The apparent rush to build onshore wind turbines in Scotland to achieve global leadership in renewable energy is a matter of concern particularly with the inconsistent nature of wind power generation ("Scotland 'running out of land' for wind farms", The Herald, December 26).
I can scarcely remember a more extensive period of turbulent weather than that which has occurred in the latter stages of 2011. How can we have a consistent supply of renewable energy with turbines shutting down or being turned off to prevent damage?
There is a perception that this rush to build turbines has been generated by the subsides available to landowners and the financial inducements available to communities. However, with the warnings that the landscape has reached saturation point in some areas, there must be real concern about the beauty of the Scottish countryside being corrupted for decades. Perhaps a pause is necessary to consider the best way forward with power generation.
Bob MacDougall,
Oxhill, Kippen.
So Scotland is running out of land for wind farms. Many people who venture outside our towns and cities have been warning for years that the pressure on our landscape from wind farm developments is unsustainable.
The destruction of our landscape is usually excused by the need to combat climate change. But Scotland contributes around 0.17% of the world's man-made CO2 and less than 20% of that is due to electricity generation, so even making this carbon-free will result in such a minuscule reduction in our contribution that it will be wiped out in a month by developments elsewhere in the world. If the rationale behind wind farms is that they will replace finite fossil-fuel resources then we have time to develop more reliable, predictable and less destructive renewable sources like for instance, tidal flow. The sole reason for the feeding frenzy that is windpower development is huge, subsidised profits for big corporations and wealthy landowners.
Andrew Mitchell,
4 Glenpark Avenue, Prestwick.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article