea-renewables-fastest-growing-energy-sector
Now ask yourself, how long has nuclear power been receiving huge subsidies? Why do governments subsidise the fossil fuel-based energy sector to the tune of $409 billion a year? And how impressive is it that relatively new renewable technologies are already achieving grid parity (i.e. cost effectiveness) in comparison with the dirty dinosaurs of gas, oil, coal and nuclear?
Like every other argument advanced by the lunatics of the NF (Nimby Fringe), the subsidies argument is nothing but hogwash.
Governments and markets all over the world have recognised a crucial fact: renewables are the primary energy resource of the 21st century and we'd better hurry up with them or else.
Which unfortunately leaves the nasty nimbies of Middle England barking at the moon and dragging us all down into the hell of their own narrow-minded selfishness and their insane willingness to terrorise their neighbours, just so that the view from their bathroom window is not in any way affected by the appearance of an elegant wind turbine quietly turning away in the distance.
It's sad, but true: nimbies are sick people. They're a danger to themselves and to everybody else. They should be locked in a room with Prince Philip and not let out, even when they're banging on the door and begging for forgiveness.
Wednesday, 23 November 2011
DUPLICRACY - HOW IT WORKS
We saw recently how the Duke of Edinburgh had been doing his bit to preserve the duplicracy of lies when it comes to one of the most pressing problems we face in this country. But that was mere foolishness on the Duke's behalf. It was the kind of kneejerk prejudice that is spawned by ignorance. He opened his mouth and out came a load of poppycock.
Shame. But then, he is getting on a bit.
So now we turn our attention to some more dangerous groups - the sort who openly practice the arts of duplicity in order to maintain the duplicracy which keeps people here in the UK in a state of bewildered ignorance (like Prince Philip).
We've mentioned the hideously misnamed Renewable Energy Foundation (REF) before. You'd think that they were somehow involved in advancing the case for renewables, wouldn't you? But no: in the upside-down world of the duplicracy, REF seem to believe that all forms of renewable energy are equal, but some are more equal than others.
This appeared recently, and it's well worth a read:
http://www.eaem.co.uk/news/renewable-energy-foundation-front-biofuel-and-energy-intensive-industries-and-anti-wind-campaig
An interesting article, we're sure you'll agree. The Renewable Energy Foundation was founded by Noel Edmonds, who likes racing cars and helicopters. And its chairman and trustees all look suspiciously like the sort of people who - how shall we put it? - who might be quite eager to damage the reputation of wind energy. Having a go at the competition, you might call it. Lobbying for industries which don't do much to help our environmental problems is another way of putting it.
Then again, you could argue that simply by calling themselves the Renewable Energy Foundation and leaking biased, one-sided and woefully inaccurate information about windfarms comes under the heading of LYING. Posing as a charity - something which the Charity Commission has already had to have a word with them about - this group of oily industrialists feeds anti-windfarm claptrap to the right-wing press. Nimby groups up and down the country (some of which also play fast and loose with the rules governing charities) lap up REF's misleading nonsense. They quote REF's latest anti-wind gobbledegook and your average punter thinks, "Oooh, that came from the Renewable Energy Foundation, a serious-sounding organisation which by the look of it is in favour of renewables ... so it must be true!"
Well, folks, it isn't. REF is squarely at the heart of the duplicracy. It's a front for the very interests which are trying to destroy the wind energy sector.
Ever been had? If you believed anything you were told which came from the "Renewable Energy Foundation", then yes, you were.
Moving on. Here's a statistic. Climate Scientists who doubt that climate change is man-made: less than 1%. Members of the public who doubt that climate change is man-made: 60%.
60% of people don't believe the scientists. The scientists have been in a state of panic about rising global temperatures and the imminent problems that will cause for some time. But there are many dupes out there who actually think that there is some "uncertainty" as to whether climate change is even happening at all!
(Pretending that there is "doubt" about something or other is a standard nimby tactic. Remember the Beeston and Clifton wind turbine awareness group, which has set itself up to keep Nottingham people in the dark about wind turbines? They tried to make out that there was "conflicting" evidence about the impact of wind turbines on house prices. There isn't. But it is a duplicratic trick to make out that there is. If you can't prove your point, pretend that the jury is out. Confuse matters. Make false claims and then pretend that everybody's doing it. Nimby SOPs.)
Even the BBC is beginning to cave in to the dictats of the duplicrats. Sir David Attenborough's highly-acclaimed Frozen Planet series now exists in two forms. The United States has chosen to buy the slightly shorter version of the series, which omits the programme dealing with climate change. Mustn't upset the Tea Party Republicans, Fox News or the Christian Right - even if it is Britain's most revered and respected broadcaster presenting the facts in his calm, considered way. Duplicracy, see? Let Noel Edmonds fund an outrageously disingenuous 'foundation' dedicated to supporting anti-windfarm groups and the "noise consultants" who work for them, but on no account let Sir David Attenborough tell us about what climate change is doing.
One of the worst offenders for misleading the right-wing press and the public alike about the LOOMING CRISIS of climate change is Nigel Lawson's egregious Global Warming Policy Foundation. This godawful group exists solely to spread lies about climate change.
Even Energy Minister Chris Huhne has been moved to write to Lawson, telling him his bunch of duplicitous idiots is "misinformed" and "perverse". In terms of parliamentary language, that's pretty strong. What he meant, in plain English, is that they are a mixed-up, messed-up, dangerously deluded pack of liars.
Read all about it here:
http://www.businessgreen.com/bg/news/2127189/huhne-blasts-lord-lawsons-misguided-climate-sceptic
Note that various stories given out by Lawson's crap-meisters and lovingly published by right-wing papers have then had to be corrected because they were untrue ("relying on overstated figures"). Go further down and you'll see that Lawson is related to Christopher Monckton, whose weird neo-fascist assaults on the truth go down so well in certain parts of the States and Australia.
Now, the whole point about science is that it should be queried, tested, checked and occasionally challenged. That's how science works. But then there's the Flat Earth approach, which chucks all science out of the window if any of it conflicts with its brainless absolutism. Nigel Lawson was Chancellor of the Exchequer under Margaret Thatcher and so he believes in rewarding the wealthy and pursuing unrestricted "economic growth" regardless of the costs. He doesn't want to believe that the irresponsible behaviour of the wealthy and the "economic growth" unleashed by an unregulated "free" market is causing catastrophic problems which are imperilling the very future of human society. And because he doesn't want to believe that his own actions have contributed to an unprecedented global emergency, he doesn't want you to believe in climate change either.
So he sets up a group which looks like it might be concerning itself with the evidence of global warming and the sort of policies we need to deal with those effects, but does the absolute opposite. He LIES to you about climate change. He tries to pretend that there is some "doubt".
That's duplicracy, that is. That's those with wealth and short-term outlooks masquerading as impartial experts and spreading lies so that they can go on behaving irresponsibly, making sure that the obvious, necessary, and indeed rather desirable solutions are not applied. Lying through their teeth to confuse you.
Welcome to Britain in the 21st century, where those with the financial resources to do so are determined to fool you into sacrificing your childrens' futures.
This is the age of duplicracy. The rule of the lie. The rise of the nimby.
Shame. But then, he is getting on a bit.
So now we turn our attention to some more dangerous groups - the sort who openly practice the arts of duplicity in order to maintain the duplicracy which keeps people here in the UK in a state of bewildered ignorance (like Prince Philip).
We've mentioned the hideously misnamed Renewable Energy Foundation (REF) before. You'd think that they were somehow involved in advancing the case for renewables, wouldn't you? But no: in the upside-down world of the duplicracy, REF seem to believe that all forms of renewable energy are equal, but some are more equal than others.
This appeared recently, and it's well worth a read:
http://www.eaem.co.uk/news/renewable-energy-foundation-front-biofuel-and-energy-intensive-industries-and-anti-wind-campaig
An interesting article, we're sure you'll agree. The Renewable Energy Foundation was founded by Noel Edmonds, who likes racing cars and helicopters. And its chairman and trustees all look suspiciously like the sort of people who - how shall we put it? - who might be quite eager to damage the reputation of wind energy. Having a go at the competition, you might call it. Lobbying for industries which don't do much to help our environmental problems is another way of putting it.
Then again, you could argue that simply by calling themselves the Renewable Energy Foundation and leaking biased, one-sided and woefully inaccurate information about windfarms comes under the heading of LYING. Posing as a charity - something which the Charity Commission has already had to have a word with them about - this group of oily industrialists feeds anti-windfarm claptrap to the right-wing press. Nimby groups up and down the country (some of which also play fast and loose with the rules governing charities) lap up REF's misleading nonsense. They quote REF's latest anti-wind gobbledegook and your average punter thinks, "Oooh, that came from the Renewable Energy Foundation, a serious-sounding organisation which by the look of it is in favour of renewables ... so it must be true!"
Well, folks, it isn't. REF is squarely at the heart of the duplicracy. It's a front for the very interests which are trying to destroy the wind energy sector.
Ever been had? If you believed anything you were told which came from the "Renewable Energy Foundation", then yes, you were.
Moving on. Here's a statistic. Climate Scientists who doubt that climate change is man-made: less than 1%. Members of the public who doubt that climate change is man-made: 60%.
60% of people don't believe the scientists. The scientists have been in a state of panic about rising global temperatures and the imminent problems that will cause for some time. But there are many dupes out there who actually think that there is some "uncertainty" as to whether climate change is even happening at all!
(Pretending that there is "doubt" about something or other is a standard nimby tactic. Remember the Beeston and Clifton wind turbine awareness group, which has set itself up to keep Nottingham people in the dark about wind turbines? They tried to make out that there was "conflicting" evidence about the impact of wind turbines on house prices. There isn't. But it is a duplicratic trick to make out that there is. If you can't prove your point, pretend that the jury is out. Confuse matters. Make false claims and then pretend that everybody's doing it. Nimby SOPs.)
Even the BBC is beginning to cave in to the dictats of the duplicrats. Sir David Attenborough's highly-acclaimed Frozen Planet series now exists in two forms. The United States has chosen to buy the slightly shorter version of the series, which omits the programme dealing with climate change. Mustn't upset the Tea Party Republicans, Fox News or the Christian Right - even if it is Britain's most revered and respected broadcaster presenting the facts in his calm, considered way. Duplicracy, see? Let Noel Edmonds fund an outrageously disingenuous 'foundation' dedicated to supporting anti-windfarm groups and the "noise consultants" who work for them, but on no account let Sir David Attenborough tell us about what climate change is doing.
One of the worst offenders for misleading the right-wing press and the public alike about the LOOMING CRISIS of climate change is Nigel Lawson's egregious Global Warming Policy Foundation. This godawful group exists solely to spread lies about climate change.
Even Energy Minister Chris Huhne has been moved to write to Lawson, telling him his bunch of duplicitous idiots is "misinformed" and "perverse". In terms of parliamentary language, that's pretty strong. What he meant, in plain English, is that they are a mixed-up, messed-up, dangerously deluded pack of liars.
Read all about it here:
http://www.businessgreen.com/bg/news/2127189/huhne-blasts-lord-lawsons-misguided-climate-sceptic
Note that various stories given out by Lawson's crap-meisters and lovingly published by right-wing papers have then had to be corrected because they were untrue ("relying on overstated figures"). Go further down and you'll see that Lawson is related to Christopher Monckton, whose weird neo-fascist assaults on the truth go down so well in certain parts of the States and Australia.
Now, the whole point about science is that it should be queried, tested, checked and occasionally challenged. That's how science works. But then there's the Flat Earth approach, which chucks all science out of the window if any of it conflicts with its brainless absolutism. Nigel Lawson was Chancellor of the Exchequer under Margaret Thatcher and so he believes in rewarding the wealthy and pursuing unrestricted "economic growth" regardless of the costs. He doesn't want to believe that the irresponsible behaviour of the wealthy and the "economic growth" unleashed by an unregulated "free" market is causing catastrophic problems which are imperilling the very future of human society. And because he doesn't want to believe that his own actions have contributed to an unprecedented global emergency, he doesn't want you to believe in climate change either.
So he sets up a group which looks like it might be concerning itself with the evidence of global warming and the sort of policies we need to deal with those effects, but does the absolute opposite. He LIES to you about climate change. He tries to pretend that there is some "doubt".
That's duplicracy, that is. That's those with wealth and short-term outlooks masquerading as impartial experts and spreading lies so that they can go on behaving irresponsibly, making sure that the obvious, necessary, and indeed rather desirable solutions are not applied. Lying through their teeth to confuse you.
Welcome to Britain in the 21st century, where those with the financial resources to do so are determined to fool you into sacrificing your childrens' futures.
This is the age of duplicracy. The rule of the lie. The rise of the nimby.
Tuesday, 22 November 2011
NIMBIES ACQUIRE ROYAL PATRON
That old North-South Divide just keeps on widening, folks.
Inspite of local opposition, the Scottish Energy Minister, Fergus Ewing, has given the go-ahead for the 33-turbine Strathy North windfarm in Sutherland. It will generate enough electricity to power twice the number of homes in Inverness and pour some £3.5 million into the local community (yes, the community that objected!), in addition to creating about 100 jobs. It will also help towards achieving Scotland's goal of achieving 100% of its electricity from renewables by 2020.
Fantastic.
Just don't tell the Duke of Edinburgh. The good ole boy has not abandoned his predilection for insulting Johnny Foreigner. One of the latest victims of his atrocious lack of politesse was Esbjorn Wilmar, who introduced himself to Phil at a reception in London. As soon as the Duke heard that Mr Wilmar works for Infinergy, building and operating wind turbines, the gnarly old codger let rip. Apparently, the Duke of Edinburgh thinks windfarms are "absolutely useless" and "completely reliant on subsidies". Oh, and they "never work" and they're a "disgrace".
Now, maybe the Duke has got it in for onshore windfarms. The Crown Estate doesn't seem to have too many qualms about offshore windfarms. And perhaps the old boy had been chatting to his eldest son and wanted to get a bit of social-conscience-environmental-stuff off his chest. Then again, maybe he just reads the Daily Heil.
But Philip's ludicrous outburst only highlights the growing gap between Scotland (where renewables are going from strength to strength) and England (where nimby nutters rule). As the Duke of Edinburgh, of all places, we might have expected a more enlightened attitude - one based on what windfarms are actually doing, as opposed to a complete ignorance of wind power reality - but that might be too much to hope for. Prince Phil excels in being casually offensive. It's what he does. Otherwise, he's "absolutely useless" and "completely reliant on subsidies".
The Duke's witless remarks sparked a very interesting investigation of windfarm facts on the Guardian website:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/reality-check-with-polly-curtis/2011/nov/21/prince-philip-windfarms-useless
It's worth a look because it does delve into the FACTS behind the Prince's GUFF. Best of all, though, it includes a link to a very useful document. We'll put the link here for you:
http://www.cse.org.uk/downloads/file/common_concerns_about_wind_power.pdf
It's a report published by the Centre for Sustainable Energy and it examines some of the "common concerns" about windfarms.
Now, before any passing nimby goes a bit berserk because the report is published by the Centre for Sustainable Energy (as opposed to, say, the cynically misnamed Renewable Energy Foundation), let's be clear. The report is based on the latest peer-reviewed scientific and academic studies. It is probably the best resource for factual information - i.e., the sort that nimbies can't stand - about windfarms.
For example, it gives a good, clear and concise overview of the research into windfarms and property prices, thereby showing up the criminal irresponsibility of nimby groups who like to make out that windfarms are disastrous for the local housing market.
If only the Duke of Edinburgh had bothered to read something as informative as the Centre for Sustainable Energy's publication before shooting his mouth off. If only ...
Sadly, though, what passes for a "debate" about windpower in England is nothing of the sort. You get a few old farts talking idiotic claptrap. And then, too often drowned out by the wailing of the nimby fringe, there are the facts. Or "Scotland", if you prefer.
Inspite of local opposition, the Scottish Energy Minister, Fergus Ewing, has given the go-ahead for the 33-turbine Strathy North windfarm in Sutherland. It will generate enough electricity to power twice the number of homes in Inverness and pour some £3.5 million into the local community (yes, the community that objected!), in addition to creating about 100 jobs. It will also help towards achieving Scotland's goal of achieving 100% of its electricity from renewables by 2020.
Fantastic.
Just don't tell the Duke of Edinburgh. The good ole boy has not abandoned his predilection for insulting Johnny Foreigner. One of the latest victims of his atrocious lack of politesse was Esbjorn Wilmar, who introduced himself to Phil at a reception in London. As soon as the Duke heard that Mr Wilmar works for Infinergy, building and operating wind turbines, the gnarly old codger let rip. Apparently, the Duke of Edinburgh thinks windfarms are "absolutely useless" and "completely reliant on subsidies". Oh, and they "never work" and they're a "disgrace".
Now, maybe the Duke has got it in for onshore windfarms. The Crown Estate doesn't seem to have too many qualms about offshore windfarms. And perhaps the old boy had been chatting to his eldest son and wanted to get a bit of social-conscience-environmental-stuff off his chest. Then again, maybe he just reads the Daily Heil.
But Philip's ludicrous outburst only highlights the growing gap between Scotland (where renewables are going from strength to strength) and England (where nimby nutters rule). As the Duke of Edinburgh, of all places, we might have expected a more enlightened attitude - one based on what windfarms are actually doing, as opposed to a complete ignorance of wind power reality - but that might be too much to hope for. Prince Phil excels in being casually offensive. It's what he does. Otherwise, he's "absolutely useless" and "completely reliant on subsidies".
The Duke's witless remarks sparked a very interesting investigation of windfarm facts on the Guardian website:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/reality-check-with-polly-curtis/2011/nov/21/prince-philip-windfarms-useless
It's worth a look because it does delve into the FACTS behind the Prince's GUFF. Best of all, though, it includes a link to a very useful document. We'll put the link here for you:
http://www.cse.org.uk/downloads/file/common_concerns_about_wind_power.pdf
It's a report published by the Centre for Sustainable Energy and it examines some of the "common concerns" about windfarms.
Now, before any passing nimby goes a bit berserk because the report is published by the Centre for Sustainable Energy (as opposed to, say, the cynically misnamed Renewable Energy Foundation), let's be clear. The report is based on the latest peer-reviewed scientific and academic studies. It is probably the best resource for factual information - i.e., the sort that nimbies can't stand - about windfarms.
For example, it gives a good, clear and concise overview of the research into windfarms and property prices, thereby showing up the criminal irresponsibility of nimby groups who like to make out that windfarms are disastrous for the local housing market.
If only the Duke of Edinburgh had bothered to read something as informative as the Centre for Sustainable Energy's publication before shooting his mouth off. If only ...
Sadly, though, what passes for a "debate" about windpower in England is nothing of the sort. You get a few old farts talking idiotic claptrap. And then, too often drowned out by the wailing of the nimby fringe, there are the facts. Or "Scotland", if you prefer.
Saturday, 19 November 2011
TRUTH & LIES
We had such a positive response to our use of a quotation from Thomas Paine recently that we decided to treat you to another quote. This one's from Voltaire. We want to remind all those head-in-the-sand nimbies out there that a thing called the Enlightment happened. It ushered in the Age of Reason. The nimbies won't know much about that because they don't believe in reason or enlightenment. They believe in prejudice, lies and DO AS WE TELL YOU OR ELSE!!!
The first part of Voltaire's quote undoubtedly applies to the dreadful nimby movement which is allowing fanatics and demagogues to dictate their prejudices to all around them. We've seen recently how a handful of anti-wind nutters are trying to persuade their neighbours in Shropshire that the "Lorries carrying wind turbine parts are longer than an aircraft carrier." That, dear friends, is an absurdity. It is so untrue - so painfully, maniacally untrue - that only a complete idiot would believe them. But sadly, there are idiots aplenty in this country of ours. Some poor folk will trust their neighbours on this. They will endeavour to believe the (obvious) lie that vehicles longer than aircraft carriers will deliver wind turbine parts to their destination and probably damage your petunias in the process.
Another absurdity preached by the Shropshire loons is that wind turbines sound like aircraft taking off (we noted that the nimbies of Bridgnorth seem to have the hots for aircraft). Well, here's some lovely proof that the barking progress-deniers of Salop are lying through their sharpened fangs. No wind turbine sounds like an aircraft taking off. Check it out:
The windfarm shown here is a prime example of the positive benefits windfarms can bring to the countryside and the community. It's worth a watch for those of you who have not yet been fortunate enough to have a tour of an operational windfarm. Of course, there will be nimby lunatics who try to claim that the sound on this video has been artificially engineered somehow or other, by some process currently unknown to science, so that the turbines sound so blissfully quiet. But the truth is that windfarms are quiet - surprisingly so. And kids love them.
So the "making you believe absurdities" part of the story is plain for all to see. Anti-wind nimbies lie, and their lies aren't even very good lies. They're ridiculous. Which means that you'd have to be ridiculous yourself to be taken in.
Another example? Okay. Here's a mad group from the Nottingham area. Nottingham University is eager to install a couple of wind turbines which will do precisely what they're meant to do: generate lots of lovely clean, green energy, thereby saving a fortune and cutting down on CO2 emissions (which, in case you've been living in a nuclear bunker for the past decade or two, is what we are all meant to be doing). Typically, a few fruitcakes are trying to stop this perfectly sane and sensible development, and they're using all the usual dishonest tactics to further their grotesque ends:
Now, let's not bother with their hysterical attempts at investigative journalism regarding Yes2Wind. Let's just go to their "Why Should I Care?" link and click on "Property Prices".
Whoosh! Dear oh dear, what an astonishing outbreak of phoney do we find there? "There is a great deal of conflicting evidence regarding the impact of wind turbines on property prices", or so they tell us.
In fact, there's no conflicting evidence. There is the evidence - which is, as numerous surveys show, that windfarm proximity does not tend to have any long term negative impact on house prices and, if anything, benefits the local property market. And then there is the sort of gibberish that the nimbies come out with.
Take a look: they've even quoted that part of the RICS report which VVASP quoted as "evidence" that windfarms drive property prices down. VVASP were told by the Advertising Standards Authority that they could not continue using that same quote to make that same claim because it wasn't true! But the nimbies of Nottingham do not care that they are deliberately misleading their neighbours, making claims that other nimby groups have been banned from making. They want all and sundry to Believe an Absurdity.
Now, some of us know only too well what the Absurdity-Believers are capable of. And maybe Atrocities is a strong word. But when, as per VVASP, they form mobs, browbeat and intimidate their neighbours, deny open debate and forbid free speech, force democratic bodies to dance to their lunatic tune, and ruin their own communities by creating unnecessary fear and division, well, that kind of comes under the heading of "Atrocities". Atrocities all inspired and fuelled by Absurdities (or lies, as we prefer to call them).
And then there's the greater Atrocities, which are to do with the planet (our real home, as opposed to the expensive monstrosities with views of "unspoilt" countryside which the nimbies think of as their exclusive homes) and with future generations. Lying your head off in order to prevent urgent action being taken and thereby stopping harmless, beneficial developments which will improve matters considerably for the current generation and those yet to come ... that's an atrocity.
The children of the future will not thank you for having lead such a perverse and deluded crusade against the solution. Why should they? You preached absurdities in order to make others commit atrocities. And that's how you will be remembered.
Of course, it's always extremely difficult to figure out why these headcases continually argue against something that is so good for the environment (near and far), so good for local business, tourism and the property market, so good for kids (remember, VVASP kept trying to drop weird hints about the proximity of the proposed Lenchwick Windfarm to a primary school, even though they could not prove that the turbines would pose any kind of threat whatsoever to the children), so good for everybody, in fact. Why would any sane (?) individual oppose - so fanatically, and so dishonestly - such a worthwhile thing?
This might suggest an answer:
That's it. Wind turbines are symbolic. Of the future. Of a better world.
And that's why the fascist fringe, the self-important nimby nutters of the world, are so dead set against them. All the Absurdities about noise, health, house prices, subsidies, intermittency, blah blah blah are simply sideshows - bogus excuses for opposing a Good Thing. The real reason they don't like them is because wind turbines remind them of their own failure to protect the countryside they claim to love and the children they pretend to be worried about.
Wind turbines simply remind these fools that driving gas-guzzlers, commuting stupid distances because you want to work in a city but boast that you have a place in the country, and all those other insanely wasteful activities are wrong.
In the mad world of the nimby, it's better to tell loud lies about the solution than admit that there's problem. And if that means tricking your neighbours into committing atrocities, well, so be it.
Monday, 14 November 2011
MARKET FORCES
We've heard it all before. Wind power is "Too Expensive". Wind turbines are "Inefficient". You know the rest.
What is so odd about these pronouncements so routinely yelled out by the anti-wind mafia is that they take no account of the way things work. Technology develops (especially when there is a pressing and growing need for it to do so) and markets adjust. So that when the nimbies cry out that wind power is "Too Expensive", not only to they fail to explain what that means (too expensive compared with what?) but they also try to give the impression that this is a fixed thing that can never change.
Well, a report just published by Bloomberg New Energy Finance shows how fast things are changing. With the costs of wind power falling rapidly (in the US, for example, wind turbines are now thirty per cent cheaper than they were three years ago) and improvements in design increasing the load capacities of modern turbines, wind power is now rivalling fossil fuel-based generation. Read all about it:
http://www.businessgreen.com/bg/news/2124487/onshore-wind-reach-grid-parity-2016
Basically, this means that it's getting more and more difficult for the nimbies to justify their sweeping statements about windfarms being "too expensive" and "inefficient", on the grounds that they are neither. They are becoming as cheap as the alternatives. Indeed, if the hidden costs of carbon emissions are factored in, wind power is already as cheap as, if not cheaper than, gas. And wholesale gas prices have been shooting up, lately, so wind power is extremely likely to become much cheaper while gas-fired power stations are only going to get much more expensive. That's called market forces. The nimbies want you to believe that windfarms are part of some woolly-minded green socialist conspiracy run out of Brussels. The market is deciding that they're not.
Meanwhile, a study carried out for Ofgem has considered the strange imbalance in the costs of accessing the National Grid in different parts of the UK. In short, the peculiar pricing structure that currently exists benefits southern England while making it more expensive for renewables in northern Scotland to access the grid. The study reveals that levelling the playing field would reduce the "costs" of windpower still further while undermining the case for new nuclear power stations in the UK. (See BBC article: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-business-15711200)
Once again, we find that the so-called subsidy argument that the nimbies keep blowing out of their holes doesn't stand up. What's really been happening is that the UK government has been subsidising power stations (fossil fuel and nuclear) in southern Britain and making renewables more expensive because of issues which have nothing to do with real, inbuilt costs and everything to do with skewing the market. Make access to the National Grid the same across the whole of the UK, and the "costs" of renewables go down.
It seems that, one by one, the fake and phoney arguments against renewables in general, and windfarms in particular, are falling like dominos. Which probably means that we're going to be hearing some even more ridiculous claims from the nimbies in future (such as "Lorries carrying turbine parts are longer than aircraft carriers").
What is so odd about these pronouncements so routinely yelled out by the anti-wind mafia is that they take no account of the way things work. Technology develops (especially when there is a pressing and growing need for it to do so) and markets adjust. So that when the nimbies cry out that wind power is "Too Expensive", not only to they fail to explain what that means (too expensive compared with what?) but they also try to give the impression that this is a fixed thing that can never change.
Well, a report just published by Bloomberg New Energy Finance shows how fast things are changing. With the costs of wind power falling rapidly (in the US, for example, wind turbines are now thirty per cent cheaper than they were three years ago) and improvements in design increasing the load capacities of modern turbines, wind power is now rivalling fossil fuel-based generation. Read all about it:
http://www.businessgreen.com/bg/news/2124487/onshore-wind-reach-grid-parity-2016
Basically, this means that it's getting more and more difficult for the nimbies to justify their sweeping statements about windfarms being "too expensive" and "inefficient", on the grounds that they are neither. They are becoming as cheap as the alternatives. Indeed, if the hidden costs of carbon emissions are factored in, wind power is already as cheap as, if not cheaper than, gas. And wholesale gas prices have been shooting up, lately, so wind power is extremely likely to become much cheaper while gas-fired power stations are only going to get much more expensive. That's called market forces. The nimbies want you to believe that windfarms are part of some woolly-minded green socialist conspiracy run out of Brussels. The market is deciding that they're not.
Meanwhile, a study carried out for Ofgem has considered the strange imbalance in the costs of accessing the National Grid in different parts of the UK. In short, the peculiar pricing structure that currently exists benefits southern England while making it more expensive for renewables in northern Scotland to access the grid. The study reveals that levelling the playing field would reduce the "costs" of windpower still further while undermining the case for new nuclear power stations in the UK. (See BBC article: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-business-15711200)
Once again, we find that the so-called subsidy argument that the nimbies keep blowing out of their holes doesn't stand up. What's really been happening is that the UK government has been subsidising power stations (fossil fuel and nuclear) in southern Britain and making renewables more expensive because of issues which have nothing to do with real, inbuilt costs and everything to do with skewing the market. Make access to the National Grid the same across the whole of the UK, and the "costs" of renewables go down.
It seems that, one by one, the fake and phoney arguments against renewables in general, and windfarms in particular, are falling like dominos. Which probably means that we're going to be hearing some even more ridiculous claims from the nimbies in future (such as "Lorries carrying turbine parts are longer than aircraft carriers").
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