Guardian: Report doubts future of wind power
Wind farms are an expensive and inefficient way of generating sustainable energy, according to a study from Germany, the world's leading producer of wind energy.
The report, which may have ramifications for the UK's rapidly growing wind farm industry, concludes that instead of spending billions on building new wind turbines, the emphasis should be on making houses more energy efficient. Drawn up by the German government's energy agency, it says that wind farms prove a costly form of reducing greenhouse gases.
Postscript: Oh yes, and while I'm at it…
RSPB: RSPB lodges official objection to world's largest onshore wind farm
The RSPB is formally objecting to a massive wind farm development proposed for the Isle of Lewis in the Hebrides.
The proposal by Amec and British Energy (Lewis Wind Power Ltd) would involve the construction of 234 wind turbines on an extremely fragile and special wildlife site on the north Lewis moor. The wind farm would have a 25-year lifespan.
The RSPB is objecting in the strongest terms to the proposal because the turbines would be spread across the Lewis Peatlands Special Protection Area (SPA) - an area protected under European law for a variety of important birds, including golden eagles, merlins, black-throated divers, red-throated divers, dunlins and greenshanks.
'We believe this wind farm proposal is not just bad for birds but bad for the development of renewables as well,' said Anne McCall, RSPB Planning and Development Manager.
