Country Guardian

Country Guardian has for many years taken on the role of spreading the facts about wind energy and giving the potential victims the evidence to fight. We have been leading the battle against wind farms in Britain since 1990 when the first wind turbines started to appear in the Lake District.The conflict is basically between those who value our unique landscape and those who promote the economic interests of the wind developers,under a shelter of "green wash". But the weakness of the wind developers' case has been increasingly brought into the light of day. In a period of harsh decisions and real energy poverty, our money is being thrown away on subsidies for a form of energy which is not economically viable.

A key part of this is our List of Windfarm Action Groups, which has recently topped 300. This List was originally intended - about 15 years ago - to warn communities about windfarm developers prowling around, but is now intended to help all groups to share information.

a€?ENVIRONMENTAL OR ACCESS INITIATIVE OF THE YEARa€? The Great Outdoors Award 2012

Country Guardian is thrilled to have won this award: we could not wish for better.

That we achieved this award is entirely due to all those who support us and voted for our organisation.

We send them our heartfelt thanks and hope that it will help campaigners everywhere in the
long hard fight to stop the wanton destruction of our rural heritage with the wind industrya€?s
money-spinning monsters.

We are deeply touched and honoured by the many appreciative messages coming in.
It is quite impossible to describe what they mean to us after 20 years of campaigning.
The greatest comfort is to know there are so many out there carrying the fight forward.

On behalf of Country Guardian thank you all more than I can say.
Spread the good news to encourage everyone to FIGHT ON !

Angela Kelly
Chairman.

Environmental or Access Initiative of the Year - Country Guardian anti-windfarm campaign
(go to www.tgomagazine.co.uk/awards/categories)

Articles About Windfarms

2. Power grid cana€?t cope when the wind blows
3. Attack on absurd energy plans
4. Engineer gears up for windfall
5.Come wind or sun, we'll still need fossil fuels
6. Secret wind farm report into house price blight
7.Shale gas - bonanza or illusion
8. The Joy of Global Warming
9 Residents to get more say in wind farms
10.Subsidy standstill puts wind farm factory jobs at risk.

Key Links

The spectre of global warming and the political panic surrounding it has triggered a goldrush for renewable energy sources without an open discussion of the merits and drawbacks of each.
In The Wind Farm Scam Dr Etherington argues that in the case of wind power the latter far outweigh the former. Wind turbines cannot generate enough energy to reduce global CO2 levels to a meaningful degree; whata€?s more wind power is by nature intermittent and cannot generate a steady output, necessitating back-up coal and gas power plants that significantly negate the saving of greenhouse gas emissions.
In addition to the inefficacy of wind power there are ecological drawbacks, including damage to habitats, wildlife and the far-from-insignificant aesthetic drawback of the assault upon natural beauty and the pristine landscape, which wind turbines entail.
Dr Etherington argues that wind power has been, and is being, excessively financed at the cost of consumers who have not been consulted, nor informed that this effective subsidy is being paid from their bills to support an industry that cannot be cost efficient or, ultimately, favour the cause it purports to support

The Charter - The National Opposition to Wind Farms - www.nowind.org.uk

To establish a national body to oppose windfarms by tackling policy. The alliance will also be a source of collective knowledge and strategic help.

Contents Landscape and wildlife

Unreliable energy source requiring backup
No reduction in CO2
Additional grid infrastructure
Subsidies
Employment, business and property

Country Guardian's List of UK Windfarm Action Groups.- www.countryguardian.net/WAG list.htm

This is the list of over 300 windfarm action groups, maintained by Country Guardian. It is a record of windfarm action groups which are, or have been, threatened by wind farm developers. It is likely that that there are many more

National Wind Watch http://www.wind-watch.org/news/category/locations/europe/uk/

"A non-profit coalition for raising awareness of the shortcomings of industrial wind energy on the environment". It is a nonprofit coalition for raising awareness of the shortcomings of industrial wind energy and its negative impacts on the environment. It is an excellant source of up-to-date information about wind projects, and can be directed to a wide range of territories, as the one quoted is for UK. Up-to-date and covers

Warmwell. http://www.warmwell.com/windfarms.html Yet another up-to-date journal which tracks the battle to save the countryside. Covers other countries.

Industrial Wind Action Group www.windaction.org This site is updated daily with the latest IWA announcements, news articles, and fact-based documents pertaining to wind energy development.

Artists Against Windfarms (including Conservation of Upland Powys) www.artistsagainstwindfarms.com

"We are a world wide group of artists who share a love of the countryside and all wild places. We fight to save them, and their wildlife, from being turned into Industrial Wind Power Stations"

Caithness Windfarm Forum http://www.caithnesswindfarms.co.uk/page4.htm

Summary of Wind Turbine Accident data to 30 June 2012. This includes all documented cases of wind turbine related accidents which could be found and confirmed through press reports or official information releases up to 31 March 2012. CWIF believe that this compendium of accident information may be the most comprehensive available anywhere

These accident statistics are copyright Caithness Windfarm Information Forum 2012. The data may be used or referred to by groups or individuals, provided that the source (Caithness Windfarm Information Forum) is acknowledged and our URL www.caithnesswindfarms.co.uk quoted at the same time. Caithness Windfarm Information Forum is not responsible for the accuracy of Third Party material or references.

Renewable Energy Foundation. http://www.ref.org.uk/energy-data

The Renewable Energy Foundation is a registered charity promoting sustainable development for the benefit of the public by means of energy conservation and the use of renewable energy.

"REF is supported by private donation and has no political affiliation or corporate membership. In pursuit of its principal goals REF highlights the need for an overall energy policy that is balanced, ecologically sensitive, and effective. We aim to raise public awareness of the issues and encourage informed debate regarding a structured energy policy that is both ecologically sensitive and practical. The issues of climate change and security of energy supply are complex and closely intertwined. REF contributes to the debate surrounding these issues by commissioning reports to provide an independent and authoritative source of information."REF effectively researches the statistics which come out of the electricity generation process. One on-going research process monitors the effect of the intermittency which is an increasing problem. It also monitiors Government statistics on the actual output of windfarms

For information on Country Guardian (includes Background, Contacts and Membership Form)

Country Guardian.htm
Country Guardian's Policy.htm

Information

Letters, Daily Telegraph, 4 September 2007

Sir, There is an old saying: "No one ever built a windmill if he could build a watermill." The wind is an unreliable source of power. It seldom blows steadily and sometimes not at all.
The power generated by the wind varies with the cube of the wind speed. That means that if the wind speed drops from 40mph to 20mph, the power output does not drop by 50 per cent: it drops by 87.5 per cent. At 10mph, the wind produces only 1.56 per cent of the power generated by a 40mph wind.
The wind can never become a major source of power.

Norman Plastow, Hon Curator, Wimbledon Windmill Museum , London SW19.

Country Guardian

Notable Papers

1. How to Fight a Windfarm

2. WHEN THE WIND BLOWS"Angela Kelly - Faculty of Building Journal, October 2000

3. Lotta's Story

4 CO 2 Emissions Reduction: Time for a Reality Check? - Malcolm Keay, Oxford Energy Comment

5. Windfarm Wasteland. From the Case Against Windfarms 2003

Digital photo taken on a Nikon D2X camera with a 50-500mm lens