Nimbies tell lies. It's what they do. And when they're not telling lies, they're accusing everybody else of lying.
Amazing!
In the spirit of openness and fairness, we here at Wind of Change have previously challenged anyone to come forward who has hard evidence of a windfarm developer or operator or a supporter of wind energy deliberately and knowingly misinforming the public. Nothing as yet, but we'll report on it if it ever happens.
Elsewhere, though, a nimby has been making claims that "wind farm promoters are telling huge porkies". One of our team challenged this particular nimby to provide proof of any such porky-pies. Guess what she came back with ...
She pointed out that Action for Renewables, the voice of the renewables industry, had stated on its website that 10% of Britain's electricity needs could be produced by just 12,000 megawatts of installed capacity.
Said nimby then came up with a bunch of weird figures which, she believed, demonstrated that generating 10% of electricity in the UK by renewable means would be impossible without us building anything between 8,000 and 20,000 more wind turbines than we already have. Therefore, she insisted, the information given out by the voice of the renewables industry was an "untruth".
Now, really we should pity idiots like this one, because their determination to distort and misrepresent the facts is surely a form of mental illness.
Here are the actual facts. The British government's own figures for 2011 (last year) show that renewables generated a record-breaking 9.5% of our electricity in the UK. By the end of 2011, 12.2 GW (that's 12,200 megawatts) of renewable capacity had been installed.
So we can reasonably assume that, if 12.2 GW had been the installed renewable energy capacity throughout the whole of last year, the amount of renewable electricity generated would have been 10% of our needs, or thereabouts.
In other words, far from the prediction that 12,000 megawatts of installed capacity would provide us with 10% of our electricity being an "untruth", as the nimby idiot insisted it was, it turns out that it was a remarkably accurate prediction of something that has now happened. The UK is getting roughly 10% of its electricity from renewables, of which there are roughly 12,000 megawatts of capacity already installed.
Better still in Scotland, where renewables accounted for 35% of the electricity generated in 2011. Of course, some nimby fanatics tried to pretend that this remarkable achievement was really all down to hydroelectricity. But given that hundreds of wind turbines have been installed in Scotland in recent years, and not very many new hydro schemes have started, the only reasonable analysis is that wind power is now providing a healthy amount of Scotland's green energy.
The nimby who rose to the "tell us what lies the renewables industry has told" challenge fell flat on her face. Why? Because she was so determined to misrepresent - to herself and anybody else who would listen - the real state of affairs, she made a complete fool of herself. She accused Action for Renewables (the voice of the renewables industry) of telling lies. When what they had stated on their website (10% of UK electricity from 12 GW of installed renewable capacity) has in fact already happened!
That's what we're dealing with. Nimbies tell lies. It's what they do. Even when they're presented with the convenient truth, they can't see it.
Still waiting for proof that the renewables industry has been telling fibs. Looks like we'll be waiting a good long while yet.
Sunday, 1 April 2012
Friday, 30 March 2012
BRITISH WIND FIGHTS BACK
Anyone who has lived through the nightmare of a nimby anti-wind campaign will know how quickly it gets out of hand. But then, if history has taught us anything it's that whenever people resort to lies - and especially the Big Lie - it always ends in tears.
Nimbies resort to lies from the outset because it's the only way they can hope to sway the public. If they restricted themselves to the established facts, their campaigns would get nowhere. Burton Wold (two posts below) is a golden, shining example of this: because the local residents know full well that there is nothing to fear, and everything to look forward to, from having a well-managed windfarm nearby, there have been no objections whatsoever to two extensions to the site, and Kettering District Council has sagely (and happily) granted planning permission to allow Burton Wold to become a windfarm of 22 utility-scale turbines.
(While we're on the subject - nimby idiots, who only steal ideas from each other, routinely refer to large turbines as "industrial". That is a fanatical misuse of language. There's nothing especially "industrial" about them, unless you are prepared to accept that they work - the actual meaning of "industrial" - and generate substantial amounts of electricity, some of which will be used by industry, which is a Good Thing. But no, large turbines are only "industrial" in the same that mindless nimbies want to misrepresent what they look and sound like. The proper term is "utility-scale", because each windfarm is an infrastructure project which generates considerable quantities of electricity for and on behalf of a utility. Next time you hear a nutty nimby calling them "industrial", tell him or her to get a life.)
Sadly, though, the nimby menace, once initiated, quickly leads to hysteria. It might be started by individuals who are insane - egotistical and psychopathic in their eagerness to use outrageous lies in order to cause panic and alarm - but it quickly transfers to ordinary people, some of whom become hysterical. They start saying really stupid things, like windfarms are the reason why bee populations in the US and the UK have been declining over the past 25 years. Of course, no one bothers to explain why those bee populations were declining before windfarms really got started, and why they're declining in areas where there are no windfarms. And recently published research shows that the worrying decline is actually down to the use of pesticides.
So, once again, windfarms get the blame for something that has got nothing at all to do with them, simply because some poor deluded souls have been whipped up into a frenzy of foolish hysteria by their vicious nimby friends.
Well, at long last, British Wind is fighting back. The nimby menace has got to be stopped. It is out of control (because it started out by telling lies, and that always leads to trouble) and is causing no end of harm, both to Britain's short-, medium- and long-term interests and to the lives of people who otherwise would not believe that they are suffering as a result of windfarms.
www.british-wind.co.uk has been established to set the record straight. This is particularly important where politicians are concerned, because some of them (especially on the Conservative backbenches) are not what we would call "thinkers" and they're as easily deluded by self-serving nimby claptrap as the most nervous of residents. When MPs and councillors start spewing out the same ridiculous myths about wind power as their nimby puppet-masters do, then we know we've got a problem. It could make all the difference between energy security and a low-carbon economy on the one hand, and more expensive, more polluting, imported fossil fuels and nuclear hazards on the other. So there's everything to fight for.
British Wind are quite rightly putting the patriotic aspect of wind power to the fore. Fighting a proposed windfarm development purely on the grounds that you think it might affect the view from the end of your driveway (and then spreading as many lies about wind power as you can to make it look like you've actually got an argument) is a profoundly unpatriotic thing to do. It is also sickeningly anti-social - just think, for a moment, of the harm you are doing to your community and your neighbours by lying to them incessantly about something that will actually no them a great deal of good.
So British Wind have compiled a useful checklist of the more common nimby myths, along with answers to some Frequently Asked Questions:
http://www.british-wind.co.uk/wind_myths.html
And before some rampaging, wild-eyed nimby fifth columnist starts bleating that the information has been provided by the wind industry, let's just point out that it makes much more sense hearing from the experts - people who actually know what they're talking about - than to get all your so-called "FACTS" from discredited sources and proven liars, like the nimbies do.
As a nation, we need to fight the nimby ideologues who, for the sake of their own self-importance, would happily drag us all back to the Dark Ages. We need to counter all their pathetic and unsubstantiated gibberish with genuine, proven, scientific facts. We need to stop them inflicting yet more damage on their neighbours and the British economy.
We need to stand up to the bullies and show the liars up for what they are: nimby maniacs without a shred of credibility or honesty, dedicated to harming their neighbours, their country and the planet we all live on, for no reason other than prejudice, intolerance and selfishness.
Good luck to British Wind! And please do visit their website.
Nimbies resort to lies from the outset because it's the only way they can hope to sway the public. If they restricted themselves to the established facts, their campaigns would get nowhere. Burton Wold (two posts below) is a golden, shining example of this: because the local residents know full well that there is nothing to fear, and everything to look forward to, from having a well-managed windfarm nearby, there have been no objections whatsoever to two extensions to the site, and Kettering District Council has sagely (and happily) granted planning permission to allow Burton Wold to become a windfarm of 22 utility-scale turbines.
(While we're on the subject - nimby idiots, who only steal ideas from each other, routinely refer to large turbines as "industrial". That is a fanatical misuse of language. There's nothing especially "industrial" about them, unless you are prepared to accept that they work - the actual meaning of "industrial" - and generate substantial amounts of electricity, some of which will be used by industry, which is a Good Thing. But no, large turbines are only "industrial" in the same that mindless nimbies want to misrepresent what they look and sound like. The proper term is "utility-scale", because each windfarm is an infrastructure project which generates considerable quantities of electricity for and on behalf of a utility. Next time you hear a nutty nimby calling them "industrial", tell him or her to get a life.)
Sadly, though, the nimby menace, once initiated, quickly leads to hysteria. It might be started by individuals who are insane - egotistical and psychopathic in their eagerness to use outrageous lies in order to cause panic and alarm - but it quickly transfers to ordinary people, some of whom become hysterical. They start saying really stupid things, like windfarms are the reason why bee populations in the US and the UK have been declining over the past 25 years. Of course, no one bothers to explain why those bee populations were declining before windfarms really got started, and why they're declining in areas where there are no windfarms. And recently published research shows that the worrying decline is actually down to the use of pesticides.
So, once again, windfarms get the blame for something that has got nothing at all to do with them, simply because some poor deluded souls have been whipped up into a frenzy of foolish hysteria by their vicious nimby friends.
Well, at long last, British Wind is fighting back. The nimby menace has got to be stopped. It is out of control (because it started out by telling lies, and that always leads to trouble) and is causing no end of harm, both to Britain's short-, medium- and long-term interests and to the lives of people who otherwise would not believe that they are suffering as a result of windfarms.
www.british-wind.co.uk has been established to set the record straight. This is particularly important where politicians are concerned, because some of them (especially on the Conservative backbenches) are not what we would call "thinkers" and they're as easily deluded by self-serving nimby claptrap as the most nervous of residents. When MPs and councillors start spewing out the same ridiculous myths about wind power as their nimby puppet-masters do, then we know we've got a problem. It could make all the difference between energy security and a low-carbon economy on the one hand, and more expensive, more polluting, imported fossil fuels and nuclear hazards on the other. So there's everything to fight for.
British Wind are quite rightly putting the patriotic aspect of wind power to the fore. Fighting a proposed windfarm development purely on the grounds that you think it might affect the view from the end of your driveway (and then spreading as many lies about wind power as you can to make it look like you've actually got an argument) is a profoundly unpatriotic thing to do. It is also sickeningly anti-social - just think, for a moment, of the harm you are doing to your community and your neighbours by lying to them incessantly about something that will actually no them a great deal of good.
So British Wind have compiled a useful checklist of the more common nimby myths, along with answers to some Frequently Asked Questions:
http://www.british-wind.co.uk/wind_myths.html
And before some rampaging, wild-eyed nimby fifth columnist starts bleating that the information has been provided by the wind industry, let's just point out that it makes much more sense hearing from the experts - people who actually know what they're talking about - than to get all your so-called "FACTS" from discredited sources and proven liars, like the nimbies do.
As a nation, we need to fight the nimby ideologues who, for the sake of their own self-importance, would happily drag us all back to the Dark Ages. We need to counter all their pathetic and unsubstantiated gibberish with genuine, proven, scientific facts. We need to stop them inflicting yet more damage on their neighbours and the British economy.
We need to stand up to the bullies and show the liars up for what they are: nimby maniacs without a shred of credibility or honesty, dedicated to harming their neighbours, their country and the planet we all live on, for no reason other than prejudice, intolerance and selfishness.
Good luck to British Wind! And please do visit their website.
Thursday, 29 March 2012
WHY WE DO THIS
First, the good news.
Figures released by the government show that greenhouse gas emissions in the UK fell by seven per cent last year (2011). A major part of the reason for this was a significant increase in renewables, which accounted for a record 9.5% of the UK's total energy mix (it was 7.5% the previous year). In all, renewable sources saw a 35% increase in the amount of electricity generated (up to 34.8 terawatt hours) while renewable energy capacity rose by 32% in 2011.
Wind energy production rose by a massive 54.5% (offshore wind went up 68%) across the UK, due to higher wind speeds and increased installed capacity (i.e. more windfarms).
In Scotland, the picture was even more extraordinary. Last year, Scotland smashed its green energy target for 2011 by achieving a 45% increase in the amount of electricity generated by renewables. This meant that 35% of Scotland's electricity in 2011 was renewable (the target had been 31%). Wind generation reached a record high (7,049 gigawatt hours), more than doubling the figure for 2007. Scotland also saw a 9.5% increase in installed renewable capacity and is well on its way to achieving its stated aim of 100% of its electricity needs from renewables in 2020.
This, folks, is more like it. But we cannot rest on our laurels. Regardless of the government's plans for hugely expensive (and unpopular) new nuclear, two of the Big Six energy companies have now withdrawn from nuclear power altogether. What is more, falling gas and oil production in the UK led to a worrying 36.5% net energy import dependency - the highest it's been since 1976, with net imports of gas rising to levels not seen since 1967. We're paying more and more to import fossil fuels, while nuclear gets more expensive and energy companies are dropping it like a hot rock (which is what, in fact, it is).
Thank God for renewables, which are actually becoming cheaper.
But here's the downside. As they lose the ideological battle over wind and other renewables, nimby campaigners have been getting dirtier, nastier and meaner. Nimbies are very bad losers, and as more and more good news about renewables rolls in, their squawking gets more and more aggressive and ludicrous.
Worse still, the nimbies are causing a massive amount of damage, in terms of energy efficiency and security, combatting climate change, time and money, jobs and - worst of all - human suffering. That is why we fight them.
Most nimby campaigns are started by people who know nothing whatsoever about wind power. They just don't want a turbine or two anywhere near them - end of. They seek only to preserve their supposed special privileges (i.e., we live in nice houses in exclusive areas where there isn't any riff-raff and where the views are uniquely unspoiled by thousands of years of human activity, so somebody else should get the windfarm; we're far too special to have to do our bit!)
That isn't really much of an argument against windfarms - although, if the nimbies were honest, it is the sole driver of their foolish campaigns.
So they resort to lies. Massive, outdated, repeatedly discredited, destructive, socially harmful, brainless lies.
When this is pointed out, they go berserk. Often, they threaten legal action (the first resort of the scoundrel), although this is just an empty threat, because if they had to defend their monstrous lies in court, they'd be exposed as the fraudulent dimwits they really are.
They do, however, show no qualms about subverting the democratic process and terrifying their neighbours into abject hysteria with their lies.
They do everything they can to find your weak point. Are you worried about the value of your house going down (wwwooooooooohhh! Negative equity!!)? They'll tell you the old lie about windfarms knocking 54% off the value of your property. It's utterly untrue - if anything, a windfarm nearby is more likely to increase the market value of your house - and they can only get away with that ridiculous claim by misquoting one report.
Are you worried about losing your peace and quiet? They'll lie to you about windfarms being "noisy", especially at night, and try to convince you that you'll never be able to sleep soundly again. If you're distressed or foolish enough to believe this lie, you'll imagine that you can hear windfarm noises in your bedroom, when in reality you can't.
Are you a mild hypochondriac? They'll produce false, bogus and unscientific evidence that windfarms cause health problems. At the same time, they will deliberately suppress the growing wealth of genuine evidence which proves that the fanciful so-called "wind turbine syndrome" is sheer nonsense designed only to scare innocent people. And once they've got you believing that load of old rubbish, you're buggered. At the first sight of a windfarm you'll start having palpitations. Not that it's the windfarm's fault. No: your nimby neighbours did that to you. They made you believe in fairies at the bottom of the garden.
This is becoming a national problem. The lies published and repeated and shouted and screamed by nasty nimby nutters are causing real pain, concern and alarm, and all for no good reason. People are being bullied, misled, threatened and brainwashed by members of their own communities into believing a pack of lies which can only cause them lasting suffering.
The nimbies only doing this out of selfishness and a misplaced right-wing belief in their own superiority. If they were honest, they would be giving you all the information - which contradicts everything they've been saying - or even just admitting that they don't much care for the look of wind turbines, which is fair enough.
But these people are not honest. They attack others and then cry foul when their attacks are reported. They tell masses and masses of lies about windfarms and then accuse everybody else of lying. They set out deliberately to create panic on no grounds whatsoever and leave a toxic legacy of division and phantom symptoms in their wake.
They are also holding Britain back from meeting its climate obligations and securing a clean, green, low-cost energy future.
But the worst of it is, they are harming their neighbours with their poisonous falsehoods. For that alone, they will be forever damned.
And for that reason, we here at Wind of Change will continue to expose their self-serving myths and lies, their disgraceful tactics, their exorbitant vanity and their treacherous intents. No matter how much they may threaten us, we will continue to stand with the victims of these vicious and unprincipled nimbies. We will not stop telling the truth, no matter how far some nimby groups may go in seeking to silence others.
We are doing this for Britain, and for the growing number of people who have been lied to, bullied and betrayed by nimby zealots.
Figures released by the government show that greenhouse gas emissions in the UK fell by seven per cent last year (2011). A major part of the reason for this was a significant increase in renewables, which accounted for a record 9.5% of the UK's total energy mix (it was 7.5% the previous year). In all, renewable sources saw a 35% increase in the amount of electricity generated (up to 34.8 terawatt hours) while renewable energy capacity rose by 32% in 2011.
Wind energy production rose by a massive 54.5% (offshore wind went up 68%) across the UK, due to higher wind speeds and increased installed capacity (i.e. more windfarms).
In Scotland, the picture was even more extraordinary. Last year, Scotland smashed its green energy target for 2011 by achieving a 45% increase in the amount of electricity generated by renewables. This meant that 35% of Scotland's electricity in 2011 was renewable (the target had been 31%). Wind generation reached a record high (7,049 gigawatt hours), more than doubling the figure for 2007. Scotland also saw a 9.5% increase in installed renewable capacity and is well on its way to achieving its stated aim of 100% of its electricity needs from renewables in 2020.
This, folks, is more like it. But we cannot rest on our laurels. Regardless of the government's plans for hugely expensive (and unpopular) new nuclear, two of the Big Six energy companies have now withdrawn from nuclear power altogether. What is more, falling gas and oil production in the UK led to a worrying 36.5% net energy import dependency - the highest it's been since 1976, with net imports of gas rising to levels not seen since 1967. We're paying more and more to import fossil fuels, while nuclear gets more expensive and energy companies are dropping it like a hot rock (which is what, in fact, it is).
Thank God for renewables, which are actually becoming cheaper.
But here's the downside. As they lose the ideological battle over wind and other renewables, nimby campaigners have been getting dirtier, nastier and meaner. Nimbies are very bad losers, and as more and more good news about renewables rolls in, their squawking gets more and more aggressive and ludicrous.
Worse still, the nimbies are causing a massive amount of damage, in terms of energy efficiency and security, combatting climate change, time and money, jobs and - worst of all - human suffering. That is why we fight them.
Most nimby campaigns are started by people who know nothing whatsoever about wind power. They just don't want a turbine or two anywhere near them - end of. They seek only to preserve their supposed special privileges (i.e., we live in nice houses in exclusive areas where there isn't any riff-raff and where the views are uniquely unspoiled by thousands of years of human activity, so somebody else should get the windfarm; we're far too special to have to do our bit!)
That isn't really much of an argument against windfarms - although, if the nimbies were honest, it is the sole driver of their foolish campaigns.
So they resort to lies. Massive, outdated, repeatedly discredited, destructive, socially harmful, brainless lies.
When this is pointed out, they go berserk. Often, they threaten legal action (the first resort of the scoundrel), although this is just an empty threat, because if they had to defend their monstrous lies in court, they'd be exposed as the fraudulent dimwits they really are.
They do, however, show no qualms about subverting the democratic process and terrifying their neighbours into abject hysteria with their lies.
They do everything they can to find your weak point. Are you worried about the value of your house going down (wwwooooooooohhh! Negative equity!!)? They'll tell you the old lie about windfarms knocking 54% off the value of your property. It's utterly untrue - if anything, a windfarm nearby is more likely to increase the market value of your house - and they can only get away with that ridiculous claim by misquoting one report.
Are you worried about losing your peace and quiet? They'll lie to you about windfarms being "noisy", especially at night, and try to convince you that you'll never be able to sleep soundly again. If you're distressed or foolish enough to believe this lie, you'll imagine that you can hear windfarm noises in your bedroom, when in reality you can't.
Are you a mild hypochondriac? They'll produce false, bogus and unscientific evidence that windfarms cause health problems. At the same time, they will deliberately suppress the growing wealth of genuine evidence which proves that the fanciful so-called "wind turbine syndrome" is sheer nonsense designed only to scare innocent people. And once they've got you believing that load of old rubbish, you're buggered. At the first sight of a windfarm you'll start having palpitations. Not that it's the windfarm's fault. No: your nimby neighbours did that to you. They made you believe in fairies at the bottom of the garden.
This is becoming a national problem. The lies published and repeated and shouted and screamed by nasty nimby nutters are causing real pain, concern and alarm, and all for no good reason. People are being bullied, misled, threatened and brainwashed by members of their own communities into believing a pack of lies which can only cause them lasting suffering.
The nimbies only doing this out of selfishness and a misplaced right-wing belief in their own superiority. If they were honest, they would be giving you all the information - which contradicts everything they've been saying - or even just admitting that they don't much care for the look of wind turbines, which is fair enough.
But these people are not honest. They attack others and then cry foul when their attacks are reported. They tell masses and masses of lies about windfarms and then accuse everybody else of lying. They set out deliberately to create panic on no grounds whatsoever and leave a toxic legacy of division and phantom symptoms in their wake.
They are also holding Britain back from meeting its climate obligations and securing a clean, green, low-cost energy future.
But the worst of it is, they are harming their neighbours with their poisonous falsehoods. For that alone, they will be forever damned.
And for that reason, we here at Wind of Change will continue to expose their self-serving myths and lies, their disgraceful tactics, their exorbitant vanity and their treacherous intents. No matter how much they may threaten us, we will continue to stand with the victims of these vicious and unprincipled nimbies. We will not stop telling the truth, no matter how far some nimby groups may go in seeking to silence others.
We are doing this for Britain, and for the growing number of people who have been lied to, bullied and betrayed by nimby zealots.
Wednesday, 28 March 2012
BURTON WOLD SUCCESS!!!
Many moons ago, we reported on a visit to the Burton Wold Windfarm, a mere kilometre away from the village of Burton Latimer in Northamptonshire.
The journey over there was fraught. This was because most of those going had had their heads filled with arrant nonsense by the self-serving nimby liars of VVASP. They were therefore tetchy and apprehensive. But that changed as soon as they saw the windfarm.
Ten turbines, each 100 metres tall. The visitors wandered around the site (where crops were still being farmed, because wind turbines don't take up much land) and stood holding conversations - at normal volume - directly underneath the blades. It was a blustery day, and under the blades is the "noisiest" spot, but nobody had to raise their voices. Two hundred metres away, the turbines weren't really audible at all. A red kite put on an aerobatic display, flitting back and forth between the rotating blades. People were smiling. The homeward journey was friendly. All bogus concerns had been dispelled by the sheer majesty of an actual windfarm in operation. Everyone chatted and shared sweets.
That's the reality of windfarms. It's so easy to get the nimby lies out of your head. You just have to make an modest effort and find out for yourself.
Unless you're a district councillor. Members of Wychavon District Council's planning committee also visited Burton Wold, and apparently walked around with their eyes shut. At the special planning meeting for the proposed Lenchwick Windfarm, one council member argued that because the turbines at Burton Wold (ten of them) were 100 metres high, and the ones proposed for Lenchwick (five of them) were a little taller, then the two examples were utterly unlike each other. A case of brazen sophistry, if ever there was one.
Well, yesterday witnessed extraordinary scenes at Kettering Borough Council.
First, some background. Plans were already approved in 2007 to extend the Burton Wold windfarm by building seven more turbines to the north of the site. There had been no objections from the locals.
Yesterday, another five turbines, planned for the south of the Burton Wold site, gained unanimous approval from the Kettering borough councillors. There were no protests, no objections. One after another, councillors spoke in praise of the windfarm. The chair concluded the meeting with the remark: "this Council is leading the way, we are becoming the hub for renewables in the East Midlands".
A single turbine was also approved at the meeting for installation elsewhere in the district. The councillors - noting the provisions of the government's new planning guidelines and their presumption in favour of sustainable developments - agreed that all renewable energy helps the environment, no matter how small the contribution.
So, where did it all go right? After all, Burton Wold now has unanimous and enthusiastic permission to become a 22-turbine windfarm - the same number as turbines as will eventually be installed at Fullabrook in North Devon, where a small number of people are already complaining about "noise" which others cannot hear (see previous post).
The answer is simple. Burton Wold windfarm already exists. The locals know that the windfarm isn't noisy, nor is it unsightly. They can see it, but they weren't hoodwinked and brainwashed by nimby terrorists into believing that it would harm them. They know that the windfarm doesn't make you ill or massacre everything in its path. And far from hammering house values, estate agents marketing properties in neighbouring Burton Latimer routinely advertise proximity to the windfarm as a Unique Selling Point.
What is more, farmworkers actually live in cottages in the middle of the windfarm! Any complaints? Nope.
In other words, the disgusting nimby nutters could get nowhere in Kettering, with their foul and misleading bugaboo nonsense about wind power. They would have been laughed off the street.
Nimbies prey on the ignorant, the vulnerable and the easily-alarmed. They have achieved some success in North Devon where, though they couldn't stop the windfarm, they could at least trick locals into thinking that they can hear noises. But they wouldn't get away with that sort of unscrupulous and irresponsible behaviour near Burton Wold, because there, people know the convenient truth.
You won't hear much about the success of Burton Wold from your neighbourhood nimbies. They'll only want to tell you about the people they betrayed and damaged in Devon. Or about the piece written by two confirmed anti-windfarm campaigners which was published in the British Medical Journal. The nimbies will tell you that this "proves" a connection between windfarms and health issues (a connection which is only ever made in places where they depraved nimbies have already managed to convince people that they will get ill), although another piece, also published in the British Medical Journal, shows how biased and unscientific the nimby-friendly piece actually is (see here: http://www.bmj.com/content/344/bmj.e1527/rr/572780).
Your local nasty nimbies nutters also won't tell you that their claims that windfarms will always need "baseload" back-up from conventional sources aren't true either:
http://www.smartplanet.com/blog/energy-futurist/why-baseload-power-is-doomed/445?tag=nl.e660
No, they'll just carry on spouting their incessant torrent of lies. But at least the good people of Kettering know that when a nimby opens his or her mouth, nothing but lies come spewing out of it. Otherwise, they might have objected to two - not one, but two - TWO - extensions to the Burton Wold windfarm site. But they didn't.
Because they know from experience that windfarms are fab. And luckily for them, no demented nimby hooligan got in there first with their atrocious and absurd stories about windfarms and health, house prices, noise, wildlife, emissions, baseload, subsidies, yadda yadda yadda ............
The journey over there was fraught. This was because most of those going had had their heads filled with arrant nonsense by the self-serving nimby liars of VVASP. They were therefore tetchy and apprehensive. But that changed as soon as they saw the windfarm.
Ten turbines, each 100 metres tall. The visitors wandered around the site (where crops were still being farmed, because wind turbines don't take up much land) and stood holding conversations - at normal volume - directly underneath the blades. It was a blustery day, and under the blades is the "noisiest" spot, but nobody had to raise their voices. Two hundred metres away, the turbines weren't really audible at all. A red kite put on an aerobatic display, flitting back and forth between the rotating blades. People were smiling. The homeward journey was friendly. All bogus concerns had been dispelled by the sheer majesty of an actual windfarm in operation. Everyone chatted and shared sweets.
That's the reality of windfarms. It's so easy to get the nimby lies out of your head. You just have to make an modest effort and find out for yourself.
Unless you're a district councillor. Members of Wychavon District Council's planning committee also visited Burton Wold, and apparently walked around with their eyes shut. At the special planning meeting for the proposed Lenchwick Windfarm, one council member argued that because the turbines at Burton Wold (ten of them) were 100 metres high, and the ones proposed for Lenchwick (five of them) were a little taller, then the two examples were utterly unlike each other. A case of brazen sophistry, if ever there was one.
Well, yesterday witnessed extraordinary scenes at Kettering Borough Council.
First, some background. Plans were already approved in 2007 to extend the Burton Wold windfarm by building seven more turbines to the north of the site. There had been no objections from the locals.
Yesterday, another five turbines, planned for the south of the Burton Wold site, gained unanimous approval from the Kettering borough councillors. There were no protests, no objections. One after another, councillors spoke in praise of the windfarm. The chair concluded the meeting with the remark: "this Council is leading the way, we are becoming the hub for renewables in the East Midlands".
A single turbine was also approved at the meeting for installation elsewhere in the district. The councillors - noting the provisions of the government's new planning guidelines and their presumption in favour of sustainable developments - agreed that all renewable energy helps the environment, no matter how small the contribution.
So, where did it all go right? After all, Burton Wold now has unanimous and enthusiastic permission to become a 22-turbine windfarm - the same number as turbines as will eventually be installed at Fullabrook in North Devon, where a small number of people are already complaining about "noise" which others cannot hear (see previous post).
The answer is simple. Burton Wold windfarm already exists. The locals know that the windfarm isn't noisy, nor is it unsightly. They can see it, but they weren't hoodwinked and brainwashed by nimby terrorists into believing that it would harm them. They know that the windfarm doesn't make you ill or massacre everything in its path. And far from hammering house values, estate agents marketing properties in neighbouring Burton Latimer routinely advertise proximity to the windfarm as a Unique Selling Point.
What is more, farmworkers actually live in cottages in the middle of the windfarm! Any complaints? Nope.
In other words, the disgusting nimby nutters could get nowhere in Kettering, with their foul and misleading bugaboo nonsense about wind power. They would have been laughed off the street.
Nimbies prey on the ignorant, the vulnerable and the easily-alarmed. They have achieved some success in North Devon where, though they couldn't stop the windfarm, they could at least trick locals into thinking that they can hear noises. But they wouldn't get away with that sort of unscrupulous and irresponsible behaviour near Burton Wold, because there, people know the convenient truth.
You won't hear much about the success of Burton Wold from your neighbourhood nimbies. They'll only want to tell you about the people they betrayed and damaged in Devon. Or about the piece written by two confirmed anti-windfarm campaigners which was published in the British Medical Journal. The nimbies will tell you that this "proves" a connection between windfarms and health issues (a connection which is only ever made in places where they depraved nimbies have already managed to convince people that they will get ill), although another piece, also published in the British Medical Journal, shows how biased and unscientific the nimby-friendly piece actually is (see here: http://www.bmj.com/content/344/bmj.e1527/rr/572780).
Your local nasty nimbies nutters also won't tell you that their claims that windfarms will always need "baseload" back-up from conventional sources aren't true either:
http://www.smartplanet.com/blog/energy-futurist/why-baseload-power-is-doomed/445?tag=nl.e660
No, they'll just carry on spouting their incessant torrent of lies. But at least the good people of Kettering know that when a nimby opens his or her mouth, nothing but lies come spewing out of it. Otherwise, they might have objected to two - not one, but two - TWO - extensions to the Burton Wold windfarm site. But they didn't.
Because they know from experience that windfarms are fab. And luckily for them, no demented nimby hooligan got in there first with their atrocious and absurd stories about windfarms and health, house prices, noise, wildlife, emissions, baseload, subsidies, yadda yadda yadda ............
Tuesday, 27 March 2012
THE POWER OF SUGGESTION
Want to know why anti-wind nimbies are evil? Dangerously, frighteningly, psychotically evil?
Because they want you to be ill.
Why do they want that? Because then they will have been proved right. Which is all that matters to them (try having a conversation with one - you'll never have the last word). So your job is to become ill when they want you to.
Here's how it works.
You hear that there are plans to build a windfarm near where you live. You don't know what that means, because you've never seen a windfarm. But you're concerned - naturally. Let's face it, we're only human, and any change, any mooted development, can be a cause for concern. Not just windfarms.
Now, if you were level-headed and grown-up, you might decide to visit a few windfarms to find out what they're like. But - NOT SO FAST!!!!! - some of your neighbours have already looked into it (so you don't need to find out for yourself). And what they've discovered is pretty worrying.
Apparently, windfarms are very noisy. They don't really work, of course, but somehow they still contrive to be very noisy, all the same. They keep you awake at night. And, what's worse, THEY MAKE YOU ILL!
Yes, there's evidence to prove it! Not very good evidence. Not really evidence at all, in the strictly scientific sense. In fact, it's a load of crap. But how are you to know? You're not a scientist. You trust your neighbours when they pretend to know what they're talking about. Of course, they're not going to let on that they got all their so-called "information" from a discredited nimby website, are they? No, they're going to pull the wool over your eyes by claiming to be giving you "comprehensive information" and they'll get you believing in conspiracy theories ("what the wind industry doesn't want you to know").
So there's the problem. Those arrogant, pompous, selfish bastards you call neighbours - who are only opposed to the windfarm because they don't want it affecting "their" view - have told you that it will be NOISY, it will KEEP YOU AWAKE AT NIGHT, and it will MAKE YOU ILL.
And you believed them.
This is becoming a major problem. Take the large new windfarm at Fullabrook in North Devon. It's not completed yet. But some locals are already claiming that it's noisy. One has even said that she can "feel the sensation from the blades turning through my pillow" (not really possible). Another has complained about the noise from the turbines' "motors" (ugh?). Someone has said that it is like having tumble driers in the bedroom so they're having to sleep on the sofa downstairs (so the "noise" doesn't reach downstairs - that's interesting).
All of these people can see the turbines - and there, dear friends, lies the problem. They were TOLD by their local nimby agitators that the turbines would sound like tumble driers (but only upstairs, apparently). They were TOLD that the turbines would make them ill. They were told that a magical-mystical thing called Amplitude Modulation would sound all swishy and bumpy, and that's what they're reporting. They even believed all the guff about infrasound (note to Stop Dorcas Lane Turbines: some sounds do not get louder as you move further away from the source - that's not physically possible. Get a grip).
The thing is, while some people are stressing about how "noisy" the windfarm is, others simply cannot hear it at all. A local councillor and Green Party candidate visited the site and was mystified by the lack of windfarm noise. "I am in receipt of criticisms (from people who don't like the wind-farm) but I get far more support from people who simply register confusion about the subject", he said. Like others, he had been totally unable to hear the phantom swishes, bumps and tumble driers. Because they weren't there.
Of course, being a Green Party candidate, the nimbies do not think that he's allowed to comment. Okay, so he checked out the site and couldn't find the problem. But he must be wrong BECAUSE HE DOESN'T AGREE WITH THE NIMBIES. And they're positively crowing about the strange, untraceable sounds that some locals are reporting.
Let's remember: the nimbies TOLD these people that windfarms are NOISY, they MAKE YOU ILL, and they KEEP YOU AWAKE AT NIGHT!!! They even told them what noises to expect (tumble driers, whoosing, swishing, bumping, and something called a wind turbine "motor"). And those people believed them.
Getting the picture? There's also the infamous example of Mr and Mrs Davis, who reported hearing "noise" in all sorts of strange situations - such as when their local windfarm wasn't even operational, or when they were miles away from it. When scrupulous and extended studies were carried out by noise experts, both for the local council and the windfarm operators, no trace of this "noise" could be found.
The Davises' case became a nimby cause celebre. Never mind the thousands of people living very happily near windfarms - statistically, the people most likely to support wind power. They don't count. But Mr and Mrs Davis - oh my God, we must never erect another wind turbine, ever!
(Even though the so-called "noise" could not be traced.)
Now, the nimbies have an answer to all this. Why, that is, most people, as well as scientific instruments, can't detect these phantom noises, let alone the more exotic infrasound and amplitude modulation. The nimbies argue that some people are more sensitive to this sort of thing than others. Notably, these hyper-sensitive souls tend to be those who can actually see the windfarm. And because some people are more sensitive than others, we must never erect another wind turbine, ever again!
Well, they're right in one respect. These people are more sensitive. By which we mean they're more suggestible. They're just the sort to be taken in by the rantings and ravings of a nimby liar.
They're the sort the nimbies like best. They're so easily programmable. You WILL hear the noise! You WILL be kept awake!! You WILL become ill!!!
And so they do, just as the nimbies told them to.
Shame, really. If they'd gone out and done their own research, they wouldn't be suffering now. Because they wouldn't have fallen for all that nimby bullshit in the first place.
So that's why anti-wind nimbies are so sickeningly, stomach-churningly, maniacally evil. They want you to believe the rubbish they're telling you. They want you to fall ill on cue. They want you to "feel" the distant blades pulsating through your pillows. They want you to find it so noisy that you have to sleep downstairs (an interesting example of the power of suggestion: you were TOLD that you wouldn't be able to sleep at night, which you subconsciously interpreted as "I won't be able to sleep in the bedroom"). They want you to hear tumble driers that aren't there, to hear forms of sound that are not detectable by the human ear, to hear swishes and thumps that not even the most sensitive acoustic equipment can't monitor.
They want you to suffer. Because then they can say: "Look, someone's suffering, ha, ha, ha, just like we told them they would! Ha, ha!! We were right! Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!!!!!"
Sadly, though, it's your fault really, for listening to them in the first place. Next time, maybe you'll listen to someone who actually cares about you.
Because they want you to be ill.
Why do they want that? Because then they will have been proved right. Which is all that matters to them (try having a conversation with one - you'll never have the last word). So your job is to become ill when they want you to.
Here's how it works.
You hear that there are plans to build a windfarm near where you live. You don't know what that means, because you've never seen a windfarm. But you're concerned - naturally. Let's face it, we're only human, and any change, any mooted development, can be a cause for concern. Not just windfarms.
Now, if you were level-headed and grown-up, you might decide to visit a few windfarms to find out what they're like. But - NOT SO FAST!!!!! - some of your neighbours have already looked into it (so you don't need to find out for yourself). And what they've discovered is pretty worrying.
Apparently, windfarms are very noisy. They don't really work, of course, but somehow they still contrive to be very noisy, all the same. They keep you awake at night. And, what's worse, THEY MAKE YOU ILL!
Yes, there's evidence to prove it! Not very good evidence. Not really evidence at all, in the strictly scientific sense. In fact, it's a load of crap. But how are you to know? You're not a scientist. You trust your neighbours when they pretend to know what they're talking about. Of course, they're not going to let on that they got all their so-called "information" from a discredited nimby website, are they? No, they're going to pull the wool over your eyes by claiming to be giving you "comprehensive information" and they'll get you believing in conspiracy theories ("what the wind industry doesn't want you to know").
So there's the problem. Those arrogant, pompous, selfish bastards you call neighbours - who are only opposed to the windfarm because they don't want it affecting "their" view - have told you that it will be NOISY, it will KEEP YOU AWAKE AT NIGHT, and it will MAKE YOU ILL.
And you believed them.
This is becoming a major problem. Take the large new windfarm at Fullabrook in North Devon. It's not completed yet. But some locals are already claiming that it's noisy. One has even said that she can "feel the sensation from the blades turning through my pillow" (not really possible). Another has complained about the noise from the turbines' "motors" (ugh?). Someone has said that it is like having tumble driers in the bedroom so they're having to sleep on the sofa downstairs (so the "noise" doesn't reach downstairs - that's interesting).
All of these people can see the turbines - and there, dear friends, lies the problem. They were TOLD by their local nimby agitators that the turbines would sound like tumble driers (but only upstairs, apparently). They were TOLD that the turbines would make them ill. They were told that a magical-mystical thing called Amplitude Modulation would sound all swishy and bumpy, and that's what they're reporting. They even believed all the guff about infrasound (note to Stop Dorcas Lane Turbines: some sounds do not get louder as you move further away from the source - that's not physically possible. Get a grip).
The thing is, while some people are stressing about how "noisy" the windfarm is, others simply cannot hear it at all. A local councillor and Green Party candidate visited the site and was mystified by the lack of windfarm noise. "I am in receipt of criticisms (from people who don't like the wind-farm) but I get far more support from people who simply register confusion about the subject", he said. Like others, he had been totally unable to hear the phantom swishes, bumps and tumble driers. Because they weren't there.
Of course, being a Green Party candidate, the nimbies do not think that he's allowed to comment. Okay, so he checked out the site and couldn't find the problem. But he must be wrong BECAUSE HE DOESN'T AGREE WITH THE NIMBIES. And they're positively crowing about the strange, untraceable sounds that some locals are reporting.
Let's remember: the nimbies TOLD these people that windfarms are NOISY, they MAKE YOU ILL, and they KEEP YOU AWAKE AT NIGHT!!! They even told them what noises to expect (tumble driers, whoosing, swishing, bumping, and something called a wind turbine "motor"). And those people believed them.
Getting the picture? There's also the infamous example of Mr and Mrs Davis, who reported hearing "noise" in all sorts of strange situations - such as when their local windfarm wasn't even operational, or when they were miles away from it. When scrupulous and extended studies were carried out by noise experts, both for the local council and the windfarm operators, no trace of this "noise" could be found.
The Davises' case became a nimby cause celebre. Never mind the thousands of people living very happily near windfarms - statistically, the people most likely to support wind power. They don't count. But Mr and Mrs Davis - oh my God, we must never erect another wind turbine, ever!
(Even though the so-called "noise" could not be traced.)
Now, the nimbies have an answer to all this. Why, that is, most people, as well as scientific instruments, can't detect these phantom noises, let alone the more exotic infrasound and amplitude modulation. The nimbies argue that some people are more sensitive to this sort of thing than others. Notably, these hyper-sensitive souls tend to be those who can actually see the windfarm. And because some people are more sensitive than others, we must never erect another wind turbine, ever again!
Well, they're right in one respect. These people are more sensitive. By which we mean they're more suggestible. They're just the sort to be taken in by the rantings and ravings of a nimby liar.
They're the sort the nimbies like best. They're so easily programmable. You WILL hear the noise! You WILL be kept awake!! You WILL become ill!!!
And so they do, just as the nimbies told them to.
Shame, really. If they'd gone out and done their own research, they wouldn't be suffering now. Because they wouldn't have fallen for all that nimby bullshit in the first place.
So that's why anti-wind nimbies are so sickeningly, stomach-churningly, maniacally evil. They want you to believe the rubbish they're telling you. They want you to fall ill on cue. They want you to "feel" the distant blades pulsating through your pillows. They want you to find it so noisy that you have to sleep downstairs (an interesting example of the power of suggestion: you were TOLD that you wouldn't be able to sleep at night, which you subconsciously interpreted as "I won't be able to sleep in the bedroom"). They want you to hear tumble driers that aren't there, to hear forms of sound that are not detectable by the human ear, to hear swishes and thumps that not even the most sensitive acoustic equipment can't monitor.
They want you to suffer. Because then they can say: "Look, someone's suffering, ha, ha, ha, just like we told them they would! Ha, ha!! We were right! Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!!!!!"
Sadly, though, it's your fault really, for listening to them in the first place. Next time, maybe you'll listen to someone who actually cares about you.
DEMOCRACY IN PERIL
We here at Wind of Change have reported frequently on the tendency of nimby anti-windfarm campaigners to undermine local democracy. This ranges from the corruption of parish councils to the falsification of local opinion poll results.
Our own local nimby group - VVASP - did both. Parish councils were barracked and harrassed until well-meaning councillors stood aside. Their places were then taken by dedicated nimbies who had no intention of sticking to the guidelines. They established a fake "Windfarm Working Party" in order to subvert the surrounding parish councils, mislead officers and members of the District Council, and get their hands on public money which they channelled into their devious and dishonest campaign.
They also misrepresented the outcomes of three local surveys carried out by the parish councils, inventing a non-existent "75%" of opposition to the proposed Lenchwick Windfarm in a parish which didn't even see 75% of the ballot papers returned (the real level of expressed opposition was 44%). The nimbies' falsified figures were later passed on to the local MP for Redditch, who foolishly read them out in the District Council planning meeting.
A triumph, then, on many levels, for those who would wilfully undermine local democracy in order to get their way.
Well, sadly, things have moved on. Donald "Trumpety" Trump has made a lot of money available to the fanatics of CATS ("Communities Against Turbines Scotland" - although it should be pointed out that when they say "communities" they actually mean "a few scattered idiots").
The Trump has done this because he wants to stop a very important offshore windfarm development which he knew was on the cards when he applied for permission to wreck the Aberdeenshire coastline with his ghastly "luxury" golf resort. So now we have an American citizen trying to undermine our democracy!
CATS has hinted that it will use some of Trump's ill-gotten gains to campaign against local councillors who support wind energy projects. Now, Scotland has plans for a lot more in the way of renewables, with about 20 gigawatts-worth in various stages of development, and over 11,000 jons already dependent on the renewables sector. So, by seeking to oppose and smear politicians who support wind power and other renewables, the crazy CATS are doing all they can to betray the interests of Scotland and the UK as a whole. But then, they are fanatics and fifth columnists who have completely lost the plot.
The goods news is that the Scottish Green Party has reported Donald Trump to the Electoral Commission over his grubby donation to the stray CATS.
Basically, Trump has determined to buy our political process. What he cannot achieve by bullying, lying and throwing screaming fits, he intends to achieve through the wholesale corruption of the democratic process - aided and abetted, of course, by the halfwits of CATS.
But political donations from overseas are not allowed under the rules governing public elections in the UK. The fact that CATS was prepared to divert Trump's dirty money into campaigns targetting pro-wind candidates for local government means that the rules have almost certainly been breached.
There will undoubtedly be a few maniacs in the UK who greet Trump's mind-bendingly selfish and intolerant stance as a breakthrough for the vicious and destructive anti-windfarm movement. But then, as we already know, such people don't believe in democracy, public opinion, science or the national good. They would be quite happy for an American billionaire to dictate who we can and cannot elect to represent us, just as long as it means that their blinkered and unpatriotic position on wind is the one that prevails.
Each and every single one of us needs to ask ourselves this:
Do you believe in democracy, freedom of speech, energy security for our children, lower electricity bills and a cleaner environment?
If you do, then you have a solemn obligation to fight the lying fascists of the anti-windfarm minority, their deranged propagandists and their monstrous paymasters, like Donald Trump.
Our own local nimby group - VVASP - did both. Parish councils were barracked and harrassed until well-meaning councillors stood aside. Their places were then taken by dedicated nimbies who had no intention of sticking to the guidelines. They established a fake "Windfarm Working Party" in order to subvert the surrounding parish councils, mislead officers and members of the District Council, and get their hands on public money which they channelled into their devious and dishonest campaign.
They also misrepresented the outcomes of three local surveys carried out by the parish councils, inventing a non-existent "75%" of opposition to the proposed Lenchwick Windfarm in a parish which didn't even see 75% of the ballot papers returned (the real level of expressed opposition was 44%). The nimbies' falsified figures were later passed on to the local MP for Redditch, who foolishly read them out in the District Council planning meeting.
A triumph, then, on many levels, for those who would wilfully undermine local democracy in order to get their way.
Well, sadly, things have moved on. Donald "Trumpety" Trump has made a lot of money available to the fanatics of CATS ("Communities Against Turbines Scotland" - although it should be pointed out that when they say "communities" they actually mean "a few scattered idiots").
The Trump has done this because he wants to stop a very important offshore windfarm development which he knew was on the cards when he applied for permission to wreck the Aberdeenshire coastline with his ghastly "luxury" golf resort. So now we have an American citizen trying to undermine our democracy!
CATS has hinted that it will use some of Trump's ill-gotten gains to campaign against local councillors who support wind energy projects. Now, Scotland has plans for a lot more in the way of renewables, with about 20 gigawatts-worth in various stages of development, and over 11,000 jons already dependent on the renewables sector. So, by seeking to oppose and smear politicians who support wind power and other renewables, the crazy CATS are doing all they can to betray the interests of Scotland and the UK as a whole. But then, they are fanatics and fifth columnists who have completely lost the plot.
The goods news is that the Scottish Green Party has reported Donald Trump to the Electoral Commission over his grubby donation to the stray CATS.
Basically, Trump has determined to buy our political process. What he cannot achieve by bullying, lying and throwing screaming fits, he intends to achieve through the wholesale corruption of the democratic process - aided and abetted, of course, by the halfwits of CATS.
But political donations from overseas are not allowed under the rules governing public elections in the UK. The fact that CATS was prepared to divert Trump's dirty money into campaigns targetting pro-wind candidates for local government means that the rules have almost certainly been breached.
There will undoubtedly be a few maniacs in the UK who greet Trump's mind-bendingly selfish and intolerant stance as a breakthrough for the vicious and destructive anti-windfarm movement. But then, as we already know, such people don't believe in democracy, public opinion, science or the national good. They would be quite happy for an American billionaire to dictate who we can and cannot elect to represent us, just as long as it means that their blinkered and unpatriotic position on wind is the one that prevails.
Each and every single one of us needs to ask ourselves this:
Do you believe in democracy, freedom of speech, energy security for our children, lower electricity bills and a cleaner environment?
If you do, then you have a solemn obligation to fight the lying fascists of the anti-windfarm minority, their deranged propagandists and their monstrous paymasters, like Donald Trump.
Monday, 26 March 2012
BRITAIN'S SHAME
Ireland is about to achieve a historic reversal. Traditionally, the Emerald Isle imported fuel for energy. But the country is now on the verge of becoming an energy exporter.
How has it managed this? By building windfarms.
Like the UK, Ireland gets an awful lot of wind. Unlike the UK, Ireland's government is a major supporter of its burgeoning wind industry. A couple of days ago, the Irish Minister for Energy announced a new support scheme for renewable energy. The Irish Independent newspaper announced that "the proactive and strategic development of wind energy has a clear role to play in Ireland's road to economic recovery and in stimulating employment growth ...
"An opportunity is emerging; we must seize it."
Not quite the message that Britain's dog-eared right-wing press has been broadcasting. Over here, we're expected to believe that wind power doesn't work, that it's too intermittent, too inefficient and completely reliant on subsidies. The rest of the world, meanwhile, is busily striding forwards with renewables, and wind energy is one of the global growth industries. Denmark has just confirmed its commitment to getting 50% of its electricity from wind and other renewables by 2020; Scotland expects to get 100% of its electricity from renewables by then and still to be a net exporter of energy.
Ireland's encouragement of its own wind industry means that the Irish expect to be exporting an annual six billion euros worth of surplus wind energy within the next few years. Most of that will be exported to its nearest neighbour - the UK.
How ironic would it be if the country which likes to kid itself that wind power is useless ends up buying in wind-generated energy from Ireland and Scotland? This, it should be pointed out, is extremely likely in the very near future. Once again, we'll be losing out - paying other countries for the clean, green, cheap-to-produce energy that we couldn't be bothered to develop because we were so busy telling each other nimby lies about wind.
On the subject of cheap energy, an article on CleanTechnica.com presents some interesting facts. The French Court of Auditors recently found that nuclear power costs more to produce than French consumers are paying for it because no one had previously taken all the costs of nuclear into account. For a start, the costs of being nuclear plants has skyrocketed. In 1978, it cost the equivalent of 1.07 million euros per megawatt. By 2002, that had risen to 1.37 million euros per megawatt. Now, in the post-Fukushima world (which has seen Japan shut down all but one of its 56 reactors, with the last one scheduled to be switched off in May), the current costs of constructing a nuclear power station are an estimated 3.7 million euros per megawatt. Construction of the Flamanville nuclear plant began in 2006 - now completion has been put back to 2016 and the costs have gone up by 50%.
What all this means is that nuclear will cost about 102 euros per megawatt hour by 2020. By then, onshore wind will cost about 58 euros per megawatt hour, and offshore wind about 75 euros.
No marks for guessing which is the cheaper option. Or which is the cleaner, safer option. Or which takes the least time to get going. Or which does not leave tens of thousands of years of extremely hazardous waste to be dealt with and doesn't threaten to destroy everything within a radius of many miles.
All the same, we in the UK are continually bombarded by nimby nonsense and false figures produced by lobbyists for the fossil fuels and nuclear industries. We are allowing other countries - including our nearest neighbours - to steal a march on us. They will be the ones producing surplus clean energy, which we will have to pay them for. They will also be providing jobs and economic growth by investing in renewables - wind in particular - while we continue to grouse and gripe and spread silly stories which don't make sense.
Nimbyism is the cause of our growing shame in all this. Residents of fairly ordinary villages try to claim that theirs is a unique habitat which must never be "threatened" by anything as unthreatening as a windfarm. No, they shriek: put all the windfarms offshore!! But then the shore-dwellers kick up an unholy stink about offshore developments, like the breathtaking Atlantic Array in the Bristol Channel or the European Offshore Wind Development Centre, which Donald Trump and his hired gangsters are trying to stop.
So, if we were to listen to the nimby idiots of Middle England we'd get the bizarre impression that nowhere is right for windfarms. They're all so busy passing the buck, pretending to be all in favour of renewables just as long as it's somebody else who has to see them, that no one is allowed to help move Britain into the 21st century. Every single nimby campaign really does seem to imagine that one small group of rural arrivistes can be absolved from playing a necessary (and enjoyable) part in Britain's energy renaissance. It just so happens that wherever these maniacs live is so special, the view so staggeringly remarkable, that they should and must be excused from doing their bit. But what happens is, with everywhere going nimby mental these days, it turns out that everyone's view is more special than anybody else's.
And so they tell lies about wind energy in an attempt to deflect attention from their monstrous selfishness and crazed paranoia.
And those lies are what is holding Britain back. The rest of the world isn't quite so infested with self-centred, irresponsible nimby liars as our little isle. Which seemingly means that we'll all end up paying more for our electricity - expensive nuclear from France, cheaper renewables from Ireland and Scotland - than we need to. Because we were too busy lying about how important the view is: more important than anybody else's; more important than saving the planet.
Nimbies, eh? Traitors all!
How has it managed this? By building windfarms.
Like the UK, Ireland gets an awful lot of wind. Unlike the UK, Ireland's government is a major supporter of its burgeoning wind industry. A couple of days ago, the Irish Minister for Energy announced a new support scheme for renewable energy. The Irish Independent newspaper announced that "the proactive and strategic development of wind energy has a clear role to play in Ireland's road to economic recovery and in stimulating employment growth ...
"An opportunity is emerging; we must seize it."
Not quite the message that Britain's dog-eared right-wing press has been broadcasting. Over here, we're expected to believe that wind power doesn't work, that it's too intermittent, too inefficient and completely reliant on subsidies. The rest of the world, meanwhile, is busily striding forwards with renewables, and wind energy is one of the global growth industries. Denmark has just confirmed its commitment to getting 50% of its electricity from wind and other renewables by 2020; Scotland expects to get 100% of its electricity from renewables by then and still to be a net exporter of energy.
Ireland's encouragement of its own wind industry means that the Irish expect to be exporting an annual six billion euros worth of surplus wind energy within the next few years. Most of that will be exported to its nearest neighbour - the UK.
How ironic would it be if the country which likes to kid itself that wind power is useless ends up buying in wind-generated energy from Ireland and Scotland? This, it should be pointed out, is extremely likely in the very near future. Once again, we'll be losing out - paying other countries for the clean, green, cheap-to-produce energy that we couldn't be bothered to develop because we were so busy telling each other nimby lies about wind.
On the subject of cheap energy, an article on CleanTechnica.com presents some interesting facts. The French Court of Auditors recently found that nuclear power costs more to produce than French consumers are paying for it because no one had previously taken all the costs of nuclear into account. For a start, the costs of being nuclear plants has skyrocketed. In 1978, it cost the equivalent of 1.07 million euros per megawatt. By 2002, that had risen to 1.37 million euros per megawatt. Now, in the post-Fukushima world (which has seen Japan shut down all but one of its 56 reactors, with the last one scheduled to be switched off in May), the current costs of constructing a nuclear power station are an estimated 3.7 million euros per megawatt. Construction of the Flamanville nuclear plant began in 2006 - now completion has been put back to 2016 and the costs have gone up by 50%.
What all this means is that nuclear will cost about 102 euros per megawatt hour by 2020. By then, onshore wind will cost about 58 euros per megawatt hour, and offshore wind about 75 euros.
No marks for guessing which is the cheaper option. Or which is the cleaner, safer option. Or which takes the least time to get going. Or which does not leave tens of thousands of years of extremely hazardous waste to be dealt with and doesn't threaten to destroy everything within a radius of many miles.
All the same, we in the UK are continually bombarded by nimby nonsense and false figures produced by lobbyists for the fossil fuels and nuclear industries. We are allowing other countries - including our nearest neighbours - to steal a march on us. They will be the ones producing surplus clean energy, which we will have to pay them for. They will also be providing jobs and economic growth by investing in renewables - wind in particular - while we continue to grouse and gripe and spread silly stories which don't make sense.
Nimbyism is the cause of our growing shame in all this. Residents of fairly ordinary villages try to claim that theirs is a unique habitat which must never be "threatened" by anything as unthreatening as a windfarm. No, they shriek: put all the windfarms offshore!! But then the shore-dwellers kick up an unholy stink about offshore developments, like the breathtaking Atlantic Array in the Bristol Channel or the European Offshore Wind Development Centre, which Donald Trump and his hired gangsters are trying to stop.
So, if we were to listen to the nimby idiots of Middle England we'd get the bizarre impression that nowhere is right for windfarms. They're all so busy passing the buck, pretending to be all in favour of renewables just as long as it's somebody else who has to see them, that no one is allowed to help move Britain into the 21st century. Every single nimby campaign really does seem to imagine that one small group of rural arrivistes can be absolved from playing a necessary (and enjoyable) part in Britain's energy renaissance. It just so happens that wherever these maniacs live is so special, the view so staggeringly remarkable, that they should and must be excused from doing their bit. But what happens is, with everywhere going nimby mental these days, it turns out that everyone's view is more special than anybody else's.
And so they tell lies about wind energy in an attempt to deflect attention from their monstrous selfishness and crazed paranoia.
And those lies are what is holding Britain back. The rest of the world isn't quite so infested with self-centred, irresponsible nimby liars as our little isle. Which seemingly means that we'll all end up paying more for our electricity - expensive nuclear from France, cheaper renewables from Ireland and Scotland - than we need to. Because we were too busy lying about how important the view is: more important than anybody else's; more important than saving the planet.
Nimbies, eh? Traitors all!
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