When The Wind Blows

Over the last couple of months we have had four wind turbines installed locally. These are visible from the back of our house (at least in Winter – I suspect the trees will hide them in the Summer). I was contacted some years ago, when we lived in the farm steadings, about our opinions on having a wind turbine nearby. I thought this was a very good idea but nothing ever came of the plans. The scheme near Larbert is much larger than the proposed one for the Moss but it has been agreed that the operators will pay £25,000 per year to the local parish council which seems like a good deal for all concerned.

Todhill turbine near Larbert - for an idea of scale see the white van parked at the base.

I took a few photographs of the turbines as they were being constructed. From a distance it is difficult to appreciate the size of wind turbines as they look like they could be a child’s toy. It’s not until you are close to the structures that the sheer scale of them can be appreciated. The tips of the blades reach up to 125m high but a better indication of the size is to see the scale of the white VW Transporter vans at the base. I’ve visited a couple of turbine sites and up close they are quite awe inspiring – very much in the traditional sense of being a little scary. From further back it is possible to appreciate the elegance of them. Like bridges there is a certain beauty in objects that have been engineered to utilise physics to their own end. Compare this to an electric pylon which looks all rather saggy and ungainly as its form arises from having the laws of physics imposed upon it.

Todhill turbine blades being lifted into place.

There have been several news stories recently which has highlighted just how much of our power is being generated from sustainable sources. This is particularly true in Scotland where the sustainable generating sector has now overtaken nuclear energy as the largest single source of electricity. Billy Bragg highlighted changing attitudes to turbines in this Facebook entry. I responded to that which seems to have been popular with some people even if I did receive an abusive message from one person (actually a personal email which seems like pretty determined trolling just to call someone a homosexual).

The reaction of most people I’ve spoken to locally about our new turbines has been largely positive. This ranges from those who are actively enthusiastic about the project, through to those that would rather we didn’t have to have power production but appreciate that the lights have to stay on and that this is far preferable to fracking. I’ve not spoken to anyone who was actively against the development but I have seen a few comments in the local paper criticising it and a few comments on various website forums that either complain that they will affect house prices (which I would personally regard as a bonus) or quoting various “facts” and “research” that proves that alternative energy sources are a futile exercise.

I put “facts” and “research” in quotes because whenever I read anything related to energy or the environment the quoted sources are usually fairly dubious and at best they offer a cherry-picked distortion of genuine peer reviewed papers. To a point, this is always going to happen because peer reviewed journals are by their nature rather dry affairs and assume a level of knowledge that is above even the well-informed layman. I’ve recently discovered a very good beginners guide in the form of David MacKay’s “Sustainable Energy – Without the Hot Air” (which was recommended to me via a personal email from someone who didn’t call me a homosexual). Interestingly, he has made the work available online and, although some of the content will have altered since it was written in 2008, he does write it in a very clear manner which appeals to me as it frames the whole issue of energy use as an engineering problem rather than an political or economic one (although obviously that comes into it).

As for me, I’m still pressing ahead trying to get my energy consumption down although if I am honest it has more to do with reasons of miserliness than any determined effort to save the planet. At least it’s nice to know that some of my electricity will be produced locally – at least it will be when the wind blows.