For all those who were wondering why our occasional visitor Athena knows nothing about wind power, the answer is now clear. She reads the Daily Heil.
Recently, the Heil ran a story which Athena couldn't wait to tell us about. According to that appalling rag, the UK's wind power industry is responsible for a toxic lake in China. Why? Because of the rare earths used in wind turbine manufacture. They're not actually all that rare, but they are difficult to extract. Lots of acid is used, and that has led to the existence of a huge, poisonous lake. Oh dear.
Well, let's not get too discouraged. Those same rare earths are also used in aeroplanes, computers and laptops, mobile phones, iPod headphones, batteries, solar panels ... and currently, about 4% of Britain's offshore wind turbines use them. But there aren't really any onshore turbines in the UK which currently rely on these rare earths (actually, the one used in turbines - of the offshore variety - is called Neodymium).
Now, that's odd. Because the pro-renewables group VVASP has repeatedly said how keen it is on offshore windfarms. And yet these are the ones which tend to use Neodynium for their permanent magnets.
But let's hope that Athena is as good as her word and is now getting rid of all her computers, laptops, mobiles, iPods and cancelling all flights. You know, just to be consistent.
Approximately one per cent of all the rare earth metals produced by China are used by Europe's wind power industry. Neodymium, which does get used in turbines, accounts for about one-fifth of China's rare earth production. So it's rather misleading of the Daily Heil to pretend that Britain's wind industry is causing the poisoned lake problem. In fact, most of the rare earths go to Japan to be used in consumer electronics. So Daily Fail hacks working away at their computers are as responsible for the problem as anybody.
And China is finally accepting that its global image as a dreadful polluter is doing it no favours, so it has started to regulate these things. This will mean that high-tech industries will start looking elsewhere for the rare earth metals - where there is a level-playing field of regulation, there's little cause to go to China for these substances.
So, by reading the Daily Wail and insisting, against all common sense, on actually believing it, Athena is getting herself horribly and hopelessly confused.
Anyone who really wants to know about the Daily Heil's disgraceful lack of interest in the facts and its dreadful treatment of its innocent victims (non-wind related) is invited to go here and have a bit of a read:
http://nosleeptilbrooklands.blogspot.com/2011/01/true-story-of-daily-mail-lies-guest.html?spref=fb
You'll probably never want to read that fascist bogroll ever again.
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
BEATING THE DOWNTURN
In these straitened times, it's a nice, if only too rare, thing to hear good news about jobs.
So how wonderful to discover that employment in the UK's burgeoning wind energy industry has almost doubled over the past three years.
At a time when the economic news has been pretty grim, and appears only to be going from bad to worse, a study undertaken by Warwick University's Institute for Employment Research and Cambridge Econometrics has revealed that the wind energy sector is bearing up admirably.
More than 6,000 people are now employed by firms associated with onshore windfarms, compared with around 3,100 by offshore wind and nearly 900 working on marine energy projects. A similar survey undertaken in 2008 showed that just 4,800 full time equivalent employees were working across all three sectors.
Between 2007/8 and 2009/10, employment in the wind power industry rose by 91%. Which makes it pretty much unique, where the British economy is concerned. Evidently, wind power really is a growth industry.
There are, of course, denialists who will claim that all this employment is down solely to government subsidies - but as we've seen, they're incapable of talking sense or getting their facts right. Intriguingly, one person who pointed out the high level of Danish subsidies to their wind power industry implicitly confirmed that Denmark is continuing to invest in wind energy, contrary to the false claims put about by nimby groups, pro-nuclear lobbyists and certain wayward politicians.
Of course, there's a long way to go. Only today, a joint study by Accenture and Barclays has called upon European governments to invest some 2.9 trillion euros in renewable energy and low-carbon infrastructure over the next decade. That's right: Barclays and Accenture - hardly the greenest and most eco-friendly of institutions. Approximately one quarter of that investment should go towards funding low-carbon electricity production, say the report's authors.
Taken together, these two up-to-the-minute reports reveal a very clear picture. Wind energy is blossoming at a time when so many other sectors are struggling. Economists are demanding massive investment in renewables. The future is bright, the future is green.
So how on earth do we shut up the looney brigade who keep trying to turn back the clock? Suggestions on a postcard, please.
So how wonderful to discover that employment in the UK's burgeoning wind energy industry has almost doubled over the past three years.
At a time when the economic news has been pretty grim, and appears only to be going from bad to worse, a study undertaken by Warwick University's Institute for Employment Research and Cambridge Econometrics has revealed that the wind energy sector is bearing up admirably.
More than 6,000 people are now employed by firms associated with onshore windfarms, compared with around 3,100 by offshore wind and nearly 900 working on marine energy projects. A similar survey undertaken in 2008 showed that just 4,800 full time equivalent employees were working across all three sectors.
Between 2007/8 and 2009/10, employment in the wind power industry rose by 91%. Which makes it pretty much unique, where the British economy is concerned. Evidently, wind power really is a growth industry.
There are, of course, denialists who will claim that all this employment is down solely to government subsidies - but as we've seen, they're incapable of talking sense or getting their facts right. Intriguingly, one person who pointed out the high level of Danish subsidies to their wind power industry implicitly confirmed that Denmark is continuing to invest in wind energy, contrary to the false claims put about by nimby groups, pro-nuclear lobbyists and certain wayward politicians.
Of course, there's a long way to go. Only today, a joint study by Accenture and Barclays has called upon European governments to invest some 2.9 trillion euros in renewable energy and low-carbon infrastructure over the next decade. That's right: Barclays and Accenture - hardly the greenest and most eco-friendly of institutions. Approximately one quarter of that investment should go towards funding low-carbon electricity production, say the report's authors.
Taken together, these two up-to-the-minute reports reveal a very clear picture. Wind energy is blossoming at a time when so many other sectors are struggling. Economists are demanding massive investment in renewables. The future is bright, the future is green.
So how on earth do we shut up the looney brigade who keep trying to turn back the clock? Suggestions on a postcard, please.
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
CON-FUSED
As the Storyville documentary broadcast on BBC4 last night made abundantly clear, the key movers in the Climate Change Scepticism movement all cluster together on the political hard right. Several studies have proven that watching Fox News makes you progressively more stupid - and which network has been most active in attacking the climate change science? Yep - good old Rupert Murdoch's neo-fascist channel.
In the UK, there is a remarkable overlap between climate change denial and those who were close to Margaret Thatcher during her premiership. Which suggests that the issue isn't about whether the climate is changing, global temperatures rising, and the most likely cause being CO2 emissions. No - the argument is really about whether we take any responsibility for all this or not. On the weirder fringes of right-wing politics, they consider this to be an issue of "freedom".
So, in order for them to have the "freedom" to do whatever they like, millions - perhaps billions - of people will have to suffer, and who knows what future generations will be up against. Just to secure these maniacs an illusion of "freedom".
Perish the thought that governments should do what the vast majority of scientists insist that they should - take steps to limit the damage done by our own actions. No, that would be "Hitlerish". Better to let non-scientists cast doubt on the hard and fast scientific data. Better to let demagogues mislead the people.
Heigh-ho - quite similar to Wind Farm Myth-Mongering, then. In fact, there is a clear crossover between climate change scepticism and anti-windfarm bullshit.
It seems that Karen Lumley MP is not the only Conservative backbencher to have developed an irrational grudge against wind energy and to have abused her position in order to support a discredited nimby group. Andrea Leadsom is also leading the charge against wind power on behalf of a narrow-minded, right-wing minority.
In a parliamentary debate before the Backbench Business Committee, Leadsom did her best to claim that windfarm developers are only in it for a "fast buck". Now, normally, that sort of behaviour appeals to Tories immensely. It's called "enterprise". But apparently, where windfarms are concerned, this is a Bad Thing.
It's also nonsense, of course, because anyone looking for a "fast buck" probably wouldn't go through that painful and frustrating process of trying to get a windfarm accepted in the face of Nimby liars and thugs.
Leadsom also rehashed those myths about other countries - France, in this case, and Denmark, "Europe's leading onshore wind farm perpetrator" (yes, you heard that right: "perpetrator") - giving up on wind power. Well, during the period that Leadsom and her fellow nutters think Denmark gave up on wind energy, the Danes in fact replaced all their old turbines with new ones and in 2009 added another 82 megawatts of installed wind capacity. That same year, France installed a staggering 1,090 megawatts of wind capacity. In the twelve years between 1997 and 2009, Denmark perpetrated so much wind power that the costs of electricity generation in that country fell by 25%.
Typical of the Tory right, Leadsom fails to understand the Renewable Obligation Certificates and bigs up the "subsidies" which so many windfarm developers allegedly crave. As we've said before, renewable energy generators only receive subsidies for the electricity they have actually produced. The incentive is not to put up a windfarm, but to make sure that a windfarm generates electricity. By insisting on not getting this basic, elementary fact, the right-wingers prove that they have no interest in the issues and are arguing purely on ideological grounds.
Leadsom also seems to think that windfarms come in one variety - "240-foot wind turbines, 10 of them, 400 feet from your house." There will be a special reward for anybody who can identify a single UK windfarm which meets these criteria. Even allowing for the fact that Andrea Leadsom can't tell the difference between feet and metres, it's still wildly inaccurate and outrageously implausible.
Furthermore, Leadsom remarked that wind turbines have a "25-year life" and yet are "irreversible". That's just the sort of mind-twisting, self-contradictory nonsense that we've come to expect from VVASP. A bit like the claims that windfarms "don't work" and are "only built because of subsidies" (one or the other, guys - you can't have both). So, does Leadsom think that turbines die after twenty-five years? And then what - they just stay there for ever and ever? Is this woman quite mad?
The problem, of course, is that the dogmatic, irrational and utterly mendacious opposition to wind power is difficult to separate from the extremist stance of the climate change sceptics. It's a right-wing backlash that we're witnessing here. A colossal misunderstanding of the concept of "freedom". And a willingness to tell loud lies in order to make everything much worse for everybody.
In the UK, there is a remarkable overlap between climate change denial and those who were close to Margaret Thatcher during her premiership. Which suggests that the issue isn't about whether the climate is changing, global temperatures rising, and the most likely cause being CO2 emissions. No - the argument is really about whether we take any responsibility for all this or not. On the weirder fringes of right-wing politics, they consider this to be an issue of "freedom".
So, in order for them to have the "freedom" to do whatever they like, millions - perhaps billions - of people will have to suffer, and who knows what future generations will be up against. Just to secure these maniacs an illusion of "freedom".
Perish the thought that governments should do what the vast majority of scientists insist that they should - take steps to limit the damage done by our own actions. No, that would be "Hitlerish". Better to let non-scientists cast doubt on the hard and fast scientific data. Better to let demagogues mislead the people.
Heigh-ho - quite similar to Wind Farm Myth-Mongering, then. In fact, there is a clear crossover between climate change scepticism and anti-windfarm bullshit.
It seems that Karen Lumley MP is not the only Conservative backbencher to have developed an irrational grudge against wind energy and to have abused her position in order to support a discredited nimby group. Andrea Leadsom is also leading the charge against wind power on behalf of a narrow-minded, right-wing minority.
In a parliamentary debate before the Backbench Business Committee, Leadsom did her best to claim that windfarm developers are only in it for a "fast buck". Now, normally, that sort of behaviour appeals to Tories immensely. It's called "enterprise". But apparently, where windfarms are concerned, this is a Bad Thing.
It's also nonsense, of course, because anyone looking for a "fast buck" probably wouldn't go through that painful and frustrating process of trying to get a windfarm accepted in the face of Nimby liars and thugs.
Leadsom also rehashed those myths about other countries - France, in this case, and Denmark, "Europe's leading onshore wind farm perpetrator" (yes, you heard that right: "perpetrator") - giving up on wind power. Well, during the period that Leadsom and her fellow nutters think Denmark gave up on wind energy, the Danes in fact replaced all their old turbines with new ones and in 2009 added another 82 megawatts of installed wind capacity. That same year, France installed a staggering 1,090 megawatts of wind capacity. In the twelve years between 1997 and 2009, Denmark perpetrated so much wind power that the costs of electricity generation in that country fell by 25%.
Typical of the Tory right, Leadsom fails to understand the Renewable Obligation Certificates and bigs up the "subsidies" which so many windfarm developers allegedly crave. As we've said before, renewable energy generators only receive subsidies for the electricity they have actually produced. The incentive is not to put up a windfarm, but to make sure that a windfarm generates electricity. By insisting on not getting this basic, elementary fact, the right-wingers prove that they have no interest in the issues and are arguing purely on ideological grounds.
Leadsom also seems to think that windfarms come in one variety - "240-foot wind turbines, 10 of them, 400 feet from your house." There will be a special reward for anybody who can identify a single UK windfarm which meets these criteria. Even allowing for the fact that Andrea Leadsom can't tell the difference between feet and metres, it's still wildly inaccurate and outrageously implausible.
Furthermore, Leadsom remarked that wind turbines have a "25-year life" and yet are "irreversible". That's just the sort of mind-twisting, self-contradictory nonsense that we've come to expect from VVASP. A bit like the claims that windfarms "don't work" and are "only built because of subsidies" (one or the other, guys - you can't have both). So, does Leadsom think that turbines die after twenty-five years? And then what - they just stay there for ever and ever? Is this woman quite mad?
The problem, of course, is that the dogmatic, irrational and utterly mendacious opposition to wind power is difficult to separate from the extremist stance of the climate change sceptics. It's a right-wing backlash that we're witnessing here. A colossal misunderstanding of the concept of "freedom". And a willingness to tell loud lies in order to make everything much worse for everybody.
Saturday, January 29, 2011
BANANAS
The sermon today is taken from St Paul's second letter to the Thessalonians:
And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:
Even him whose coming is after the working of Satan, with all power and signs and lying wonders,
And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie ...
The Wicked, incidentally, has now ordered his followers to take down their signs, in accordance with a written undertaken given to Wychavon District Council. He has admitted that the ghastly yellow signs were causing problems for people trying to sell their houses.
As for Wychavon - well, a three Act tragedy unfolded last Thursday. And, in the words of one of the Councillors, it's going to cost them "a bomb" if ScottishPower Renewables go to appeal. Which means it will cost the tax-payer a bomb. So, look out for more cuts to the Wychavon budget to cover the unnecessary costs of a planning decision taken entirely by the nimbies.
The day itself. Outside, just before the meeting started, a glaring mob of protesters wearing nauseating T-shirts and waving their placards (just how many of those things did they get made?) were caught jeering and taunting a single supporter of the windfarm live on BBC news. Even the nimbies' Herr Kommandant for the day was seen trying to hush them up - no doubt realising that they had just given the game away live on air. The grotesque intolerance of VVASP had just been clearly demonstrated to the whole of the Midlands.
Inside the Council chamber, things weren't much better. One woman had come along to support her husband, a shareholder in the hugely successful Westmill Wind Farm co-operative. She told Wind of Change:
When I arrived, the hall was pretty packed & I found standing space at the back. Four old people were sitting there, typical "middle England" type people, well spoken, sensible shoes, corduroy trousers, tweed skirts. One of the ladies pointed a spare seat after the four of them which I took ... All was going well until [one of the pro-wind farm speakers] waved at me & I waved back. Well, I could sense the immediate hostility towards me. All eyes from every angle were focused on me with such hatred in their faces ... If I could feel such intimidation in one moment like that, then it is no wonder that people who live in the Lenches surrounded by this vehement bunch are scared to speak out.
According to the Council, there were at least 200 members of the public present - most of them there to glare at and intimidate anyone who knows that windfarms are good things.
The session kicked off with a presentation by the planning officer, the main outcome of which was that the turbines would be almost impossible to see from many vantage points and angles.
Then came the nimby attack, led by Karen Lumley MP, who quoted VVASP's figures on local opposition - you know the ones: the "manipulated" figures which turn a village with way less than 50% of households expressing opposition into one in which 75% of residents are opposed. We can only hope that Mrs Lumley is a little less cavalier with the facts when she's speaking in the House of Commons.
The solicitor, hired by Church Lench at everybody else's expense, gave a pompous lecture on the subject of bats (even though this had not been advanced by Wychavon as grounds for refusal) and made the weird claim that SPR would be guilty of a criminal offence (bat-murder) if they built the windfarm.
One local argued that a handful of holiday businesses in the area would lose around £2 million if the windfarm went ahead. It would have been a more convincing argment if he could prove that the same thing had ever happened anywhere else.
Finally, Big Chief Nookie and his lumbering lieutenant spoke, the latter slyly alluding to a certain windfarm in Lincolnshire and a certain person who has made a series of elaborate and unfathomable claims about noise there (he reckoned he'd been there and heard the ever-elusive thumping noise of the turbines, but failed to mention the fact that the entire family had not actually moved out, and that the local council had, in what was nothing more than a gesture, reduced the rateable value of the farmhouse in question by just one council tax band).
Next came the freedom fighters. ScottishPower Renewables started, followed by a succession of Vale residents who all had experience of windfarms and could testify to the fact that they are not noisy. Sadly, the Councillors of the Development Control Committee weren't listening to any of this. They perked up a little when it was pointed out that Norton & Lenchwick Parish Council had withdrawn from the farcical Windfarm Working Party (oh? mutiny in the ranks?) and did their best not to hear the sensitive testimony of an 18-year old student, who no doubt made them feel very bad about the ludicrous decision they were about to make.
Last of all, a spokesperson for BLoW reminded the committee that they themselves had visited a windfarm, and pointed out that we would all be judged by future generations on the basis of how we responded to a looming crisis.
Then, the Council stopped for tea. One windfarm supporter reported that the only place she felt safe was sitting next to a policewoman in the cafe.
At ten past four, the final Act of the unfolding tragedy commenced. One by one, a succession of Councillors delivered a nonsensical anti-windfarm speech. Clearly prompted and misinformed by VVASP, they repeated, sequentially, pretty much every myth known to Nimbydom. One claimed that no one would ever consider planting a windfarm in the Lenches if it weren't for the massive government subsidies involved.
No one had told her about the joint report prepared by the IEA, OPEC, OECD and the World Bank for the G20 last year, which revealed that governments subsidised renewables to the tune of an estimated US $15 billion in 2010. In 2008, meanwhile, the same governments subsidised fossil fuel-based electricity production to the tune of US $557 billion. That is to say, coal, oil and gas-fired systems receive nearly 40 times as much subsidy as renewables. And as for nuclear - well, don't even ask.
The same Councillor was also clueless when it came understanding how subsidies for renewables work. Renewable Obligation Certificates are only awarded to generators on the basis of the number of kilowatt-hours they actually produce. So only a total pleb with no intention of checking facts/doing homework/talking sense would pretend that SPR wanted to install a windfarm at Lenchwick simply because the government was paying them to do it.
Another myth spun by a Councillor was that "countries which had been leading the field in wind energy were now having second thoughts" - a variant on the lie about Germany and Denmark putting a stop to windfarm developments. Yet another Councillor really did seem to think that larger turbines are "noisier" than smaller ones.
One Councillor, irked by reports of the nimbies' misbehaviour and extraordinary hateful aggression, tried to argue that VVASP are not nimbies. He really ought to get his dictionary out. Another had the temerity and tastelessness to suggest that one of the windfarm supporters (who wasn't actually present at that stage) had only moved up from Cornwall to escape the windfarms down there - a statement that was as loopy and unreasonable as it was unworthy.
For a brief moment, a light shone in the chamber. One Councillor knew all about windfarms because her daughter lives next door to one. She could happily testify that they're not noisy and that they look extremely attractive - in her words, they enhance the landscape. She also referred to a book which VVASP had kindly sent to her (we're not yet sure, but it was probably "The Wind Farm Scam", a quasi-scientific rant which has been effectively debunked by Professor John Twidell, one of the country's leading authorities on wind power and a supporter of Lenchwick Windfarm).
It would be interesting to know whether or not all the Councillors had received the VVASP book (which supplied them with so many of the misleading myths they spouted in the meeting) - and, if so, did they register these gifts?
And what kind of idiot would place more weight on nimby propaganda from a discredited protest group than on the hard science supplied by the experts in these matters, as well as the personal testimony of one of their own colleagues?
The long and the short was that, with the exception of the Councillor who actually knew what she was talking about, every member present voted against the windfarm.
Quite clearly, Wychavon District Council has wholeheartedly embraced the BANANA principle: "Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anything". Equally clearly, they had become mouthpieces for a dangerously irresponsible, intolerant, unscrupulous and unprincipled nimby mob. And the likelihood is that this will cost the district thousands and thousands of pounds, as the Council tries - and probably fails - to defend a decision taken on the basis of misinformation.
And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a whole pack of lies.
And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:
Even him whose coming is after the working of Satan, with all power and signs and lying wonders,
And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie ...
The Wicked, incidentally, has now ordered his followers to take down their signs, in accordance with a written undertaken given to Wychavon District Council. He has admitted that the ghastly yellow signs were causing problems for people trying to sell their houses.
As for Wychavon - well, a three Act tragedy unfolded last Thursday. And, in the words of one of the Councillors, it's going to cost them "a bomb" if ScottishPower Renewables go to appeal. Which means it will cost the tax-payer a bomb. So, look out for more cuts to the Wychavon budget to cover the unnecessary costs of a planning decision taken entirely by the nimbies.
The day itself. Outside, just before the meeting started, a glaring mob of protesters wearing nauseating T-shirts and waving their placards (just how many of those things did they get made?) were caught jeering and taunting a single supporter of the windfarm live on BBC news. Even the nimbies' Herr Kommandant for the day was seen trying to hush them up - no doubt realising that they had just given the game away live on air. The grotesque intolerance of VVASP had just been clearly demonstrated to the whole of the Midlands.
Inside the Council chamber, things weren't much better. One woman had come along to support her husband, a shareholder in the hugely successful Westmill Wind Farm co-operative. She told Wind of Change:
When I arrived, the hall was pretty packed & I found standing space at the back. Four old people were sitting there, typical "middle England" type people, well spoken, sensible shoes, corduroy trousers, tweed skirts. One of the ladies pointed a spare seat after the four of them which I took ... All was going well until [one of the pro-wind farm speakers] waved at me & I waved back. Well, I could sense the immediate hostility towards me. All eyes from every angle were focused on me with such hatred in their faces ... If I could feel such intimidation in one moment like that, then it is no wonder that people who live in the Lenches surrounded by this vehement bunch are scared to speak out.
According to the Council, there were at least 200 members of the public present - most of them there to glare at and intimidate anyone who knows that windfarms are good things.
The session kicked off with a presentation by the planning officer, the main outcome of which was that the turbines would be almost impossible to see from many vantage points and angles.
Then came the nimby attack, led by Karen Lumley MP, who quoted VVASP's figures on local opposition - you know the ones: the "manipulated" figures which turn a village with way less than 50% of households expressing opposition into one in which 75% of residents are opposed. We can only hope that Mrs Lumley is a little less cavalier with the facts when she's speaking in the House of Commons.
The solicitor, hired by Church Lench at everybody else's expense, gave a pompous lecture on the subject of bats (even though this had not been advanced by Wychavon as grounds for refusal) and made the weird claim that SPR would be guilty of a criminal offence (bat-murder) if they built the windfarm.
One local argued that a handful of holiday businesses in the area would lose around £2 million if the windfarm went ahead. It would have been a more convincing argment if he could prove that the same thing had ever happened anywhere else.
Finally, Big Chief Nookie and his lumbering lieutenant spoke, the latter slyly alluding to a certain windfarm in Lincolnshire and a certain person who has made a series of elaborate and unfathomable claims about noise there (he reckoned he'd been there and heard the ever-elusive thumping noise of the turbines, but failed to mention the fact that the entire family had not actually moved out, and that the local council had, in what was nothing more than a gesture, reduced the rateable value of the farmhouse in question by just one council tax band).
Next came the freedom fighters. ScottishPower Renewables started, followed by a succession of Vale residents who all had experience of windfarms and could testify to the fact that they are not noisy. Sadly, the Councillors of the Development Control Committee weren't listening to any of this. They perked up a little when it was pointed out that Norton & Lenchwick Parish Council had withdrawn from the farcical Windfarm Working Party (oh? mutiny in the ranks?) and did their best not to hear the sensitive testimony of an 18-year old student, who no doubt made them feel very bad about the ludicrous decision they were about to make.
Last of all, a spokesperson for BLoW reminded the committee that they themselves had visited a windfarm, and pointed out that we would all be judged by future generations on the basis of how we responded to a looming crisis.
Then, the Council stopped for tea. One windfarm supporter reported that the only place she felt safe was sitting next to a policewoman in the cafe.
At ten past four, the final Act of the unfolding tragedy commenced. One by one, a succession of Councillors delivered a nonsensical anti-windfarm speech. Clearly prompted and misinformed by VVASP, they repeated, sequentially, pretty much every myth known to Nimbydom. One claimed that no one would ever consider planting a windfarm in the Lenches if it weren't for the massive government subsidies involved.
No one had told her about the joint report prepared by the IEA, OPEC, OECD and the World Bank for the G20 last year, which revealed that governments subsidised renewables to the tune of an estimated US $15 billion in 2010. In 2008, meanwhile, the same governments subsidised fossil fuel-based electricity production to the tune of US $557 billion. That is to say, coal, oil and gas-fired systems receive nearly 40 times as much subsidy as renewables. And as for nuclear - well, don't even ask.
The same Councillor was also clueless when it came understanding how subsidies for renewables work. Renewable Obligation Certificates are only awarded to generators on the basis of the number of kilowatt-hours they actually produce. So only a total pleb with no intention of checking facts/doing homework/talking sense would pretend that SPR wanted to install a windfarm at Lenchwick simply because the government was paying them to do it.
Another myth spun by a Councillor was that "countries which had been leading the field in wind energy were now having second thoughts" - a variant on the lie about Germany and Denmark putting a stop to windfarm developments. Yet another Councillor really did seem to think that larger turbines are "noisier" than smaller ones.
One Councillor, irked by reports of the nimbies' misbehaviour and extraordinary hateful aggression, tried to argue that VVASP are not nimbies. He really ought to get his dictionary out. Another had the temerity and tastelessness to suggest that one of the windfarm supporters (who wasn't actually present at that stage) had only moved up from Cornwall to escape the windfarms down there - a statement that was as loopy and unreasonable as it was unworthy.
For a brief moment, a light shone in the chamber. One Councillor knew all about windfarms because her daughter lives next door to one. She could happily testify that they're not noisy and that they look extremely attractive - in her words, they enhance the landscape. She also referred to a book which VVASP had kindly sent to her (we're not yet sure, but it was probably "The Wind Farm Scam", a quasi-scientific rant which has been effectively debunked by Professor John Twidell, one of the country's leading authorities on wind power and a supporter of Lenchwick Windfarm).
It would be interesting to know whether or not all the Councillors had received the VVASP book (which supplied them with so many of the misleading myths they spouted in the meeting) - and, if so, did they register these gifts?
And what kind of idiot would place more weight on nimby propaganda from a discredited protest group than on the hard science supplied by the experts in these matters, as well as the personal testimony of one of their own colleagues?
The long and the short was that, with the exception of the Councillor who actually knew what she was talking about, every member present voted against the windfarm.
Quite clearly, Wychavon District Council has wholeheartedly embraced the BANANA principle: "Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anything". Equally clearly, they had become mouthpieces for a dangerously irresponsible, intolerant, unscrupulous and unprincipled nimby mob. And the likelihood is that this will cost the district thousands and thousands of pounds, as the Council tries - and probably fails - to defend a decision taken on the basis of misinformation.
And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a whole pack of lies.
Friday, January 28, 2011
MIDDLE ENGLAND
We're still receiving reports and testimonials regarding the planning meeting yesterday, so there will be more on that anon.
For now, though, we think it is noteworthy that the BBC is beginning to question the strange lack of windfarms anywhere in the region.
The West Midlands is rapidly becoming the Area 51 of wind energy. The BBC have reproduced a map which shows that, while other parts of the country are striding forwards and embracing wind energy, our middle region is utterly bereft. The question being asked is: why?
Well, various silly answers have already been forthcoming. Some would like to think that there's not enough wind in the West Midlands. Which is a bit like saying there's not enough soil to plant windfarms on.
But the problem is rather more circular than that. Because there currently aren't any, most local people haven't the foggiest idea what a windfarm really is. And because they know nothing about them, they're easily suckered by the manic anti-windfarm propaganda spread about the place like muck by nimby protesters and their allies in the nuclear lobby.
The situation was made very clear at the Wychavon planning meeting. One Councillor knew all about windfarms because her daughter lives very close to one. So she was able to attest to the fact that they're not noisy and they're really rather wonderful to look at. That Councillor was the only one to vote in favour. She was also the only one who knew what she was talking about.
It is inevitable that more and more windfarms will be installed over the coming years. And, who knows, maybe one day the West Midlands will wake up and realise that it's missing out. And then, all those nimby lies will be exposed as the hogwash they really are.
Until then, sadly, too many people (and way too many Councillors) will continue to fall prey to the nasty nimbies and their insane stories.
Those who know about windfarms tend to support them wholeheartedly. Those who know nothing about them tend to talk a load of crap.
And the West Midlands remains the last bastion of idiot nimbyism. The land of the knave and the home of the twee.
For now, though, we think it is noteworthy that the BBC is beginning to question the strange lack of windfarms anywhere in the region.
The West Midlands is rapidly becoming the Area 51 of wind energy. The BBC have reproduced a map which shows that, while other parts of the country are striding forwards and embracing wind energy, our middle region is utterly bereft. The question being asked is: why?
Well, various silly answers have already been forthcoming. Some would like to think that there's not enough wind in the West Midlands. Which is a bit like saying there's not enough soil to plant windfarms on.
But the problem is rather more circular than that. Because there currently aren't any, most local people haven't the foggiest idea what a windfarm really is. And because they know nothing about them, they're easily suckered by the manic anti-windfarm propaganda spread about the place like muck by nimby protesters and their allies in the nuclear lobby.
The situation was made very clear at the Wychavon planning meeting. One Councillor knew all about windfarms because her daughter lives very close to one. So she was able to attest to the fact that they're not noisy and they're really rather wonderful to look at. That Councillor was the only one to vote in favour. She was also the only one who knew what she was talking about.
It is inevitable that more and more windfarms will be installed over the coming years. And, who knows, maybe one day the West Midlands will wake up and realise that it's missing out. And then, all those nimby lies will be exposed as the hogwash they really are.
Until then, sadly, too many people (and way too many Councillors) will continue to fall prey to the nasty nimbies and their insane stories.
Those who know about windfarms tend to support them wholeheartedly. Those who know nothing about them tend to talk a load of crap.
And the West Midlands remains the last bastion of idiot nimbyism. The land of the knave and the home of the twee.
Thursday, January 27, 2011
WHEN IS A WINDFARM LIKE A BLIMP?
Answer: never.
The crummy practice of flying a blimp in order to mislead people over what a windfarm will look like has become fairly widespread. Nimby groups do it routinely, even though it's been criticised by planning inspectors who have pointed out that it does nothing but totally misrepresent the scale, shape and location of a windfarm.
You might as well demonstrate what a copse of trees will look like by flying a giant inflatable pig in the air.
Still, nothing stops our manic nimby neighbours, and so the ludicrous blimp was indeed flown for the benefit (?) of Wychavon District Councillors, this Tuesday. Hopefully, they're bright and sensible enough to see through that shabby trick.
During the night preceding the Councillors' site visit, certain public-minded citizens had been out and had removed the grotty and offensive VVASP placards from various parts of the village. These placards have a terrible habit of appearing in huge numbers whenever a politician or councillor happens to be passing through, and a shockingly large number have been attached to things that don't belong to the nimbies. So removing them from public property was a good deed, really.
Anyway, the nimbies cried foul, and today's Evesham Journal has carried a front page piece about the objectors' "anger" at what they call "dirty tricks". No end of fatuous nimby outrage was spewed over the paper, which failed to note that the placards which had been removed had been put in places where they should never have been in the first place.
The paper also forgot to mention the fact that pro-wind posters were removed and destroyed by the evil anti's, who refuse to allow anybody else to express an opinion. So - a few nimby placards removed from public property - SHOCK HORROR!! - but pro-wind posters removed - silence.
And we were wrong when we said that the witless dupes of VVASP were keeping their heads down while the Councillors were examining the site. One chap followed the Councillors' coach around, displaying a VVASP placard all the while. Others stood around looking like something out of Dr Who. The idiot blimp was raised. And, of course, all pro-wind posters had been taken away and hidden.
So VVASP went out of its way to mislead the Council. Ha! What else is new?
The crummy practice of flying a blimp in order to mislead people over what a windfarm will look like has become fairly widespread. Nimby groups do it routinely, even though it's been criticised by planning inspectors who have pointed out that it does nothing but totally misrepresent the scale, shape and location of a windfarm.
You might as well demonstrate what a copse of trees will look like by flying a giant inflatable pig in the air.
Still, nothing stops our manic nimby neighbours, and so the ludicrous blimp was indeed flown for the benefit (?) of Wychavon District Councillors, this Tuesday. Hopefully, they're bright and sensible enough to see through that shabby trick.
During the night preceding the Councillors' site visit, certain public-minded citizens had been out and had removed the grotty and offensive VVASP placards from various parts of the village. These placards have a terrible habit of appearing in huge numbers whenever a politician or councillor happens to be passing through, and a shockingly large number have been attached to things that don't belong to the nimbies. So removing them from public property was a good deed, really.
Anyway, the nimbies cried foul, and today's Evesham Journal has carried a front page piece about the objectors' "anger" at what they call "dirty tricks". No end of fatuous nimby outrage was spewed over the paper, which failed to note that the placards which had been removed had been put in places where they should never have been in the first place.
The paper also forgot to mention the fact that pro-wind posters were removed and destroyed by the evil anti's, who refuse to allow anybody else to express an opinion. So - a few nimby placards removed from public property - SHOCK HORROR!! - but pro-wind posters removed - silence.
And we were wrong when we said that the witless dupes of VVASP were keeping their heads down while the Councillors were examining the site. One chap followed the Councillors' coach around, displaying a VVASP placard all the while. Others stood around looking like something out of Dr Who. The idiot blimp was raised. And, of course, all pro-wind posters had been taken away and hidden.
So VVASP went out of its way to mislead the Council. Ha! What else is new?
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
KEEPING THE LIGHTS ON
Tim Yeo, Conservative chair of the Energy and Climate Change Select Committee, has said this today:
If we want to keep the lights on and create an energy system fit for the future then new rules are needed to fast track energy projects through the UK's notoriously glacial planning system.
If these new policy statements don't put the cleanest forms of energy at the top of the agenda they will leave us dangerously dependent on fossil fuels.
The UK's energy security and our prospects for creating a successful low-carbon economy depend on the Government kick-starting a dash for low-carbon technology, not a new dash for gas.
Tough words. But they echo recent developments at the European level. In the past few days (while the nimbies have been hiding from Councillors visiting the site of the proposed Lenchwick Windfarm), over 200 businesses, politicians and organisations have signed up to a declaration calling for the EU to achieve 100% of its electricity from renewables by 2050.
That would be a massive, fantastic commitment, achievable and necessary. It would mean that Europe really had taken the lead in moving towards a global sustainable economy.
At present, every citizen in the EU pays about 700 euros a year towards foreign fuel imports. While the nimbies are making up stories about excessive subsidies for renewables, the real problem is that each of us is paying far too much for dirty coal, oil and gas, brought in from abroad. A concerted, Europe-wide move towards renewables would obviate the need to buy gas from Russia, for example. We'd have clean, green energy, with no dependency on unreliable foreign governments.
To see the European declaration, which is gathering more support by the day, go to:
http://www.100percentrenewables.eu/
So - Europe is beginning to recognise the need for 100% of its energy to come from renewables. The coalition government now recognises that nimbies holding up the planning system are wreaking havoc on our national energy policy.
And now, we hear that a national journalist has started investigating the notorious Windfarm Working Party, that colossal abuse of local democracy driven by the nasty nimbies of Church Lench. Keep watching this space.
So - with twenty-four hours or so to go before the Wychavon decision on the district's first wind farm, lots of news out there. And none of it is very good for the Luddites of VVASP.
If we want to keep the lights on and create an energy system fit for the future then new rules are needed to fast track energy projects through the UK's notoriously glacial planning system.
If these new policy statements don't put the cleanest forms of energy at the top of the agenda they will leave us dangerously dependent on fossil fuels.
The UK's energy security and our prospects for creating a successful low-carbon economy depend on the Government kick-starting a dash for low-carbon technology, not a new dash for gas.
Tough words. But they echo recent developments at the European level. In the past few days (while the nimbies have been hiding from Councillors visiting the site of the proposed Lenchwick Windfarm), over 200 businesses, politicians and organisations have signed up to a declaration calling for the EU to achieve 100% of its electricity from renewables by 2050.
That would be a massive, fantastic commitment, achievable and necessary. It would mean that Europe really had taken the lead in moving towards a global sustainable economy.
At present, every citizen in the EU pays about 700 euros a year towards foreign fuel imports. While the nimbies are making up stories about excessive subsidies for renewables, the real problem is that each of us is paying far too much for dirty coal, oil and gas, brought in from abroad. A concerted, Europe-wide move towards renewables would obviate the need to buy gas from Russia, for example. We'd have clean, green energy, with no dependency on unreliable foreign governments.
To see the European declaration, which is gathering more support by the day, go to:
http://www.100percentrenewables.eu/
So - Europe is beginning to recognise the need for 100% of its energy to come from renewables. The coalition government now recognises that nimbies holding up the planning system are wreaking havoc on our national energy policy.
And now, we hear that a national journalist has started investigating the notorious Windfarm Working Party, that colossal abuse of local democracy driven by the nasty nimbies of Church Lench. Keep watching this space.
So - with twenty-four hours or so to go before the Wychavon decision on the district's first wind farm, lots of news out there. And none of it is very good for the Luddites of VVASP.
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