Stella Levy

Thanks to Stella Levy for sending us this photograph - "The Roll Up" for her page on the Artists against wind farms website. The photograph is from the project "A year in the Life of the South Molton Sheep Fair" and you can read more about it on her page at this link:
http://www.artistsagainstwindfarms.com/photographers/stella-levy/stella-levy-2010.html

Intermission Images

Beach, by Bernard Dunstan

During the next few weeks we will, when there is time, be posting regular reminders of some of the the work that you can see on the Artists Against Wind Farms website.

Fewer posts for the next few weeks

There will probably not be so many posts on this blog for the next three or four weeks, but normal service will then be resumed.

Wind power is not free

It was good to see a headline link to this page of Roger Helmer's website on the ConservativeHome blog today.

Roger Helmer is a Conservative MEP for the East Midlands , and the page linked to above shows him talking on video about the true costs of wind power. He says (quote) "Currently the annual subsidy per turbine is nearly £150,000, and that's paid by you, the consumer, and by British industry".

He also mentions that wind farm operators are even being paid extra to turn off their turbines at times... this reminds me that on last night's ITV programme about the Tour de France, the cyclists were filmed cycling past a wind farm in France. The turbines were large and dominated the Champagne landscape. It was noticeable that only some of them were turning. How often is this the case, for wind farms in general, I wonder?

Noise in the ocean

According to this article in the New Scientist, the oceans are becoming so noisy that some whales are having to "yell" - but some also may give up communicating altogether.

How much worse is it likely to be when all the planned offshore wind turbines are built? If it is true that whales have an important role in the carbon storage capacity of the ocean, then we have even more reason to think twice before going ahead with an expansion of offshore wind power.

Yet more bird deaths

What was it Chris Huhne said.... ?

Remember how you saw him in the Con with the Wind trailer, talking about the "myths put about by the opponents of wind energy".
"Is it going to mash up all the birds?" he asks, then he replies to his own question emphatically - "No, it's not going to mash up all the birds".

Yet here is another article about birds killed by turbines. The previous story we linked to involved the death of a red kite that had been "adopted" by school children, these bird deaths also have a connection with a school, in fact, distressingly for the children, the birds were killed by the school's turbine:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/energy/7870929/Primary-school-forced-to-turn-off-wind-turbine-after-bird-deaths.html

No wind means no power

Do you remember how Eigg was hailed as Britain's first "green island"? The island of Eigg was to give us a foretaste of our own "Green" future - something akin to what Chris Huhne, the Energy Secretary for the Coalition Government, seems to see as the way forward for Britain, perhaps?

Well, on the island they experiencing a foretaste of all our futures, and having to use old-fashioned diesel generators to keep the power on, because there is not enough wind. You can read more about it in this Telegraph article by John Bingham.

How many more of those "myths about wind power" will turn out to be true?

And, oh yes, despite what those who support wind power will tell you, there are days when there is hardly wind anywhere in Britain, or even across Europe, and they usually occur in the winter when it is very cold and we need power to heat ourselves, or in the heat of summer, when we need air conditioning.

New Scientist

Interesting article about CO2 and climate change in the New Scientist