We often hear about protestors who complain about wind farms looking ‘unsightly’, spoiling the landscape, killing birds and being noisy.

Living near to a wind farm set in a nature park, we often walk past the windmills. In the seven years that we have been walking this route, we have never seen a dead bird. The noise is a low swirling and humming, which is barely audible.

There is an aesthetic beauty about them too. Not only in appearance but also conceptually in the way they convert a free resource into useful energy, without producing pollution or causing global warming.

How can this be unsightly when compared to chimneys belching out smoke, traffic jams and smogs? And what about the oil that is imported from corrupt regimes, Middle East wars and climate wreaking emissions from what is ultimately a limited and increasingly scarce resource?

We don’t understand this at all.

One of the big problems in taking action to change things is knowing where you are to start with. Lack of public information allows Governments to announce big funding increases, get the brownie points then only later is it revealed that the money was actually allocated some time back under a different scheme but with equal aclaim! Similar is happening with the Governments Green policies and the anouncement this week of a massive increase in wind power projects!

But all of these projects are part of Phase II of the Government’s existing renewables scheme which was anounced last year and initially mooted back in 2004. This years anouncement adds nothing apart from an intention to support domestic generators, but again that’s nothing new, there has always been support of sorts, its just usually ill thought out and implemented! LCBP (Low Carbon Buildings Programme) was a disaster and in my opinion when looking at the way the preferred installers were selected - long established and reputable companies were sidelined, big companies with no experience in renewables were selected - verging on the corrupt!

What to do? Well, I’m developing an online a map of all major renewable energy schemes in the UK. There are loads, most in planning and about half on the map! See www.renewables-map.co.uk what with this most recent Govt smoke and mirrors I will be adding an additional field showing date project was 1st proposed! My own website is www.solarkent.co.uk

References:

• The Crown Estate: Round 1 and 2 Wind Farm Sites: (Initially proposed in 2004)
• The Crown Estate Offshore Wind Farm Map
• Low Carbon Buildings Programme - Wikipedia
• LCBP - problems with initial tender process leading to ongoing implementation problems