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The Case Against Windfarms
2006 edition- Adobe version

This is Country Guardian's detailed argument against wind farms, written by Dr John Etherington

You can also access the individual sections of the Case Against Windfarms:

Introduction: Why Windfarms and why now?

Government: policy, costs and subsidy

The scale of development required by government targets and overall saving of carbon dioxide emission

The problem of intermittency and need for backup

Calculating CO2 emissions and saving

Homes supplied by a windfarm

Technical aspects of windfarms

Landscape quality of windfarm sites and value of landscape

Windfarms and the planning system

Public opinion - Beauties or beasts?

House prices , tourism and jobs

Birds and Bats

Noise

Quality of life and safety

Some comparisions - odious or otherwise

How can the need for electricity be met?

Conclusion

Appendix 1. Climatic change, Kyoto and the future

Appendix 2.Calculations for Section 16. Comparisons

References and notes

List of UK Windfarm Action Groups
Total @ 12 Mayl 2009 -
211 groups)

International links

Country Guardian - Contacts and background

Country Guardian's Policy

Facts About Wind Power

Carbon dioxide ‘savings’ from wind farms

Both by By Dr J M Hall ©

Wind Energy: Facts and Fiction

A half truth is a whole lie
J.A. Halkema

About the Author:
J.A. Halkema (M.S.E.E.) is an authority on the subject of energy. A retired electrical engineer, after graduating from the Technical University in Delft he worked for the international company Brown Boveri Nederland, now Asea Brown Boveri (ABB).

Wind Report 2005 - E.ON Netz

"There is therefore
a risk that even simple grid problems will lead to the sudden failure of over 3,000MW of
wind power feed-in. In this case, the reserves maintained in the Integrated European Transmission
System, in order to cope with problems, would no longer be adequate to safely tackle
such failures.

At the present time, it is not known how to confront this risk"

Wind power in Denmark

The true story of Denmark's "success with wind energy", regularly updated
By Dr V.C. Mason
(December 2008 ) ©

EPAW (European Platform Against Windfarms)
A new Europe-wide organisation witha campaign to "STOP THE USELESS & DESTRUCTIVE WINDFARM PROGRAM".

The UK Government is obsessed with wind power above all other renewable technologies. This "Wind Rush" is being fuelled by absurdly inflated subsidies, paid for by electricity consumers. The following 'Wind Files' track the negative impact of wind farms as they become daily more evident

News

May 2009

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/natural_resources/article6301694.ece

May 2009

The Wind Farm Scam John Etherington 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; what’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.

   
John Etherington - THE AUTHOR:

John Etherington was a Reader in Ecology at the University of Wales , Cardiff . Since his retirement from the University in 1990,
he has devoted himself to researching the implications of intermittently available renewable electricity generation, in particular wind power.
He is a Thomas Huxley Medallist at the Royal College of Science and a former co-editor of the International Journal of Ecology.

* * *

300 pages, Paperback
125x200mm, Portrait
Available from June 2009. Not yet published

ISBN-10: 1905299834
ISBN-13: 9781905299836
Price £9.9


STACEY INTERNATIONAL

April 2009

From The Times
April 11, 2009

Green energy feels the chill in harsh economic climate

As companies make big cuts to investments in renewable energy, time is running out for Britain to take action to meet its targets on reducing carbon emissions

Robin Pagnamenta, Energy and Environmental Editor

Britain’s wind energy industry increased its call for state aid yesterday, after new figures showed that investment in the sector has collapsed by nearly 80 per cent.

The amount invested in British renewable energy schemes, including wind, solar and wave power, fell from £377 million during the first three months of last year to £79 million during the same period this year, according to figures from New Energy Finance, a research group that monitors industry trends. The figures have raised fresh questions over the Government’s ability to fulfil its pledge to slash Britain’s carbon emissions and produce more than one third of the country’s electricity from green energy by 2020.

Read the full article

Related Links

·                     Green energy projects may never be turned on

Energy companies are having to shelve projects that would help Britain to meet its 2020 renewables target because they cannot connect them to the national grid.With waits of several years, and in one case almost a decade, before connections can be built, several wind farm projects might have to be put in abeyance.

·                   http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article6074016.ece

Ian Leonard thought that it would be a straightforward affair to enter the renewable energy industry by installing two or three wind turbines on his land.

Eight years, three public inquiries and one High Court challenge later, his hopes of harvesting enough green electricity to supply 3,000 homes are still unrealised

·                     Spinning in the Wind

April 2009

David Miliband, Minister for Climate Change and Energy, commented that 'It is socially unacceptable to be against wind turbines in your area – like not wearing your seatbelt or driving past a zebra crossing'". This is the response from The Guardian

Taking the wind out of Miliband's sails

There are legitimate arguments against turbines, the issue is not as simple as the climate change secretary would have us believe

Fergal Macerlean, guardian.co.uk

Wednesday 25 March 2009 19.00 GMT

In his oh-so-earnest style Ed Miliband has spoken out at a screening of the climate change documentary The Age of Stupid. "The government needs to be saying, 'It is socially unacceptable to be against wind turbines in your area – like not wearing your seatbelt or driving past a zebra crossing,'" the climate change secretary said.

Of course it should be socially unacceptable to drive across a zebra crossing when someone is intending to cross. That's logical. Blindly supporting the government's attempts to meet an EU target of producing a fifth of all energy through renewables by 2020 is another matter. Unlike the crossing, it's not a black and white issue.

March 2009

Read Dr Mike Hall's devastating reply to the RSPB, which has betrayed its environmental pretensions by supporting wind turbine developments

[The full text of Dr Mike Hall's reply is at Mike Hall and RSPB - these are extracts]

....I have been too busy writing evidence for a Public Inquiry for the past 5 weeks at Armistead ( Cumbria) to write to you with my own objection until now. For Armistead, the RSPB adopted its usual fig-leaf cop-out position in supporting a 'habitat management plan' proposed by the developer and so did not object. Your lack of objection is despite the existence on and around the site of Hen Harrier (14 sightings in the last 6 years including a pair this year), Merlin, Peregrine, Curlew, Lapwing (including a field adjacent to the site in the Countryside Stewardship scheme for lapwing breeding), Yellowhammer, Skylark, Twite, Reed Bunting, and many other more common birds. Quite appalling....

....One would not mind if you had any basis for your 'carefully considered position' but you have none. Wind farms destroy peoples lives, split communities, devastate habitats, kill bats and some birds, decimate the landscape, destroy peat, and are only built because of the subsidies they can reap. I attach an article from the Building Magazine ( April 11th 2008) about the peat on Whitelee wind farm site. Just read it and see if you don't get angry. They see peat as an engineering challenge to be destroyed and tamed. I also attach a Proof I have prepared for the Armistead Public Inquiry, and a summary of the history of CO2 savings by wind farms - which the BWEA has just HALVED to 0.43t/MWh after repeated defeats by the ASA. The BWEA action alone will have halved the savings or (put another way) doubled the number of turbines needed for any given saving. I won't go on in detail except to point out that even these supposed savings are greatly overstated. I believe in reducing CO2 emissions but unlike the RSPB realise that this is the wrong technology to even begin to address the issue. Hence the RSPB have mistakenly decided to back a technology which cannot contribute anything significant to the issue of climate change, the issue you use as your only excuse for backing this deceitful, dishonest and divisive industry. Your action is indefensible as well as being contrary to your charitable status.

March 2009

RSPB calls for more UK wind farms

Countries like Spain and Denmark use wind power far more than the UK

There should be a significant increase in the number of wind farms built onshore in the UK , the RSPB has said.

It called for an end to the "needless delays" that beset wind farm projects, after a study said more turbines could be built without harming wildlife.
It would be "disastrous" if the vast potential of wind power in the UK was wasted, the charity added.
Ministers said the planning process was being "streamlined" to encourage a mixture of on and offshore wind farms.
In 2007, just 2% of the UK 's energy came from wind power, compared with 29% in Denmark , 20% in Spain and 15% in Germany .

'Sense of urgency'

A report for the RSPB, written by the Institute for European Environmental Policy, said that with an effective planning system, the UK could greatly increase onshore wind development without damaging nature conservation.

Read RSBP call for the full statement, and also Dr Mike Hall's comments on the RSBP's betrayal of conservation values.

March 2009

Consumers beware the costly spin of wind turbines

From The Sunday Times

March 29, 2009

Jonathan Leake, Environment Editor

The view from the top could not be clearer: Ed Miliband, the minister for energy and climate change, said last week that opposing the onward march of wind turbines – on which the government is pinning its hopes of meeting its targets on renewable energy – should be as “socially unacceptable” as not wearing a seatbelt or failing to stop at a zebra crossing.

Hmm. Tell that to the people who believe the view over Britain’s last remaining wildernesses is about to be destroyed for ever – and for a very dubious set of returns. Will wind farms turn out to be a truly revolutionary source of energy for the future or an expensive folly?

Whatever the final answer, there’s no doubt about the expense. Over the past decade developers have grown rich on lavish – and, critics would say, misdirected – government subsidies. Wind farming is the new gold rush.

So far, renewable power companies have erected 2,390 wind turbines at 200 onshore sites. Another 4,800 are planned, with many more to follow. The power generated will be carried away by lines of pylons crossing Snowdonia national park and areas of outstanding natural beauty in Anglesey, Kent, Lincolnshire and Somerset. For enthusiasts such as Miliband, this destruction is the price Britain must pay.

Read the full article at:

www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article5992864.ece

February 2009

From The Sunday Times     February 15, 2009

Nuclear lies are keeping you afraid

by James Lovelock

The father of the Gaia theory says far from being uniquely dangerous, only nuclear power can solve the food and energy crises ahead

It would take a vast area of countryside to provide enough land for a one-gigawatt wind-energy source. The wind blows only 25% of the time at the right speed to generate a useful quantity of electricity; therefore this monster would need the back-up of a near-full-size fossil-fuel power station to supply electricity whenever the wind blew too much or too little.

Take, for example, the British intention to build the world’s largest wind farm in the Thames estuary, which would have 341 turbines occupying an area of 90 square miles. It is claimed to be a one-gigawatt project and therefore equal in output to a typical nuclear power plant. In the hype attending it is the  claim that it will provide enough electricity for one-third of London’s homes and save the emission of 1.9m tons of carbon dioxide. It sounds good until you realise that a full-size, presumably coal-burning, power station, emitting copious amounts of carbon dioxide, will have to be built to back it up when the wind does not blow.

Its real averaged output would be only 400MW of electricity. If it were steady, which it would not be, it would be enough for 830,000 homes each consuming 4,200kWh yearly. I am glad the oil company Shell had the wisdom, despite subsidies, to pull out of this flawed project.

Read the full article at:

www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article5733427.ece

January 2008

Perkins, Ohio

3 turbines crash after blades from one break

PERKINS TOWNSHIP — Three wind turbines at Perkins High School crashed Saturday when the blades broke off one of them.No one was hurt when parts of the fiberglass blades came off the turbine as it spun, winging the blades up to 40 yards away from the silver monopole tower, near the high school at 3714 Campbell St.The remaining two turbines will not be used until they are inspected and officials figure out what caused the blades to break.“We’re still waiting for a complete investigation to try to determine what went wrong,” said Perkins school Superintendent Jim Gunner.“First and foremost, we’ve got to figure out what happened,” he said. “Once we know what happened and we can safely put the two other turbines back on line, we’ll do that.”

Full report at: Turbine blades fall on school

January 2009

Britain's energy industry is nosediving into a dark, uncertain future

Decades of denial and underinvestment have left Britain in huge energy debt and at risk of powercuts and 20% bill hikes
"Ministers have also failed to understand that the security of supply contribution from renewables, even if built, would be modest"

http://www.guardian.co.uk:80/environment/
2009/ jan/27/renewableenergy-pollution

December 2008

October 2008

Article printed in the Observer 19th October 2008

"UK wind farm plans on brink of failure

October 2008

Two articles from The Times, 8 October 2008, by
Robin Pagnamenta, energy and environment editor