Press reports on the offshore wind farm which sits a mile and a half off the coast of Aberdeen say it is ‘a wind farm to make Scotland great again’.
How, exactly? Very few of the components were manufactured in Scotland or – heaven forbid – in England, and the labour was mostly foreign.
Claims that this wind farm will produce enough energy to power 80,000 homes a year is suspect. Is this figure based on working 365 days a year? Is it all the electricity a home needs, or just enough to boil a kettle? Claims made on planning applications should be monitored and shortfalls subject to fines.
The downside of wind turbines is never mentioned. For instance turbine motors need rare-earth metals which are mined in China and which leave villages with lakes of toxic chemicals and radioactive elements.
The wind industry claims to manufacture green energy but makes no mention of the impact on human health, bird and bat deaths and the CO2 generated from the 1,000 tons of concrete used in every base. Of course the CO2 incurred in the manufacture of wind turbine components abroad is conveniently ignored.
The whole point of wind turbines was to reduce CO2 so why is independent verification of claimed CO2 savings not required?
