Someone seems to think that they will be living 'in the middle' of a windfarm when the Lenchwick development gets the go ahead.
How odd. Looking at the map, it's hard to see how anybody will be 'in the middle' of the windfarm. Outside the windfarm, yes. Within so many hundred metres of a turbine, yes. But 'in the middle'? That's not really possible, is it? Unless they're planning on erecting a tent on private land, in between a couple of turbines. Which is not really likely to happen.
Aside from the paranoid guff that everyone in favour of windpower (or this blog) works for a windfarm company, there has also been the suggestion that anti-NIMBY, pro-windfarm people don't live anywhere near windfarms (and certainly not 'in the middle' of one).
But, as usual, a VVASP 'statement' turns out to be laughably easy to refute. There's quite a rich crop of community windfarm projects to consider.
But wouldn't you just know - another contributor has been in touch to point out that villagers in Fintry, Stirlingshire, took a most unusual step when a windfarm was first proposed for their locality.
Did they form a NIMBY group to fight the proposals?
No. They asked the developer (West Coast Energy) to install an extra turbine which the villagers themselves would pay for!!!
With the Fintry windfarm now up and running, the villagers, in the form of the Fintry Development Trust, are receiving an income from their own turbine, as well as seeing their domestic energy bills reduced by a huge amount.
Here's the link:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/may/10/windpower-energy
So - in conclusion. Some pro-wind people live in close proximity to windfarms, and are really rather proud of them (as well as benefitting directly from them). Some people don't get their knickers in a twist over phantom fears. Some people are capable of recognising a Good Thing when they see it.
Once again, it seems, VVASP can only shout, threaten and regurgitate inaccurate information.
Thursday, 8 October 2009
Wednesday, 7 October 2009
DAVID ATTENBOROUGH
Few people can be more alert to the progress and perils of climate change than David Attenborough.
Well, this is what he said after visiting the site of a windfarm application in Sussex (Times Online, 26 February 2008):
"Having visited the proposed site, I noticed that it is close to a place where not long ago, a windmill once stood. I suspect that were that windmill still in existence, many of us would regard it as a welcome feature in the essentially domesticated Sussex landscape and would speak passionately in favour of its protection. That, surely, is because most of us have a care and affection for the past. I certainly have.
"But I also have a care and affection for the future. A wind turbine, with its graceful lines, collecting energy from the environment without causing any material damage, is a marvellous demonstration of the way we can minimise our pollution of the atmosphere, if we wish to do so. It would help protect not only the countryside we have known for centuries but also the wider world beyond."
Can you feel that?
That's a breath of fresh air, a few measured words of common sense.
VVASP once claimed that Lenchwick Windfarm would 'kill the Vale countryside'. But David Attenborough recognises that such windfarms are a way to 'protect not only the countryside ... but also the wider world beyond.'
Whose view do you reckon is the more impartial, the more reliable? David Attenborough, who has spent a lifetime studying the natural world, or VVASP, who haven't?
Well, this is what he said after visiting the site of a windfarm application in Sussex (Times Online, 26 February 2008):
"Having visited the proposed site, I noticed that it is close to a place where not long ago, a windmill once stood. I suspect that were that windmill still in existence, many of us would regard it as a welcome feature in the essentially domesticated Sussex landscape and would speak passionately in favour of its protection. That, surely, is because most of us have a care and affection for the past. I certainly have.
"But I also have a care and affection for the future. A wind turbine, with its graceful lines, collecting energy from the environment without causing any material damage, is a marvellous demonstration of the way we can minimise our pollution of the atmosphere, if we wish to do so. It would help protect not only the countryside we have known for centuries but also the wider world beyond."
Can you feel that?
That's a breath of fresh air, a few measured words of common sense.
VVASP once claimed that Lenchwick Windfarm would 'kill the Vale countryside'. But David Attenborough recognises that such windfarms are a way to 'protect not only the countryside ... but also the wider world beyond.'
Whose view do you reckon is the more impartial, the more reliable? David Attenborough, who has spent a lifetime studying the natural world, or VVASP, who haven't?
Tuesday, 6 October 2009
WHAT IS A NIMBY?
In the 1950s, the Corporation of Liverpool decided that it needed more water. This was not for the citizens of Liverpool, who had plenty of water. The Corporation believed that it needed more water for its proposed programme of industrial expansion.
Bypassing local democracy, the Corporation of Liverpool acquired an Act of Parliament allowing it to flood a Welsh valley. Naturally, there was massive opposition. Nothing did more to promote the growth of Plaid Cymru, the Welsh nationalist party. There were even outbreaks of what we would now call terrorism.
Still, in 1965, families living in Capel Celyn were evicted. Bodies were exhumed from the cemetery, which was then concreted over. Twelve houses and farms were drowned, along with the post office, the school and the chapel.
Even today, Liverpool does not use all the water stored in the Tryweryn Reservoir created by the flooding of Capel Celyn.
The Welsh-speaking people of Capel Celyn could not have been described as 'NIMBYs'. Partly because the word (or acronym) didn't exist. It was invented in the 1980s - the 'me' decade. Even so, those families who had lived in Capel Celyn all their lives were not campaigning against the reservoir on the grounds of 'Not In My Back Yard'. They were campaigning for their homes, their village, their family property to be saved.
The threat which faced the people of Capel Celyn was a very real one.
NIMBY groups form to confront a threat that isn't real.
Let's take a fairly recent, and utterly disgraceful, nimby campaign.
When, in 2007, the Ministry of Defence opened a new 30-bed annexe at the Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre in Surrey, the Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Families Association (SSAFA) decided to convert a local house into a temporary home-from-home for families visiting seriously wounded service personnel. The place they chose was in Gray's Lane, Ashtead.
83 letters of objection were lodged by local residents. The objectors cited 'increased traffic noise', 'additional pollution' and the slim chance that the area would become a 'soft target' for 'these awful terrorists'.
One local resident kept demanding, 'would you be happy with the relatives of a bunch of soldiers on your lawn?'
It goes without saying that most of the Ashtead residents were only too happy to see British service personnel going overseas to protect British interests. But when some came back with hideous wounds and injuries, those same local residents were not prepared to allow the families of the wounded to stay nearby.
Unlike the people of the lost village of Capel Celyn, the Ashtead residents were categorically not fighting to protect their homes. Rather, they seem to have had a mental image of their well-heeled area which did not include any kind of temporary home for the families of wounded soldiers. They were not opposing a direct threat - for all that laughable nonsense about becoming a terrorist target. They were fighting an imaginary one.
It's easy to spot a NIMBY campaign. The language tends to be hysterical (like, the turbines of Lenchwick Windfarm will "kill the Vale countryside" - a monstrous suggestion if ever there was one). The 'facts' turn out to be merely opinions. Crazy rumours spread like wildfire.
The threat confronted by nimbies is a perceived threat - it is not a real threat. Although dramatic claims are made about the impact on house prices, the evidence fails to support the claims. Imaginary threats (such as 'noise') are blown out of all proportion. A deliberate campaign of misrepresentation, often supported by strong-arm tactics, is engineered to scare or force other residents into supporting the nimby cause.
In Capel Celyn, a community existed and struggled, unsuccessfully, to defend itself. In stark contrast, nimby campaigns tend to be illustrative of a community breakdown. A sense of community is manufactured by creating an illusory threat against which locals are obliged to combine. But a real community would not object to a home for families visiting badly wounded soldiers. The very existence of that shameful campaign was proof that all community spirit in the area had vanished.
The perceived threats conjured up by those opposed to a windfarm in their local area are illusory threats. This blog came into existence largely as a result of the barrage of propaganda being unleashed by VVASP. The protesters claimed to be 'informing' the community. In reality, they have been misinforming, misleading and terrifying their nieghbours with unfounded scare stories. Had they really been interested in 'informing' the community, there would have been a bit of balance, not to mention reliable science, in the information they provide.
No one is obliged to like the idea of a windfarm nearby. But spreading unsubstantiated rumours about windfarms with the sole purpose of whipping up opposition to the proposals is deeply immoral. VVASP have planted a psychological timebomb. There will, unfortunately, be those who believe the misquoted reports, the misrepresented studies, the misleading myths. When Lenchwick Windfarm becomes operational, these poor people will expect problems. They will blame anything and everything on the windfarm.
The reality is that the windfarm poses a negligible threat. It is all in the mind. Unlike Capel Celyn, the village, the community, does not face the genuine threat of extermination.
By pretending that it does, and by mounting vociferous opposition to what is essentially a much-needed and beneficial development, VVASP have proved that they are NIMBYs, products of the 'me' generation, with little or no concern for anything but themselves.
Bypassing local democracy, the Corporation of Liverpool acquired an Act of Parliament allowing it to flood a Welsh valley. Naturally, there was massive opposition. Nothing did more to promote the growth of Plaid Cymru, the Welsh nationalist party. There were even outbreaks of what we would now call terrorism.
Still, in 1965, families living in Capel Celyn were evicted. Bodies were exhumed from the cemetery, which was then concreted over. Twelve houses and farms were drowned, along with the post office, the school and the chapel.
Even today, Liverpool does not use all the water stored in the Tryweryn Reservoir created by the flooding of Capel Celyn.
The Welsh-speaking people of Capel Celyn could not have been described as 'NIMBYs'. Partly because the word (or acronym) didn't exist. It was invented in the 1980s - the 'me' decade. Even so, those families who had lived in Capel Celyn all their lives were not campaigning against the reservoir on the grounds of 'Not In My Back Yard'. They were campaigning for their homes, their village, their family property to be saved.
The threat which faced the people of Capel Celyn was a very real one.
NIMBY groups form to confront a threat that isn't real.
Let's take a fairly recent, and utterly disgraceful, nimby campaign.
When, in 2007, the Ministry of Defence opened a new 30-bed annexe at the Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre in Surrey, the Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Families Association (SSAFA) decided to convert a local house into a temporary home-from-home for families visiting seriously wounded service personnel. The place they chose was in Gray's Lane, Ashtead.
83 letters of objection were lodged by local residents. The objectors cited 'increased traffic noise', 'additional pollution' and the slim chance that the area would become a 'soft target' for 'these awful terrorists'.
One local resident kept demanding, 'would you be happy with the relatives of a bunch of soldiers on your lawn?'
It goes without saying that most of the Ashtead residents were only too happy to see British service personnel going overseas to protect British interests. But when some came back with hideous wounds and injuries, those same local residents were not prepared to allow the families of the wounded to stay nearby.
Unlike the people of the lost village of Capel Celyn, the Ashtead residents were categorically not fighting to protect their homes. Rather, they seem to have had a mental image of their well-heeled area which did not include any kind of temporary home for the families of wounded soldiers. They were not opposing a direct threat - for all that laughable nonsense about becoming a terrorist target. They were fighting an imaginary one.
It's easy to spot a NIMBY campaign. The language tends to be hysterical (like, the turbines of Lenchwick Windfarm will "kill the Vale countryside" - a monstrous suggestion if ever there was one). The 'facts' turn out to be merely opinions. Crazy rumours spread like wildfire.
The threat confronted by nimbies is a perceived threat - it is not a real threat. Although dramatic claims are made about the impact on house prices, the evidence fails to support the claims. Imaginary threats (such as 'noise') are blown out of all proportion. A deliberate campaign of misrepresentation, often supported by strong-arm tactics, is engineered to scare or force other residents into supporting the nimby cause.
In Capel Celyn, a community existed and struggled, unsuccessfully, to defend itself. In stark contrast, nimby campaigns tend to be illustrative of a community breakdown. A sense of community is manufactured by creating an illusory threat against which locals are obliged to combine. But a real community would not object to a home for families visiting badly wounded soldiers. The very existence of that shameful campaign was proof that all community spirit in the area had vanished.
The perceived threats conjured up by those opposed to a windfarm in their local area are illusory threats. This blog came into existence largely as a result of the barrage of propaganda being unleashed by VVASP. The protesters claimed to be 'informing' the community. In reality, they have been misinforming, misleading and terrifying their nieghbours with unfounded scare stories. Had they really been interested in 'informing' the community, there would have been a bit of balance, not to mention reliable science, in the information they provide.
No one is obliged to like the idea of a windfarm nearby. But spreading unsubstantiated rumours about windfarms with the sole purpose of whipping up opposition to the proposals is deeply immoral. VVASP have planted a psychological timebomb. There will, unfortunately, be those who believe the misquoted reports, the misrepresented studies, the misleading myths. When Lenchwick Windfarm becomes operational, these poor people will expect problems. They will blame anything and everything on the windfarm.
The reality is that the windfarm poses a negligible threat. It is all in the mind. Unlike Capel Celyn, the village, the community, does not face the genuine threat of extermination.
By pretending that it does, and by mounting vociferous opposition to what is essentially a much-needed and beneficial development, VVASP have proved that they are NIMBYs, products of the 'me' generation, with little or no concern for anything but themselves.
Saturday, 3 October 2009
A STORY OF HOPE
The moment this was sent in we just had to pass it on. Please click on the link and have a read:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/8257153.stm
Apparently, most of his villagers didn't really understand what he was trying to do - a situation we can relate to locally. But at least they didn't try to stop him!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/8257153.stm
Apparently, most of his villagers didn't really understand what he was trying to do - a situation we can relate to locally. But at least they didn't try to stop him!
Friday, 2 October 2009
THE WONDER OF WIND
George W. Bush is an oil man, through and through. Had the oil lobby decided it wanted its own man to be President of the United States of America (which, let's face it, is essentially what happened), then they couldn't have found a more sympathetic guy.
Even so, in 2008 - the last year of Bush's presidency - windfarms accounted for more than half of all net electricity-generating capacity added in the U.S., according to the Department of Energy's figures.
And, somewhat amazingly, Texas generates more windpower than any other state. That's right: the oil state, former Governor one George W. Bush, is way ahead of the rest in making use of the power of the wind.
So they might know something over there about the so-called 'inefficiency' of wind turbines.
If anything, the problem can be that the turbines are too efficient. On occasion, utilities have 'dialed down' some of their fossil-fuel power plants because the turbines are producing so much electricity.
(Let's compare this with France, which is mostly nuclear powered, and which had to purchase electricity from the UK this summer when temperatures of 30 degrees forced them to 'dial down' their nuclear power stations for safety reasons.)
As the Wall Street Journal reports, the massive growth of windpower in the States has led utilities to develop more accurate meteorological forecasts in order to predict fluctuations in wind strength. The race is also on to develop smart ways of storing the surplus electricity generated by turbines at times for use when the wind isn't blowing quite so strongly.
The system was originally devised for fossil-fuel based power generation. The switch to renewables is forcing new approaches and new systems to be developed. A mix of renewable sources (wind, wave, tide, solar, etc.), combined with greater energy efficiency and smart new systems, is what will deliver our power in the future. The so-called 'inefficiency' of windfarms is a canard, and the issues surrounding fluctuations in wind and so on are being addressed. And to suggest that wind turbines are 'expensive' is to pretend that coal and nuclear power are cheap.
It has to be said, though, that if a state like Texas can embrace windpower with such aplomb, it's a bit embarrassing that the UK is still struggling to do so. The only reason for this are the nimby protests. The rest of the world is surging ahead. We're falling behind. It's the self-interest, short-termism and downright absence of logic demonstrated by myth-mongering nimby groups that is holding us back.
Makes you proud to be British, doesn't it?
Even so, in 2008 - the last year of Bush's presidency - windfarms accounted for more than half of all net electricity-generating capacity added in the U.S., according to the Department of Energy's figures.
And, somewhat amazingly, Texas generates more windpower than any other state. That's right: the oil state, former Governor one George W. Bush, is way ahead of the rest in making use of the power of the wind.
So they might know something over there about the so-called 'inefficiency' of wind turbines.
If anything, the problem can be that the turbines are too efficient. On occasion, utilities have 'dialed down' some of their fossil-fuel power plants because the turbines are producing so much electricity.
(Let's compare this with France, which is mostly nuclear powered, and which had to purchase electricity from the UK this summer when temperatures of 30 degrees forced them to 'dial down' their nuclear power stations for safety reasons.)
As the Wall Street Journal reports, the massive growth of windpower in the States has led utilities to develop more accurate meteorological forecasts in order to predict fluctuations in wind strength. The race is also on to develop smart ways of storing the surplus electricity generated by turbines at times for use when the wind isn't blowing quite so strongly.
The system was originally devised for fossil-fuel based power generation. The switch to renewables is forcing new approaches and new systems to be developed. A mix of renewable sources (wind, wave, tide, solar, etc.), combined with greater energy efficiency and smart new systems, is what will deliver our power in the future. The so-called 'inefficiency' of windfarms is a canard, and the issues surrounding fluctuations in wind and so on are being addressed. And to suggest that wind turbines are 'expensive' is to pretend that coal and nuclear power are cheap.
It has to be said, though, that if a state like Texas can embrace windpower with such aplomb, it's a bit embarrassing that the UK is still struggling to do so. The only reason for this are the nimby protests. The rest of the world is surging ahead. We're falling behind. It's the self-interest, short-termism and downright absence of logic demonstrated by myth-mongering nimby groups that is holding us back.
Makes you proud to be British, doesn't it?
Thursday, 1 October 2009
SOME PERSPECTIVE
Here's a treat for you.
Follow this link to find a number of videos examining various windfarms and highlighting the idiocy of the nimby protests:
http://www.youtube.com/user/windpowerrocks
Enjoy!
Follow this link to find a number of videos examining various windfarms and highlighting the idiocy of the nimby protests:
http://www.youtube.com/user/windpowerrocks
Enjoy!
STATEMENT
Following yesterday's unauthorised comment, Mr Davies has asked us to point out that he has also written physics, cosmology and mathematics programmes for the Open University and worked with the Royal Geographical Society in producing an exhibition on the Royal Research Ship Discovery for Dundee Industrial Heritage.
In keeping with the Wind of Change policy of not censoring or moderating comments, however, Mr Davies has insisted that yesterday's comment should not be removed.
As he said to us, "The information given out by a VVASP member in the comment is four or five years out of date. That's actually pretty good, for them."
Mr Davies has been a vocal supporter of Lenchwick Windfarm since all this started and recognises that the nimbies would sooner or later assume that he was responsible for the Wind of Change blog, to which he has made many contributions of research, advice and ideas.
Now the nimbies just have to identify the other contributors (last count: 15) from Harvington, Atch Lench, Church Lench, Sheriffs Lench, Bishampton, Throckmorton, and Norton and Lenchwick.
When we spoke to Mr Davies today about the comment left by a VVASP supporter, and in particular about the suggestion that he might one day write a script about the issue, he laughed. In an email, he went further:
"Funnily enough, the same suggestion was put to me a few months back by a producer on 'The South Bank Show'. I said then what I'll say now - what would be the point?
"With a fair wind, it can take a minimum of two years to get a script idea onto the screen. By then, all this nonsense will have gone away.
"Remember the mobile phone mast frenzy of a few years ago. Everyone wanted mobile phones, and masts had been around for ages. But then suddenly certain middle class areas discovered that they were going to have to have phone masts if they wanted the mobile phone coverage. Instantly, no end of bogus science appeared. There were placards, protests, demonstrations. All based on rumour and hearsay. And then the fuss died down and we all got on with our lives.
"The windfarm issue is exactly the same. Windfarms have been around for ages, but now communities in England are finding that they too will have to do their bit. They want electricity but don't want a clean, green, harmless and efficient windfarm producing it. So what do we get? No end of bogus science, placards, protests, all based on rumour and hearsay.
"This is the end of the nimby era. In a couple of years time, these protests will have gone the way of the mobile phone masts protests. It's just a temporary madness, and it will pass as more and more people wake up to the real issues involved and discover for themselves how beneficial a windfarm can be.
"Ed Miliband, the climate change secretary, remarked back in March that 'It is socially unacceptable to be against wind turbines in your area - like not wearing your seatbelt or driving past a zebra crossing.'
"Once people buck their ideas up and stop swallowing nimby propaganda whole, the situation will change. So what would be the point of a script about all this? By the time it was ready for broadcast, the issue will be old hat."
Mr Davies has promised to continue contributing his experience as a researcher to the Wind of Change blog.
In keeping with the Wind of Change policy of not censoring or moderating comments, however, Mr Davies has insisted that yesterday's comment should not be removed.
As he said to us, "The information given out by a VVASP member in the comment is four or five years out of date. That's actually pretty good, for them."
Mr Davies has been a vocal supporter of Lenchwick Windfarm since all this started and recognises that the nimbies would sooner or later assume that he was responsible for the Wind of Change blog, to which he has made many contributions of research, advice and ideas.
Now the nimbies just have to identify the other contributors (last count: 15) from Harvington, Atch Lench, Church Lench, Sheriffs Lench, Bishampton, Throckmorton, and Norton and Lenchwick.
When we spoke to Mr Davies today about the comment left by a VVASP supporter, and in particular about the suggestion that he might one day write a script about the issue, he laughed. In an email, he went further:
"Funnily enough, the same suggestion was put to me a few months back by a producer on 'The South Bank Show'. I said then what I'll say now - what would be the point?
"With a fair wind, it can take a minimum of two years to get a script idea onto the screen. By then, all this nonsense will have gone away.
"Remember the mobile phone mast frenzy of a few years ago. Everyone wanted mobile phones, and masts had been around for ages. But then suddenly certain middle class areas discovered that they were going to have to have phone masts if they wanted the mobile phone coverage. Instantly, no end of bogus science appeared. There were placards, protests, demonstrations. All based on rumour and hearsay. And then the fuss died down and we all got on with our lives.
"The windfarm issue is exactly the same. Windfarms have been around for ages, but now communities in England are finding that they too will have to do their bit. They want electricity but don't want a clean, green, harmless and efficient windfarm producing it. So what do we get? No end of bogus science, placards, protests, all based on rumour and hearsay.
"This is the end of the nimby era. In a couple of years time, these protests will have gone the way of the mobile phone masts protests. It's just a temporary madness, and it will pass as more and more people wake up to the real issues involved and discover for themselves how beneficial a windfarm can be.
"Ed Miliband, the climate change secretary, remarked back in March that 'It is socially unacceptable to be against wind turbines in your area - like not wearing your seatbelt or driving past a zebra crossing.'
"Once people buck their ideas up and stop swallowing nimby propaganda whole, the situation will change. So what would be the point of a script about all this? By the time it was ready for broadcast, the issue will be old hat."
Mr Davies has promised to continue contributing his experience as a researcher to the Wind of Change blog.
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