Wind farms

[jobob_80]

I wanted to take an opportunity to respond to some of the more usual complaints against wind farms, generally found in newspaper letters pages, and here is as good a place as any.

* "Wind farms are ugly". This is a statement of opinion, not fact. Other people find them serene and calm, perhaps even beautiful. Roads may be ugly but because they are

Comments

[hubcap_reloaded]

...many rural locations are crying out for an identity and something which provides local jobs for local people. Rural power stations and the associated grid infrastructure they require could provide that and enable more people to relocate /away/ from cities and commuter belts.

I think that's probably an argument worth pressing with critics - even if they don't like windfarms for one of a variety of reasons, the boon to the local economy may be something they're willing to put up with them for. At the very least, the trickle down effect from all those workers stopping at petrol stations on the way in and out of work has to count for something. :-)

Some may be skeptical that it will be local jobs it will generate and local companies it will benefit, not commuting urban-dwellers and nationwide companies scooping the contracts. Similarly, bringing new families into the town might be perceived as regenerating the area.... or it me perceived as turning it into a very far away suburb of a city, which isn't quite the same thing. I suppose it's all a question of the scale of the project and the situation in the town in question.

...Whitelee windfarm near East Kilbride has a very successful visitor's centre.

And if it weren't for the dam at Pitlochry, Ailsa and I would have genuinely had nothing to do there on an afternoon. :-)

George Q