Copyright 2004 Nationwide News Pty Limited
Geelong Advertiser (Regional Daily)
January 14, 2004 Wednesday
SECTION: PERSPECTIVE; Pg. 27

LENGTH: 967 words

HEADLINE: Cold blast;Bellamy dispels wind farm myths

BYLINE: DAVID BELLAMY

BODY:
The State Government's new Victorian Wind Atlas, spelling out areas for
potential wind farm developments, is unlikely to please as many people as it
likes. Leading environmentalist DAVID BELLAMY recently described the
Government as mad for even considering wind farms on coast sites. Here, he
dispels a few myths.

MYTH: Wind farms don't spoil the scenery

FACT: Wind farms have a fundamental visual impact on the landscape. Current
models, with 70-metre hub heights and 60-plus metre rotor diameters, are
taller than 30-storey buildings and as wide as a 747 jet. Even larger models
are planned. Because they require exposed and open countryside, wind farms
can be seen for many kilometres.

The development of wind farms also usually involves the construction of many
miles of visually intrusive service roads, transmission lines and pylons.
This is because most wind power sites are in areas remote from the grid.

MYTH: Wind turbines do not harm the countryside

FACT: Construction of these enormous industrial sites involves considerable
environmental disruption and upheaval. Site access roads must support the
large cranes needed for turbine construction, maintenance and
decommissioning. Sites can require about 2000 tonnes of rock and a kilometre
of access road.

MYTH: Wind farms are a good source of electricity

FACT: Wind farms produce relatively small amounts of energy. This is because
of the inherent difficulties of extracting power from the wind and because
wind turbines cannot work if the wind is too light or too strong. Studies
have found that wind turbines produce only 25-30% of their theoretical
capacity (ie the amount they would generate in ideal conditions).

Two of the biggest wind farms in Europe are close to each other in Powys,
Wales. Between them, they have 159 turbines and cover thousands of acres of
land. Together they take a year to produce less than four days' output from
a single 2000 MW conventional power station. Together, they have an output
averaging 20 MW.

MYTH: Wind farms will let us close conventional and nuclear power stations

FACT: Because the wind does not blow all the time and is difficult to
predict, it cannot provide a reliable source of power. This means that
conventional and nuclear power stations can't simply be turned off just
because wind turbines are being put up. Instead they have to be available as
back-up -- either running at less than full capacity or in spinning reserve
-- in case the wind drops too low or blows too hard for wind turbines to
function.

MYTH: Wind farms will stop global warming

FACT: The current levels of growth in industrial development, electricity
use, road and air traffic will swamp any impact it might have on global
warming.

The fact that wind farms do little to combat global warming is highlighted
by the situation in Denmark, which, although it has the most developed wind
power infrastructure in Europe, still has one of the continent's highest per
capita level of carbon dioxide emissions.

MYTH: We need wind farms

FACT: We do not need wind farms. There are many other more cost-effective
ways to combat global warming and provide us with energy. These include
making present power stations more efficient, controlling traffic and petrol
consumption, developing other types of renewable energy and, most
importantly, investing heavily in energy conservation.

Calculations show that the amount of energy produced by a 750 KW turbine
could be saved by insulating the roofs of fewer than 500 houses and that
saving pollution by insulation is 55 times more cost-effective than saving
it by wind turbines.

Overall studies show that energy saving could feasibly and cost-effectively
cut the amount of energy used in the UK by 30 per cent, making a significant
impact on global warming and eliminating the need for wind turbines.
Ploughing the subsidies given to wind power into promoting this scale of
energy conservation would also create many tens of thousands of local jobs.

MYTH: Wind farms produce free electricity

FACT: The development of wind power around the world has been heavily
subsidised and grant-aided. In the UK, the wholesale price of electricity
from wind turbines has been up to four times the price of
conventionally-generated electricity. The cost of this system is passed on
to electricity consumers and already costs tens of millions of pounds a
year.

MYTH: Wind farms have no impact on people

FACT: Many people living near wind turbines find their lives are blighted by
the background noise of the turbines. Wind turbines also produce other
annoying effects, such as the disruption of television reception, shadow
flicker, strobing and light reflections. Turbines have been known to catch
on fire and to throw lumps of ice from their blades.

In the most extreme cases, people have experienced stress and other mental
problems.

MYTH: Wind farms provide jobs and do not affect tourism

FACT: After the initial employment opportunities provided in its
construction, a wind farm actually requires few people for day-to-day
maintenance.

If the subsidies going into renewables were diverted to energy conservation,
tens of thousands of jobs would also be created at a stroke, and far more
emissions would be saved.

There is evidence that wind farms could threaten the tourist industry, a
vital part of the rural economy.

Many tourism agencies have criticised wind farm developments and it is more
than likely that once wind turbines stop being a novelty and start to
dominate our landscapes in ever-increasing numbers, they will drive tourists
away.

MYTH: People want wind farms

FACT: Many, many people do not want wind farms. One symptom of this dislike
is the fact that estate agents report that wind farms can dramatically
decrease property values.

LOAD-DATE: January 13, 2004