In the past few days, over a thousand events have been scheduled worldwide to coincide with the Global Wake-Up Call about Climate Change on 21 September.
Not all these events will happen on that day - in Worcester, two special screenings of the movie 'Age of Stupid' have been arranged at Worcester College of Techonology and Worcester Sixth Form College in October. But these are attached to the Global Wake-Up Call, an international attempt to demonstrate that the oil, coal and nuclear lobbies are only going to lead our governments down the primrose path to the everlasting bonfire, and what we all need now is decisive action against global catastrophe.
It would be interesting to arrange a screening of 'Age of Stupid' in the Lenches area, because - as we all know - climate change is going to give the Lenches a miss. Global warming will read their silly signs ('2km OK') and obviously obey the injunction not to overheat the climate within two kilometres of some rather nice homes.
In reality, of course, the people of the Lenches are as responsible for climate change and for organising an intelligent response to it as anybody. Which is why the VVASP gobbledegook about 'Appropriate Technology' and 'Appropriate Environment' is so utterly meaningless.
Lenchwick Windfarm will be a small step in the right direction - good for the area, good for tourism, good for house prices, good for the environment, good for Britain and good for the planet. Sadly, a small bunch of unprincipled and deluded nimbies are fighting desperately to stop this vital and elegant development.
They just don't get it, do they?
But the rest of the world does. As we'll see on 21 September.
Maybe then politicians like Peter Luff will wise up and realise that appeasing the nimby brigade is a profoundly silly thing to do.
Wednesday, 16 September 2009
Tuesday, 15 September 2009
NIMBY LOGIC
Does this make sense to you?Is it rational? Consistent? Intelligible?
How does this completely contradictory stance square with the VVASP mission statement about 'Appropriate Technology' in the 'Appropriate Environment'? Are they saying that the 'Appropriate Environment' is two kilometres away?
Or are they simply campaigning for a completely arbitrary exclusion zone - unworkable, unreasonable and impossible?
Please note: the kind contributor who sent this image to Wind of Change suggested two captions:
1) "I used to be indecisive, but now I'm not so sure."
2) "I used to be schizophrenic, but now I'm in two minds about it."
Do feel free to email us here at Wind of Change with your own captions to go with this image. Can you encapsulate, in a short and pithy phrase, the full silliness of the VVASP position?
Difficult, I know, but worth a try.
Monday, 14 September 2009
VVASP LIE No. 1
In the run up to the Global Wake-Up Call on Climate Change and the public information sessions being held by ScottishPower Renewables for the proposed Lenchwick Windfarm, this might be a good time to examine some of the abject nonsense talked by nimby groups like VVASP.
Like others of their kind, VVASP exists to mislead the public. They spout so-called 'facts' about windfarms in the knowledge that many people will accept what they hear at face value. This is why there is a great deal of confusion around about the uses and effects of wind power.
But when they're properly analysed, these claims made by VVASP and other nimby groups turn out to be wildly inaccurate.
Let's start with that old chestnut, that windfarms are 'inefficient' - that, in short, they simply 'don't work'.
Firstly, if anyone starts telling you that windfarms are 'inefficient', straightaway you'll know that they don't know what they're on about. The word 'efficient' does not properly apply to wind turbines, for the simple reason that wind turbines don't burn fossil fuel.
It is possible to talk about the 'efficiency' of coal-fired power stations, for example, or nuclear reactors, because they do turn fuel into energy.
Where coal-fired power stations are concerned, efficiency figures are surprisingly poor. When coal power stations first appeared in the late 19th century, they achieved about 1% efficiency. A century of technological advances meant that the efficiency of coal power stations, expressed as a percentage, was into the 30s. In the late 1990s, a Danish coal power station actually set a world record of 47% efficiency.
According to Hans-Dieter Schilling of Energie Fakten, the average efficiency of coal power stations around the globe in 2005 was 31%. Part of the problem with coal is the Second Law of Thermodynamics, which states that in a 'closed-loop cycle' (like a power station) only a fraction of the heat produced during combustion can be converted into mechanical work. As the Science Museum points out, a typical coal fired power station converts 3.45 Mw of chemical energy from coal into just 1.2 Mw of electrical energy. The rest disappears up the chimneys as heat, meaning that coal fired power stations actually produce far more heat than they do electricity.
If coal fired power stations achieve efficiency in the 30-35% range, then they're not all that efficient, really - especially when you consider the extraordinary amount of pollution emitted by coal power stations.
So what about nuclear? You may be surprised to discover that both pressurised water reactors (PWR) and boiling water reactors (BWR) are limited to efficiency ratings of around 33% (source: Massachusetts Institute of Technology). That's not really a lot of payback for the enormous (and rising) costs of constructing nuclear power stations. Nor, for that matter, does it give us much in return for the thousands of years worth of hazardous waste they produce. Or for the safety risks. Or the problem of international terrorism.
So far, then, it would seem that the 'traditional' methods for producing electricity - such as coal and nuclear - only manage efficiency in the 30-35% range.
What about wind power?
Because no fuel is converted into energy, it is meaningless to talk about the 'efficiency' of windfarms. The proper term is 'capacity'.
A modern wind turbine has a maximum capacity of 2000 kilowatts (2Mw). It will operate for roughly 75-90% of the time, generating around 30% of its maximum capacity - or enough to suit the annual electricity of around 1,100 homes.
But that's just the annual average. It so happens that windfarms produce most of their energy in the winter months, when the demand for electricity is greater. As far back as 1995 (not a very windy year), it was noted that the average capacity factor of UK windfarms was 0.313 (which means that they produced 31.3% of their maximum capacity over the year). But during the winter months, this was as high as 0.445 - or 44.5% of capacity. Nearly as high as the world record achieved for coal fired power station efficiency!
There have been huge strides in wind turbine design since then. But even so, back in the Dark Ages of wind turbine design, when we needed the electricity most - in the winter - the turbines were achieving the efficiency equivalent of 44.5%. In other words, they were outperforming coal (roughly 35% efficiency), nuclear (ditto) and gas, which tends towards an efficiency of between 5 and 20%.
In that sense alone, windfarms are hardly 'inefficient'. They compare very favourably with coal and nuclear, and are considerably more 'efficient' than gas.
Added to which, they come with few or none of the serious downsides of their 'traditional' competitors - the import of fuels, massive problems of pollution and greenhouse gases, expensive operations and maintenance and longterm health and safety issues.
No - windfarms produce clean, green energy, and they do so at least as 'efficiently' - if not considerably more so - than those notorious polluters that the so-called 'pro-renewables' groups like VVASP much prefer.
But what about the 'unreliability' of wind power? As ever, when nimbies are confronted with the facts - the actual facts, not the made-up ones they're so fond of - they retreat into another set of myths and lies.
Nuclear power stations, for example, frequently have to shut down for safety or maintenance reasons. Or, as France discovered this summer, they have to gear down because environmental conditions make it dangerous for them to continue operating. THAT causes massive problems for the grid. But the nimbies want you to think that reliance on wind power will mean blackouts whenever the wind isn't blowing.
David MacKay, the UK government's new energy adviser, has warned that we could face blackouts by 2016 because too many nimby groups are holding up the development of green energy projects, like windfarms, with their ridiculous lies and shameful tactics. In other words, the government's chief expert believes that windfarms are at least part of the answer to the problem of electricity blackouts, not the cause of them.
And given that other countries, such as Germany, Denmark and Spain, are already producing large percentages of their domestic electricity needs - up to 40% in Spain - you have to wonder just how 'inefficient' windfarms really are, or rather, what the hell the nimbies of VVASP think they're on about, pretending that they don't work!
Fluctations in electricity demand - such as at breakfast time, or during the ad breaks in a popular TV show, or when the skies darken before a storm - are easier to accommodate when you have more small-scale power generators than just a few big ones. As noted above, a nuclear power station going off-line causes headaches as it is. But the variability of wind (in the UK - Europe's windiest country) would not stop all turbines across the UK working at the same time.
In fact, in Denmark and Germany, where windfarms are already well-established and producing large amounts of electricity, operators have noticed that neither major shifts in wind speed nor sudden increases in demand create major problems.
The future requires a mix of power sources - wind (onshore and offshore), solar, tidal - and a greater efficiency in the way we use electricity. What the loons of VVASP are in denial about is that this is where we're heading ... because there is no choice in the matter. It's a question of survival. And to pretend that windfarms 'don't work' is a mischievous and irresponsible stance to take. It's totally untrue.
Windfarms are easily as 'efficient' as nuclear or coal power stations, they're obviously a lot 'cleaner', they're cheaper to set up, easier to decommission, and they will create a more efficient (because less 'lumpy') distribution of available electricity across the country.
So - next time some cretin tries to tell you that windfarms 'don't work', or they're only '30% efficient', you have a choice of responses:
1) Yes, they don't work as badly as nuclear, coal or gas.
2) Who told you that rubbish? VVASP, I suppose?
3) You're a liar.
Like others of their kind, VVASP exists to mislead the public. They spout so-called 'facts' about windfarms in the knowledge that many people will accept what they hear at face value. This is why there is a great deal of confusion around about the uses and effects of wind power.
But when they're properly analysed, these claims made by VVASP and other nimby groups turn out to be wildly inaccurate.
Let's start with that old chestnut, that windfarms are 'inefficient' - that, in short, they simply 'don't work'.
Firstly, if anyone starts telling you that windfarms are 'inefficient', straightaway you'll know that they don't know what they're on about. The word 'efficient' does not properly apply to wind turbines, for the simple reason that wind turbines don't burn fossil fuel.
It is possible to talk about the 'efficiency' of coal-fired power stations, for example, or nuclear reactors, because they do turn fuel into energy.
Where coal-fired power stations are concerned, efficiency figures are surprisingly poor. When coal power stations first appeared in the late 19th century, they achieved about 1% efficiency. A century of technological advances meant that the efficiency of coal power stations, expressed as a percentage, was into the 30s. In the late 1990s, a Danish coal power station actually set a world record of 47% efficiency.
According to Hans-Dieter Schilling of Energie Fakten, the average efficiency of coal power stations around the globe in 2005 was 31%. Part of the problem with coal is the Second Law of Thermodynamics, which states that in a 'closed-loop cycle' (like a power station) only a fraction of the heat produced during combustion can be converted into mechanical work. As the Science Museum points out, a typical coal fired power station converts 3.45 Mw of chemical energy from coal into just 1.2 Mw of electrical energy. The rest disappears up the chimneys as heat, meaning that coal fired power stations actually produce far more heat than they do electricity.
If coal fired power stations achieve efficiency in the 30-35% range, then they're not all that efficient, really - especially when you consider the extraordinary amount of pollution emitted by coal power stations.
So what about nuclear? You may be surprised to discover that both pressurised water reactors (PWR) and boiling water reactors (BWR) are limited to efficiency ratings of around 33% (source: Massachusetts Institute of Technology). That's not really a lot of payback for the enormous (and rising) costs of constructing nuclear power stations. Nor, for that matter, does it give us much in return for the thousands of years worth of hazardous waste they produce. Or for the safety risks. Or the problem of international terrorism.
So far, then, it would seem that the 'traditional' methods for producing electricity - such as coal and nuclear - only manage efficiency in the 30-35% range.
What about wind power?
Because no fuel is converted into energy, it is meaningless to talk about the 'efficiency' of windfarms. The proper term is 'capacity'.
A modern wind turbine has a maximum capacity of 2000 kilowatts (2Mw). It will operate for roughly 75-90% of the time, generating around 30% of its maximum capacity - or enough to suit the annual electricity of around 1,100 homes.
But that's just the annual average. It so happens that windfarms produce most of their energy in the winter months, when the demand for electricity is greater. As far back as 1995 (not a very windy year), it was noted that the average capacity factor of UK windfarms was 0.313 (which means that they produced 31.3% of their maximum capacity over the year). But during the winter months, this was as high as 0.445 - or 44.5% of capacity. Nearly as high as the world record achieved for coal fired power station efficiency!
There have been huge strides in wind turbine design since then. But even so, back in the Dark Ages of wind turbine design, when we needed the electricity most - in the winter - the turbines were achieving the efficiency equivalent of 44.5%. In other words, they were outperforming coal (roughly 35% efficiency), nuclear (ditto) and gas, which tends towards an efficiency of between 5 and 20%.
In that sense alone, windfarms are hardly 'inefficient'. They compare very favourably with coal and nuclear, and are considerably more 'efficient' than gas.
Added to which, they come with few or none of the serious downsides of their 'traditional' competitors - the import of fuels, massive problems of pollution and greenhouse gases, expensive operations and maintenance and longterm health and safety issues.
No - windfarms produce clean, green energy, and they do so at least as 'efficiently' - if not considerably more so - than those notorious polluters that the so-called 'pro-renewables' groups like VVASP much prefer.
But what about the 'unreliability' of wind power? As ever, when nimbies are confronted with the facts - the actual facts, not the made-up ones they're so fond of - they retreat into another set of myths and lies.
Nuclear power stations, for example, frequently have to shut down for safety or maintenance reasons. Or, as France discovered this summer, they have to gear down because environmental conditions make it dangerous for them to continue operating. THAT causes massive problems for the grid. But the nimbies want you to think that reliance on wind power will mean blackouts whenever the wind isn't blowing.
David MacKay, the UK government's new energy adviser, has warned that we could face blackouts by 2016 because too many nimby groups are holding up the development of green energy projects, like windfarms, with their ridiculous lies and shameful tactics. In other words, the government's chief expert believes that windfarms are at least part of the answer to the problem of electricity blackouts, not the cause of them.
And given that other countries, such as Germany, Denmark and Spain, are already producing large percentages of their domestic electricity needs - up to 40% in Spain - you have to wonder just how 'inefficient' windfarms really are, or rather, what the hell the nimbies of VVASP think they're on about, pretending that they don't work!
Fluctations in electricity demand - such as at breakfast time, or during the ad breaks in a popular TV show, or when the skies darken before a storm - are easier to accommodate when you have more small-scale power generators than just a few big ones. As noted above, a nuclear power station going off-line causes headaches as it is. But the variability of wind (in the UK - Europe's windiest country) would not stop all turbines across the UK working at the same time.
In fact, in Denmark and Germany, where windfarms are already well-established and producing large amounts of electricity, operators have noticed that neither major shifts in wind speed nor sudden increases in demand create major problems.
The future requires a mix of power sources - wind (onshore and offshore), solar, tidal - and a greater efficiency in the way we use electricity. What the loons of VVASP are in denial about is that this is where we're heading ... because there is no choice in the matter. It's a question of survival. And to pretend that windfarms 'don't work' is a mischievous and irresponsible stance to take. It's totally untrue.
Windfarms are easily as 'efficient' as nuclear or coal power stations, they're obviously a lot 'cleaner', they're cheaper to set up, easier to decommission, and they will create a more efficient (because less 'lumpy') distribution of available electricity across the country.
So - next time some cretin tries to tell you that windfarms 'don't work', or they're only '30% efficient', you have a choice of responses:
1) Yes, they don't work as badly as nuclear, coal or gas.
2) Who told you that rubbish? VVASP, I suppose?
3) You're a liar.
Friday, 11 September 2009
VVASP AND PARISH COUNCILS IN COLLUSION
The minutes from the Church Lench Parish Council meeting held on Monday 6 July 2009 make it clear.
The so-called 'Windfarm Working Party', a Church Lench-led initiative comprising representatives from six parish councils, is colluding with the desperately dishonest protest group, Vale Villagers Against Scottish Power (VVASP).
The Church Lench Parish Council minutes reveal that 'Representatives from VVASP attended' one of the Windfarm Working Party's meetings (as if VVASP wasn't already represented on the Working Party). I quote:
' ... it was agreed that they [VVASP] would concentrate on visual aspects [of the windfarm proposal] while the Councils would address noise measurement issues. Funding to address this issue is being discussed at present with the Councils. VVASP has offered a contribution towards the costs.'
WHAT???
So the supposedly impartial 'information gathering and sharing' Windfarm Working Party is actually sharing, or effectively halving, VVASP's workload! The two organisations have agreed to complement each other's work, and VVASP - a politically-motivated anti-renewable energy group which has churned out lie after lie about windfarms - has offered to share the costs of opposing the windfarm with the local parish councils.*
(* See earlier post, 'UPDATE ON YOUR MONEY' for discussion of 'other parties' donating to the anti-windfarm work of Church Lench Parish Council and its 'Windfarm Working Party'.)
This is a horrific development. Being a 'single-issue' parish council (in the words of one Church Lench resident), Church Lench PC has solicited public money from the neighbouring parish councils in order to work alongside VVASP.
What an abuse of local democracy! What a misuse of tax-payers' money!
Do the raging nimbies of Church Lench really believe that this is how things work? At a time when the UK is facing the perfect storm of a looming energy crisis and catastrophic climate change, these people are misappropriating public money while not even trying to pretend that they are impartial where planning for the proposed Lenchwick Windfarm is concerned.
They're using YOUR money to fight an entirely misguided, inappropriate, head-in-the-sand battle against a vital, graceful, beneficial development.
Contact your district councillor. Contact Peter Luff MP. Contact the local papers. Let everyone know how our money is being misused by biased parish councillors and the shameless deceivers of VVASP.
The so-called 'Windfarm Working Party', a Church Lench-led initiative comprising representatives from six parish councils, is colluding with the desperately dishonest protest group, Vale Villagers Against Scottish Power (VVASP).
The Church Lench Parish Council minutes reveal that 'Representatives from VVASP attended' one of the Windfarm Working Party's meetings (as if VVASP wasn't already represented on the Working Party). I quote:
' ... it was agreed that they [VVASP] would concentrate on visual aspects [of the windfarm proposal] while the Councils would address noise measurement issues. Funding to address this issue is being discussed at present with the Councils. VVASP has offered a contribution towards the costs.'
WHAT???
So the supposedly impartial 'information gathering and sharing' Windfarm Working Party is actually sharing, or effectively halving, VVASP's workload! The two organisations have agreed to complement each other's work, and VVASP - a politically-motivated anti-renewable energy group which has churned out lie after lie about windfarms - has offered to share the costs of opposing the windfarm with the local parish councils.*
(* See earlier post, 'UPDATE ON YOUR MONEY' for discussion of 'other parties' donating to the anti-windfarm work of Church Lench Parish Council and its 'Windfarm Working Party'.)
This is a horrific development. Being a 'single-issue' parish council (in the words of one Church Lench resident), Church Lench PC has solicited public money from the neighbouring parish councils in order to work alongside VVASP.
What an abuse of local democracy! What a misuse of tax-payers' money!
Do the raging nimbies of Church Lench really believe that this is how things work? At a time when the UK is facing the perfect storm of a looming energy crisis and catastrophic climate change, these people are misappropriating public money while not even trying to pretend that they are impartial where planning for the proposed Lenchwick Windfarm is concerned.
They're using YOUR money to fight an entirely misguided, inappropriate, head-in-the-sand battle against a vital, graceful, beneficial development.
Contact your district councillor. Contact Peter Luff MP. Contact the local papers. Let everyone know how our money is being misused by biased parish councillors and the shameless deceivers of VVASP.
21 SEPTEMBER: THE WAKE-UP CALL
Traditionally, 21 September is the autumnal equinox, when day and night are equal, but the long days of summer are passing into the long nights of winter. It is a moment of balance.
This year, it is also the date of the first of ScottishPower Renewables' new drop-in sessions. Norton and Lenchwick village hall will be the venue for a public information day, where residents can find out more about the latest plans for the windfarm.
Seemingly unrelated, 21 September is also the date of the Global Wake-Up Call. You may not have heard of this yet, but on that day, all across the globe, groups will be gathering in public spaces in what are known as 'flash-mobs'.
People gather, mill about, then, at a precise moment, they all perform a uniform action. It might just be making a noise. It might be singing a song. This is captured on mobile phones.
The intention is that, on 21 September, people all over the world will send out a strong message to governments. The Copenhagen talks on Climate Change in December MUST reach serious agreement. There has to be real political commitment to protecting the Earth and its inhabitants from the damage we have done to the environment.
That is why groups like Oxfam and Greenpeace, and the makers of the film 'The Age of Stupid', are co-operating with the Global Wake-Up Call. In the face of imminent catastrophe, it is imperative that we as a species take action to limit the damage. The problem simply cannot be ignored any longer.
So - 21 September is an important date. A red-letter day. While the rest of the world makes its point about Climate Change, we will be looking at the plans for Lenchwick Windfarm.
If VVASP had their way, Climate Change would continue unchecked. A small group of people in Worcestershire (many of them new to the area) consider themselves exempt from the global responsibility to curb global warming. Rather than lobbying government to take the Climate Change problem more seriously than they already are doing, VVASP insist that, just because they don't want a windfarm near them, they shouldn't have to have one. While scientists the world over are warning about a looming catastrophe, which may soon be irreversible, VVASP are lying about the science of windfarms in order to frighten people into opposing one.
Let's think of 21 September as decision time for the world and all its citizens.
Are we all going to do our bit?
Or do we consider ourselves far too important to be bothered by global needs?
Are we going to embrace the best thing that will have happened in the area in years?
Or are we going to lie about it, like VVASP do?
Time for a Wake-Up Call.
This year, it is also the date of the first of ScottishPower Renewables' new drop-in sessions. Norton and Lenchwick village hall will be the venue for a public information day, where residents can find out more about the latest plans for the windfarm.
Seemingly unrelated, 21 September is also the date of the Global Wake-Up Call. You may not have heard of this yet, but on that day, all across the globe, groups will be gathering in public spaces in what are known as 'flash-mobs'.
People gather, mill about, then, at a precise moment, they all perform a uniform action. It might just be making a noise. It might be singing a song. This is captured on mobile phones.
The intention is that, on 21 September, people all over the world will send out a strong message to governments. The Copenhagen talks on Climate Change in December MUST reach serious agreement. There has to be real political commitment to protecting the Earth and its inhabitants from the damage we have done to the environment.
That is why groups like Oxfam and Greenpeace, and the makers of the film 'The Age of Stupid', are co-operating with the Global Wake-Up Call. In the face of imminent catastrophe, it is imperative that we as a species take action to limit the damage. The problem simply cannot be ignored any longer.
So - 21 September is an important date. A red-letter day. While the rest of the world makes its point about Climate Change, we will be looking at the plans for Lenchwick Windfarm.
If VVASP had their way, Climate Change would continue unchecked. A small group of people in Worcestershire (many of them new to the area) consider themselves exempt from the global responsibility to curb global warming. Rather than lobbying government to take the Climate Change problem more seriously than they already are doing, VVASP insist that, just because they don't want a windfarm near them, they shouldn't have to have one. While scientists the world over are warning about a looming catastrophe, which may soon be irreversible, VVASP are lying about the science of windfarms in order to frighten people into opposing one.
Let's think of 21 September as decision time for the world and all its citizens.
Are we all going to do our bit?
Or do we consider ourselves far too important to be bothered by global needs?
Are we going to embrace the best thing that will have happened in the area in years?
Or are we going to lie about it, like VVASP do?
Time for a Wake-Up Call.
Wednesday, 9 September 2009
SPR OUTFOX THE NIMBIES!!!
Ha ha ha. Ha ha ha ha ha!
ScottishPower Renewables have announced the latest development in their plans for the proposed Lenchwick Windfarm. Currently, they're looking at just five turbines to be sited along the top of Bishampton Bank.
So, ha ha ha ha ha - they've chosen to plant them right by Nimby Central! The charmless immigrants of Church Lench and Sheriffs Lench will have a collective apoplexy, while other parishes, which didn't go quite so crazy about the windfarm, can sit back and enjoy the ride.
VVASP have announced this as 'PHASE 1' of the Lenchwick Windfarm. And, you know, for once I think they might be right. Everything else they've ever said about the windfarm has been a GREAT BIG DIRTY LIE, but I happen to feel that VVASP might be right in assuming (which is all they're doing) that five turbines is just the start. You see, I think ScottishPower Renewables are doing something very, very clever here.
How come?
Well, because in a few years time, when SPR announce plans to extend the windfarm, placing turbines closer to Norton and Harvington, the turbines near Church Lench and Sheriffs Lench will already be up and operational.
And by then absolutely EVERYONE will know that the twisted fools of VVASP were lying through their teeth.
Everyone will then know that modern windfarms are practically silent.
Everyone will know that house prices do not suffer when a windfarm is built nearby.
Everyone will know that wildlife isn't harmed by windfarms.
Everyone will know that all the lunatic nonsense about physical and mental health being threatened by windfarms was just that - a crazy, stupid, mischievous LIE.
You see why I think SPR are a damn sight smarter than the nasty nimbies of the Lenches? I mean, okay, that's not really saying much. But SPR and other companies like them have had to deal with the sort of nonsense spouted by nimby groups like VVASP, and have witnessed their despicable methods of drumming up support through lies and threats, and they've figured out how to out-smart the nutters.
Put the windfarms up right where the majority of the nutters are. Let all the lies told about windfarms by the self-serving nimbies be exposed. And then extend the site to the original plan, knowing that NO ONE WILL EVER TRUST THE TWO-FACED LIARS OF VVASP AGAIN.
The same has happened elsewhere: a windfarm, such as Burtonwold in Northamptonshire, is initially opposed by villagers living a kilometre away, but when everyone realises that a windfarm is a Good Thing to have nearby, and does no harm, they don't object to more turbines.
So all we have to do is make sure that the nimby bunch don't get their way and stop the Lenchwick Windfarm. Then their outrageous lies and vile, dishonest tactics will come back to haunt them.
First step - sign the anti-nimby petition (see below). Please.
ScottishPower Renewables have announced the latest development in their plans for the proposed Lenchwick Windfarm. Currently, they're looking at just five turbines to be sited along the top of Bishampton Bank.
So, ha ha ha ha ha - they've chosen to plant them right by Nimby Central! The charmless immigrants of Church Lench and Sheriffs Lench will have a collective apoplexy, while other parishes, which didn't go quite so crazy about the windfarm, can sit back and enjoy the ride.
VVASP have announced this as 'PHASE 1' of the Lenchwick Windfarm. And, you know, for once I think they might be right. Everything else they've ever said about the windfarm has been a GREAT BIG DIRTY LIE, but I happen to feel that VVASP might be right in assuming (which is all they're doing) that five turbines is just the start. You see, I think ScottishPower Renewables are doing something very, very clever here.
How come?
Well, because in a few years time, when SPR announce plans to extend the windfarm, placing turbines closer to Norton and Harvington, the turbines near Church Lench and Sheriffs Lench will already be up and operational.
And by then absolutely EVERYONE will know that the twisted fools of VVASP were lying through their teeth.
Everyone will then know that modern windfarms are practically silent.
Everyone will know that house prices do not suffer when a windfarm is built nearby.
Everyone will know that wildlife isn't harmed by windfarms.
Everyone will know that all the lunatic nonsense about physical and mental health being threatened by windfarms was just that - a crazy, stupid, mischievous LIE.
You see why I think SPR are a damn sight smarter than the nasty nimbies of the Lenches? I mean, okay, that's not really saying much. But SPR and other companies like them have had to deal with the sort of nonsense spouted by nimby groups like VVASP, and have witnessed their despicable methods of drumming up support through lies and threats, and they've figured out how to out-smart the nutters.
Put the windfarms up right where the majority of the nutters are. Let all the lies told about windfarms by the self-serving nimbies be exposed. And then extend the site to the original plan, knowing that NO ONE WILL EVER TRUST THE TWO-FACED LIARS OF VVASP AGAIN.
The same has happened elsewhere: a windfarm, such as Burtonwold in Northamptonshire, is initially opposed by villagers living a kilometre away, but when everyone realises that a windfarm is a Good Thing to have nearby, and does no harm, they don't object to more turbines.
So all we have to do is make sure that the nimby bunch don't get their way and stop the Lenchwick Windfarm. Then their outrageous lies and vile, dishonest tactics will come back to haunt them.
First step - sign the anti-nimby petition (see below). Please.
Monday, 7 September 2009
SIGN THE PETITION
Do you believe that important planning decisions should not be taken hostage by a vociferous minority of self-centred nimbies?
Do you believe that the future for all of us matters more than the nimbies' short-term obsessions?
Do you want your voice to be heard by 10 Downing Street?
Then here's a petition you really should sign. Get everyone you know (who isn't an ignorant, arrogant, hypocritical nimby) to sign it. Let's make sure that the silent majority is properly represented in this most vital of matters.
Follow the link to find out more and to add your name to the list:
http://www.windenergyplanning.com/new-wind-energy-and-major-infrastructure-petition/
Remember: the nimby brigade does NOT represent the majority. They only misrepresent the facts. By signing the petition, you'll be adding your voice to the growing consensus. And you'll be doing a good thing.
Do you believe that the future for all of us matters more than the nimbies' short-term obsessions?
Do you want your voice to be heard by 10 Downing Street?
Then here's a petition you really should sign. Get everyone you know (who isn't an ignorant, arrogant, hypocritical nimby) to sign it. Let's make sure that the silent majority is properly represented in this most vital of matters.
Follow the link to find out more and to add your name to the list:
http://www.windenergyplanning.com/new-wind-energy-and-major-infrastructure-petition/
Remember: the nimby brigade does NOT represent the majority. They only misrepresent the facts. By signing the petition, you'll be adding your voice to the growing consensus. And you'll be doing a good thing.
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