[ellisr]

And back to wind farms........

I have passed a few turbines being taken down the M5 towards Devon in the last week so there must be a new farm being built down there which I personally think is a good thing

[Hermit]

Shetland has progressed since then Paul. Dont bring those Forvik nut cases lot into a friendly forum. Most folk on Shetland laugh at them. It is a scam to claim money out of folks, thats all . Hope you have not sent them money to plant a tree on a rock the leader is conning everybody around the world with. Strange cult type person he is  just stirring trouble , thats why he gets his cars smashed etc. Nothing to do with windfarms , keep your Shetland opinions to Shetlink the Shetland forum. If it was up to Shetland the oil would still be underwater , we cant even make a fuse for the vac in the Sullom Voe Canteen, we owe the oil companies a lot ... or would you go back to  gravel tracks and no fires in the schools, no subsidised transport etc etc. Shetland is well off at the moment dont knock it. You were not here before oil or fish farms so leave those opinions to those who lived in the conditions that Shetlanders suffered before, they bless the oil and the fish farms.
 Back to windfarms please.

[doganjo]

Dan should be able to split this thread I think.

[shetlandpaul]

Shetland has progressed since then Paul. Dont bring those Forvik nut cases lot into a friendly forum. Most folk on Shetland laugh at them. It is a scam to claim money out of folks, thats all . Hope you have not sent them money to plant a tree on a rock the leader is conning everybody around the world with. Strange cult type person he is  just stirring trouble , thats why he gets his cars smashed etc. Nothing to do with windfarms , keep your Shetland opinions to Shetlink the Shetland forum. If it was up to Shetland the oil would still be underwater , we cant even make a fuse for the vac in the Sullom Voe Canteen, we owe the oil companies a lot ... or would you go back to  gravel tracks and no fires in the schools, no subsidised transport etc etc. Shetland is well off at the moment dont knock it. You were not here before oil or fish farms so leave those opinions to those who lived in the conditions that Shetlanders suffered before, they bless the oil and the fish farms.
 Back to windfarms please.

thats just the point they were ground down by the incoming overlords. simular to how the scots were treated by the english. if a population is hammered for hundreds of years it takes time for them to escape that mentality
anyway back to the wind farm issue. in shetland there was 20 odd idividual planning applications either waiting for or been granted approval last time i looked. For those south there is a very heated debate over a mega windfarm that the council and scottish and southern are planning to build with a massive converter station to pipe the energy south.. Its split the community so there are plenty of good things alternative energy supplies can do but it needs handling carefully.
its quite possible that shetland and the north and west of scotland will be covered by large and small farms and single turbines. is this wrong personnally i don't think so.

[Coley]

While I see nowt wrong in wind farms being part of our energy supply package, its the way politicians and the energy companies see it as the only way of meeting our carbon emissions target (why they set our sights so high I cant understand) there are many other solutions out there which attract little investment or interest, undersea turbines seem much more practicable, coal gasification, shale gas and many other alternatives and yet still we insist on building these white elephants

[lill]

I have followed this thread and some seem to be getting quite het up about it. Mud slinging across the border Scotland v England, we are all the one nation and should work together. Yes, the English did think that they were better than the Scots way back, but is it not time that what was in the past, stays in the past, and learn to move forward for all concerned, and not be like Ireland where the catholics v prodestants. Or  is it a case of "you wish". This is just my thoughts on this.

[Coley]

we are all the one nation and should work together.

Totally agree

[SallyintNorth]

While I see nowt wrong in wind farms being part of our energy supply package, its the way politicians and the energy companies see it as the only way of meeting our carbon emissions target

I'm not sure I see that they do see it as the only way, it's always a part of the solution.  Can't be anything else really.  There's been a lot of funding for solar and ground source schemes and a lot of research support for wave power, to mention just a few other sources that government have shown support for. 

On the one hand it seems silly not to capture that energy that's blowing around 'for free' - just the cost of the installation, of course.  But I don't think anyone has ever really suggested we can power the country just on wind.  The anti's like to pretend that that's the argument, of course, because it's easy to get people to agree that you can't run the country on wind and make it sound as though the anti lobby are winning the debate.

[Sandy]

Well, I am off line a lot lately and know very little about politics or power stations/wind farms etc so I have been reading to get more info, unfortunatley all I have picked up is the horrid attitude and think some of the hot air generated on here could certainly power a computer at least. Has knowone an understanding that the politictions in power are the decision makers and not the people who live in the country, it is so sad that the discussion changed direction into a slagging match and I do not find it at all helpful!!

I just want to point out, very few people will be privy to all knowledge on both sides of the fence, most of us can be pursuaded to swing the way people in power want them to swing and usualy for their benifit.
There are two sides to every story! THe best quote out of all of this in my opinion is :-

 

England, Wales and Scotland share an island and we all have to face the problems of population and energy.  Slinging mud across the border achieves nothing - lets work together

I am an English women living in Scotland with a Scotish Grandad, an Irish Grandma and a Welsh mum, so,  confused.com!!

[sabrina]

As my other half is always saying when something bad happens in the world, We are doomed whatever way we go. Not enough has been done in the past to take care of the plannet. It has always been about making money before the welfare of the common man/woman. We try to do our bit but as someone has already said, what about the rest of the world. The future of our children and grand children looks bleak with no jobs, not enough food being produced now in our own country plus their is very little pride now on being British, what do we produce in this country most of our factory's have been closed and now are abroad because of cheap labour. Why was that allowed to happen. A fair pay for a good days work should be the right of everyone but life is not like that. I have worked all my life, some of the jobs I did when my kids were young the money was terrible, in 1975 i had an evening job in a hotel  that paid 45 1/2 pence an hour. I worked very hard, no dishwasher. There were only 2 of us on at a time but we had a laugh and I was earning something towards the household bills. I have never been on the dole and it must be heartbreaking for the kids today who want to work but there is nothing out there. How do they plan for a future when everything looks so bleak.

[Sandy]

I think prospects are poor for most of us at the moment Sabrina! we are encouraged to want more so we spend more and then need more power, its the politictions often in the pockets of powerful industrialists (is that the word I am looking for?) the few rich in any country actualy rule, we, well most of us, get brain washed into having more than we can afford.  At least as a member of th e UK we have a fairish governemt, or do we? Not too long ago we all found what those nice politicitons were creaming off and what the bankers were doing with our money, so how can we argue who/what is good and who/what is bad for OUR world!!

[Coley]

While I see nowt wrong in wind farms being part of our energy supply package, its the way politicians and the energy companies see it as the only way of meeting our carbon emissions target

I'm not sure I see that they do see it as the only way, it's always a part of the solution.  Can't be anything else really.  There's been a lot of funding for solar and ground source schemes and a lot of research support for wave power, to mention just a few other sources that government have shown support for. 

Not disagreeing that wind should be part of the package, its the emphasis on wind to the detriment of other sources, wind farms are popping up like mushrooms on a cow pat while other sources of energy are, if they are lucky, just at the development or pilot stage

[Coley]

And back to wind farms........

I have passed a few turbines being taken down the M5 towards Devon in the last week so there must be a new farm being built down there which I personally think is a good thing

Thats the other annoying thing, our politicians claim we are at the 'leading edge' of green technology but I  will bet you half a dollar those turbines you saw are produced overseas

[Sylvia]

Well, I've had a sound history/political lesson but the fact still remains that we waste too much fuel. Surely the answer is to put the price up to such a rate that people will begin to think of their own alternatives. I brought up my children in the back of beyond with no electricity, gas, telephone or mains water. We did very well and so could others. Save the energy for hospitals etc. which couldn't do without it. Or am I talking enough hot air to power a town! 

[robert waddell]

Sylvia NOW for a financial lesson the biggest electricity co in the world is general electric (they have more money than a horse could Shiite) i fail to see why any sane person would contemplate showering these mega rich company's with more money there latest acquisition was the wood group (big Aberdeen oil supply co) paying something like a billion to get it (somebody may correct me) it was not ten bob and a twix       GE bought into everything that was making money one of them was plant hire and leasing and the money that was lost on both ventures was phenomenal
now you may want to gift these bar stewards your money but I DONT       FUEL IN ANY FORM IS TO EXPENCIVE
AND THE POLITICIANS THEY WERE ELECTED BY THE PEOPLE TO SERVE THE PEOPLE THE ONLY THING IS WE ARE STUCK WITH THEM FOR THERE TERM IN OFFICE OR UNTIL THEY SLIDE ON THERE ARSE IN THE GRAVEY TRAIN
the trams in our capital is a prime example of graft greed and gravy