Upon appeal this month, the upland Wern Ddu wind farm between Rhuthun & Gwyddelwern received the go-ahead. The possibility of future wind farms at the Clocaenog Wind Farm Zones near Rhuthun in Strategic Area A remains.
The debate for or against the construction of wind farms in our natural habitat continues. Is the argument about wind farms so much hot air? Alternatively, without turbines will we simply be in hot water?
Whatever is the case, we as a nation continue to demand – yes, demand – energy. Few of us actually make the link between turning on the light and the build up of atmospheric CO2. No matter what we may think about environmental issues, we continue to need electricity to run our gadgets and our lives.
It is interesting that both sides can claim to be environmentalists. One welcomes clean energy, while the other argues this should not be at any price. Arguments are polarised and verifiable facts hard to come by.
What is verifiable is the effect each wind farm has on its immediate surroundings. "Immediate", though, includes whole areas of upland Wales, as these 40-90ft structures tend by necessity to be on otherwise unspoiled hilltops, to be seen by all. The eye seems to be drawn to them; will we ever get used to them?
A letter on 21 July 2005 (sic) in the Free Press suggested that the wind turbines "represent the most vicious attack on our country since Edward I". Wales’ natural landscape is its heritage and its one, natural, non-renewable resource. The industrialisation of Wales’ unique landscape brings with it nothing other than "trifling environmental benefits", miles away from urban centres and with no measurable impact on global warming.
This has led some to wonder whether this is all a dark conspiracy. In five, ten, 15 years’ time, will wind farms be seen for what campaigners believe they really are – uselessly inefficient? Where might that lead us? Surely, not back to the discredited, dirty hydrocarbon burners of old. Along another road, perhaps, already travelled and according to these same crusaders, an option waiting in the wings for an excuse to retake stage centre – nuclear power, something else that was once full of the promise of cheap electricity.
In the meantime, no one seems to talk of energy conservation any more.
Hot air or hot water? Certainly hot under the collar.
The debate for or against the construction of wind farms in our natural habitat continues. Is the argument about wind farms so much hot air? Alternatively, without turbines will we simply be in hot water?Whatever is the case, we as a nation continue to demand – yes, demand – energy. Few of us actually make the link between turning on the light and the build up of atmospheric CO2. No matter what we may think about environmental issues, we continue to need electricity to run our gadgets and our lives.
It is interesting that both sides can claim to be environmentalists. One welcomes clean energy, while the other argues this should not be at any price. Arguments are polarised and verifiable facts hard to come by.
What is verifiable is the effect each wind farm has on its immediate surroundings. "Immediate", though, includes whole areas of upland Wales, as these 40-90ft structures tend by necessity to be on otherwise unspoiled hilltops, to be seen by all. The eye seems to be drawn to them; will we ever get used to them?
A letter on 21 July 2005 (sic) in the Free Press suggested that the wind turbines "represent the most vicious attack on our country since Edward I". Wales’ natural landscape is its heritage and its one, natural, non-renewable resource. The industrialisation of Wales’ unique landscape brings with it nothing other than "trifling environmental benefits", miles away from urban centres and with no measurable impact on global warming.
This has led some to wonder whether this is all a dark conspiracy. In five, ten, 15 years’ time, will wind farms be seen for what campaigners believe they really are – uselessly inefficient? Where might that lead us? Surely, not back to the discredited, dirty hydrocarbon burners of old. Along another road, perhaps, already travelled and according to these same crusaders, an option waiting in the wings for an excuse to retake stage centre – nuclear power, something else that was once full of the promise of cheap electricity.
In the meantime, no one seems to talk of energy conservation any more.
Hot air or hot water? Certainly hot under the collar.
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Wind farms