ITE MAPS
SITE MAP
This panel contains the links to the key parts of this website
Tha panel to the right contains the most recent news about windfarms, followed by:
- The Campaign against Windfarms
- The Case Against Windfarms
Site

A Scale (1:100) model of a proposed wind turbine, 126 metres high, with Hempnall church (Norfolk), people, cars and small trees/shrubs
©Landscape Architect, Howard Bolton, with permission
Video ofwind turbine on fire in Portugal
http://mx.truveo.com/incendio-en-un-aerogenerador/id/3194230329
Danish wind turbine suffers a brake failure, and
collapses near Hornslet, Denmark,
22 02 2008
www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbCs7ZQDKoM&feature=related
For clips of several wind turbine fires/accidents go to: http://www.videosift.com/video/Super-Wind-Turbine-Mayhem-Playlist
See also www.caithnesswindfarms.co.uk for the
definitive database of wind turbine accidents

Before

After
Elk River (Kansas) -
http://
www. protecttheflinthills.org

The blade swept area of a modern wind turbine is as
big as a Boeing 747
WIND RUSH
The UK Government is obsessed with wind power above all other renewable technologies. Ministers say this is because wind power is already developed as a technology, but it must also be because the wind industry lobby has been more persuasive and certain NGOs have latched onto it as an icon.
There are early signs that there is growing opposition to this “Wind Rush”. Country Guardian’s newsletter OpenView, and this website, is tracking its progress, starting with:
1. The risk to aircraft radar and navigation systems
KEY INFORMATION
ON THIS WEBSITE
The Campaign Against Windfarms
The Case Against Windfarms
UK Windpower Projects
August 2007 ©CLOWD
List of UK Windfarm Action Groups @July 2008
(Total now 186 groups)
International links
Country Guardian - Contacts and background
Country Guardian's Policy
The Case Against Windfarms
2006 edition- Adobe version
FACTS ABOUT WIND POWER ©FELLS
Recent News Items
www.caithnesswindfarms.co.uk for the definitive database of wind turbine accidents
September 2007
Sir, There is an old saying: "No one ever built a windmill if he could build a watermill." The wind is an unreliable source of power. It seldom blows steadily and sometimes not at all.
The power generated by the wind varies with the cube of the wind speed. That means that if the wind speed drops from 40mph to 20mph, the power output does not drop by 50 per cent: it drops by 87.5 per cent. At 10mph, the wind produces only 1.56 per cent of the power generated by a 40mph wind.
The wind can never become a major source of power.
Norman Plastow, Hon Curator, Wimbledon Windmill Museum , London SW19
Letters, Daily Telegraph, 4 September 2007
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Country Guardian is a UK conservation group which, since 1991, has campaigned against the construction of wind turbines in environmentally sensitive areas. We object because wind turbines convert rural landscape into industrial landscape, and because they are a poor source of renewable energy.
September 2008
A Pragmatic Energy Policy for the UK
At a Press conference on September 16th, leading energy experts Professor Ian Fells and Candida Whitmill presented a damning report on the UK Government's failure to deal with the forthcoming energy gap. In particular the report condemns the Government's reliance on renewable energy, particularly wind.
The Report - " A Pragmatic Energy Policy for the UK" can be downloaded from http://fellsassociates.awardspace.com/site/LinkedDocuments/Pragmatic%20Energy%20Policy1.pdf
The Executive Summary and Conclusion of this report are available on this website at Fells Summary
Over the last 25 years successive governments have failed to form a coherent, realistic and structured energy policy for the UK. The business and industrial community, which has already been forced to accept energy prices far in excess of its European counterparts, is now expressing grave disquiet.
Piecemeal legislation has resulted in a crisis situation for both short-term and long- term energy supply in the UK. Industry insiders predict major shortages within the next five years.
They explained how the current short-term and long-term crisis of energy supply in the UK has developed and will present realistic solutions in the short-term that will keep the lights on, as well as proposals for a longer- term strategy post 2020. .
Prof Ian Fells, internationally acclaimed energy expert, explains how unrealistic “green” aspirations and wishful thinking about unachievable quantities of offshore wind generation has led to under-investment in energy base load infrastructure to replace the loss of one third of generating capacity over the next decade which the UK faces.
“The report discloses a staggering lack of understanding of the technical and engineering reality of what can be built within a short time scale. The default position with the current policy is more gas, with all the political uncertainties on availability and price that implies,” says Professor Fells, Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering.
“All in all it will be a close run thing to provide electricity to keep the lights on through the next decade. A coherent strategic plan, as laid out in our “Route Map to Energy Survival” in the Report should do the trick”, Prof Fells says.
The Renewable Energy Foundation publishes the report on the UK Government's support system for renewables.
"It seems to the authors of this paper that the answer to these questions is that the Renewables Obligation is, as Ofgem and the National Audit Office have observed, both counterproductive and very poor value for money"
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John Constable
Bob Barfoot
5 September 2008
Read the Report at: http://www.ref.org.uk/Files/rb.jc.ref.roc.05.09.08.pdf
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Dale Vince Fails to beat wind power record because of intermittent wind
Windfarm developer, New Age Man, and boss of Ecotricity, Dale Vince attempted to break the Wind Power Speed Record. Unfortunately he was defeated by lack of wind!
"A team that had hoped to break the world land-speed record for a wind-powered vehicle is blaming climate change for its failure. Uncharacteristic heavy rain over Lake LeFroy in Western Australia has left the attempt high and dry. Britons Dale Vince and Richard Jenkins had hoped to see their carbon-neutral vehicle, Greenbird, beat the record of 116mph (187kmph). They say they will now attempt the world ice yacht speed record in 2009".
Read more at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7610786.stm
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Stand by for advances in health and climate research as the ‘big bang’ machine starts up
"Cern’s latest research project may prove the most controversial. It is building a laboratory to investigate the theory that the rate of cloud formation in the atmosphere is linked to the level of cosmic rays.
Cloud formation is a vital component of climate and weather, and the project could place Cern at the heart of the debate on whether other factors besides greenhouse gases are involved in climate change.
The researchers will use a proton beam from the proton synchrotron to simulate cosmic rays, firing them into a so-called “cloud chamber” to see whether mini clouds form.
Bob Bingham, professor of physics at Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in Oxfordshire, who is involved with the project, said: “If the beams cause cloud formation it will suggest a link between cosmic rays and climate which has interesting implications.”
Read more at: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/science/article4692222.ece |
August 2008
The Energy Crunch |
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The summer of 2008 has been remarkable for the collapse of confidence in the Brown Government, and the growing impact of the "Credit Crunch".
But in the last few weeks another bombshell has blown up in the Government's face. The Energy Crunch was triggered off by the failure of British Energy and EDF to agree the terms of a merger, but it has revealed a whole range of problems, some resulting from external events, but others are a direct result of Government policies:
- Lack of any clear policy on Nuclear Energy
- Basically no policy at all the development of clean coal, in particular the technology of Carbon Capture and Storage
- An over-dependence on gas, increasingly from foreign sources as North Sea oil and gas runs out
- Neglect of infrastructure(e.g. storage) to handle imported gas
- Pursuit of wind energy to the detriment of other types of renewable energy (Wave, solar, tidal, underwater turbines, etc. etc.)
- Neglect of infrastructure for wind farms, in particular grid infrastructure for offshore and Scottish wind farms
- Culpable ignorance of the need to back up intermittent wind with up to 90% of reliable energy (nuclear or fossil fuels)
- Allowing the wind industry to overstate the CO2 emissions savings from wind by 60% long after the ASA established that its claims were false
- The Government’s scheme for subsidising the over-priced windfarms (The Renewables Obligation) is encouraging the building of windfarms in places without enough wind, and is leading to an unacceptable stealth tax on electricity users, including those in fuel poverty.
In July 2008 the Government’s BERR Department published a consultation document “UK Renewable Energy Strategy”, 289pp) which is a belated attempt to remedy the situation. Too little too late, as usual.
There has been a considerable amount of press comment about the Energy Crunch and the renewables (non)-policy, covering most of the points in the list above. Some of these are listed below, with a brief overview and a web link to article itself.
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Dithering ministers saddle us with an energy crunch.
Jill Kirby, director of the Centre for Policy Studies
" Why are we consuming our vital gas reserves in this way? Because this government has spent the past 11 years dithering over its energy policy. Unable to take any decision on nuclear power until its late conversion in 2006, Labour has also been too nervous of the green lobby to agree to new coal-fired power stations. At present, coal provides more than a third of our electricity, with about 20% from nuclear. Wind power accounts for 1%, with about 3% from other renewables, such as hydro and biofuels. Nearly half of our nuclear and coal-fired power stations will be phased out during the next 6-8 years. Even if we can succeed in building the thousands of wind turbines that the government has promised, the inconstancy of wind generation means that they must be backed up by conventional power sources".
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article4449120.ece |
Failure of British Energy takeover deal throws nuclear power plans into disarray - The rejection of EDF’s bid creates another gap in our power supplies
Dominic O’Connell
"Analysts said the failure of the deal left Britain facing an even more uncertain energy situation. David Hunter, energy analyst at McKinnon & Clarke, said: “EDF’s purchase of British Energy was the government’s get-out-of-jail- free card. There are tough decisions to be made, as the reality is that Britain will run short of power. Our crumbling infrastructure and lack of political will to sort this out have left assets ripe for picking off by larger European energy companies”. “It is our view that the government must swing its weight behind getting new stations built, and not just nuclear. Coal will be part of the solution — allied to carbon-capture technology — in addition to renewables."
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/utilities/article4449236.ece
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/utilities/
article4449236.ece?token=null&offset=12&page=2 |
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Britain 's energy crisis: Twisting in the wind
Danny Fortson. Business Journalist and Business Correspondent of The Independent
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“To meet the targets for renewables, industry will have to spend £100 billion by 2020”
" Rocketing gas prices — up 35% last week — have put the spotlight on Britain ’s looming energy crisis. With North Sea oil and gas running out, we are becoming dependent on imports and risk being left at the mercy of world prices.”
“The government hopes two new sources of power, wind and nuclear, will bolster Britain ’s supply and at the same time help to meet ambitious targets to cut greenhouse-gas emissions.
Both are in trouble. The planned expansion of wind power is being held up by a myriad of obstacles from planning objections to electricity grid constraints. The cost of investment is huge and likely to lead to even more rises in household electricity bills. And last week the French pulled out of negotiations to buy British Energy, which runs our nuclear power stations, plunging the sector into uncertainty. "
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/natural_resources/article4449130.ece
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/natural_resources/
article4449130.ece?token=null&offset=12&page=2
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/natural_resources/
article4449130.ece?token=null&offset=24&page=3 |
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Tide turns for wave power as four rival systems go on test
Ben Laurance
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“A firm quoted on London ’s Alternative Investment Market believes it is on to the next big thing in carbon-neutral energy — wave power. Ocean Power Technologies believes that it has found the next big thing in carbon-neutral energy
WIND POWER faces difficult obstacles, but its supporters can at least point to wind farms already in operation. By contrast, tidal power, often touted as an environmentally friendly alternative, has struggled”.
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/utilities/article4449287.ece
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Host of new pylons to carry wind farm power. There must be thousands of miles of new cables
Jonathan Leake. Environment Editor, Sunday Times
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More than 30GW (gigawatts) of wind power are planned by 2020
Most turbines will be built in areas such as Scotland and the North Sea
New cables and pylons are needed to take electricity to southern markets.
In Britain , 72.000 pylons carry an estimated 14,000 miles of cable
Underground cables cost about 20 times more to lay than pylon”
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article4449528.ece
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UK Renewable Energy Strategy - Consultation
BERR June 2008
Strategy
“We expect the key growth area to be wind power, both on and offshore. Analysis on electricity constraints suggests that up to 33 GW of offshore wind might be achievable by 2030. 6 However, our initial modelling suggests that by 2020 deployment may be closer to 14 GW, compared to less than 1 GW today. This would equate to around 3,000 extra offshore turbines of 5 MW.”
“ Our initial modelling suggests that we might need approximately 14 GW of onshore wind too, compared to 2GW today – equating to around 4,000 new 3 MW onshore turbines in addition to the approximately 2,000 turbines already installed”
Consultation ends on 26 th September 2008
Read the full report at:
http://renewableconsultation.berr.gov.uk/ |
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Cameron on Windfarms – video clip from a Question and Answer Session in Cornwall
Western Morning News 31/07/08
http://www.thisiswesternmorningnews.co.uk/davidcameron.html
Allan Nunn of Cornwall, a long-time campaigner against industrial wind turbines, puts his question live to David Cameron, leader of the Conservative Party.
Watch the video and hear Cameron say that he is not against industrial wind turbines, even onshore. Quite recently the Conservatives said they would remove subsidies from onshore windfarms. Cameron says he favours a subsidy based on feed-in tariffs*, with the profits going to local community.
*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feed-in_Tariff
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Government admits that wind energy is ineffective.
Excerpt from Hansard, House of Lords, 23 June 2008 : Column 1224. [Baroness Vadera is Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department for Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform]
Lord Stoddart of Swindon : My Lords, have the Government had discussions with the national grid about their policy of building thousands of wind turbines? Is not the national grid concerned about the connection of these wind turbines and will it not require additional conventional capacity to be built to cover the time when the wind is not turning them?
Baroness Vadera: My Lords, my noble friend makes a valid point. In answer to the question that was asked earlier, wind generation is intermittent and therefore needs—may I use a technical term?—base-load capacity, which means we need to build for coal and gas to back up the wind. That is why it is not the most effective source in terms of energy security of supply, but it is very effective for climate change.
Read the subsequent letter from Lord Stoddart in the Western Morning News
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Claimed and Realistic Carbon Dioxide Emissions Savings
An independent evaluation report prepared at the request by the CLOWD Windfarm Action Group.
Prepared by Michael Jefferson, a world expert on Renewable Energy.
This report demolishes the inaccurate claims about CO2 emissions savings which are still being made by windfarm developers and BWEA. It covers the power station fossil fuel mix which determines the CO2 savings, also load factors and number of households served.
This is a goldmine for windfarm action groups
Michael Jefferson’s report is at:
http://www.clowd.org.uk/pages/clowdCarbonSavings.htm
Switch to windpower could add £6 billion a year to fuel bills
Jonathan Leake. Environment Editor, Sunday Times
" The switch to windpower could see £6 billion a year added to the nation’s power bills by 2020 - equivalent to around £250 per household, the government’s own figures have revealed.
The money would be used to support a system of lucrative subsidies to the power companies that build and operate wind turbines.
It would also support the installation of 7,000 new wind turbines. At current prices it means each turbine could generate more profit from subsidy than from the sale of the power generated. "
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article4485808.ece
Britain Leads The World In Global Warming Madness
Britain’s dangerously flawed energy policy
Britain’s Climate Madness - Ruth Lea
"On June 26, 2008, the Prime Minister unveiled his Government’s renewable energy strategy for building a “low carbon economy”. This will involve the building of 7,000 wind turbines (3,000 at sea, and 4,000 on land) by 2020, expand other renewable energy, such as micro-generation, tidal- and wave-power, and will require £100bn of investment from the private sector (heavily subsidised by the consumer). Nuclear power will also be encouraged. The centre piece of the strategy is the planned expansion of wind turbines, which are almost universally disliked by those who have to live near to them.
But, aesthetics aside, the strategy is unworkable, expensive, and irresponsible."
Read the article
Our website covers two main topics,
1. The Campaign against Windfarms
2. The Case against Windfarms
The Campaign against Windfarms
Since its formation in 1991, by the conservationist Joseph Lythgoe, Country Guardian's main role has been, and continues to be, to make available the true facts about windfarms. It does this by publishing:
This website www.countryguardian.net,
its newsletter, Openview,
The Guide to UK Windfarms, and
The List of UK Windfarm Action Groups.
It acts as a source of information for windfarm action groups worldwide and seeks to inform public opinion generally. All its members are volunteers and it receives no support of any kind from any business or industrial organisation.
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The Guide to UK Windfarms
Formerly the Red Booklet Guide to UK Windfarms, this webpage acts as a portal to multiple databases , including Industry, Government and Country Guardian's own sources.
In the case of operational windfarms, we include new information about the actual performance (load factor) which takes the lid off the poor performance of UK turbines.We also include the list of dead projects, which was a feature of the old Red Booklet.
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List of UK Windfarm Action Groups. Currently standing at 186 groups as at July 2008
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Links to windfarm groups worldwide , including key sites which also have global cover, such as:
www.wind-farm.org/, a site providing news and information about windfarm campaigns across the UK;
http://www.savethevale.org.uk/, the web site of a campaign group fighting a project in Blackmore Vale on the borders of Dorset and Somerset;
http://www.viewsofscotland.org/ The web site of the Views of Scotland organisation which is fighting a wave of applications in Scotland; http://www.cprw.org.uk/.
Fighting windfarms in Wales
http://www.socme.org/
a site from Wales with international coverage
www.wind-watch.org,
covers the USA and other countries
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Country Guardian's Manifesto
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Windfarm Poems
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Powerpoint Presentation:
Windfarms : Myths and Misconceptions. Given by Dr Mike Hall at the Saddleworth Conference on April 12 2005.
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The Case against Windfarms
Our Case Against Windfarms is a detailed, referenced and authorititive demolition of the case for windfarms, written by the independent consultant Dr John Etherington, former Reader In Ecology at the University of Wales.
You can read the whole document in PDF format, or use it for reference, selecting from the individual topics, listed below. After each extract you will find a nunber of articles, papers, quotations etc, having relevance to the particular topic
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The Case Against Windfarms , the full document in PDF format
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Government: policy, costs and subsidy
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The scale of development required by government targets and overall saving of carbon dioxide emission
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The problem of intermittency and need for backup
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Calculating CO2 emissions and saving
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Homes supplied by a windfarm
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Technical aspects of windfarms
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Landscape quality of windfarm sites and value of landscape
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Windfarms and the planning system
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Public opinion - Beauties or beasts?
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House prices , tourism and jobs
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Birds and Bats
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Noise
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Quality of life and safety
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Television interference, radar and aviation
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Some comparisions - odious or otherwise
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How can the need for electricity be met?
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Conclusion
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Appendix 1. Climatic change, Kyoto and the future
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Appendix 2.Calculatations for Section 16. Comparisons
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| References and notes |
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