Re: The Lewis Windfarm (again) | Forum

Lewis and Harris 14

Image by drewbhoy

The Lewis Windfarm (again)

more_vert

Rhiannon Apr 22, 2008 15:00:36

Replying to Jane

I do take your point totally, but if you dig up /drain the peatlands (because you're going to have to make roads etc), you'll be releasing lots of carbon dioxide into the environment = kind of counterproductive. There have to be better places to put windfarms (I think they're great generally) surely, I mean we need more bogs to sink co2 into if anything.

fitzcoraldo Apr 22, 2008 15:27:42

Replying to Rhiannon

I totally agree Rhiannon. The energy used to create the wind farms would barely be recouped, plus it would all be at the expense of the destruction of one of our last true wilderness areas and a genuine CO2 sink.
Many of these wind farm developments appear to be little more than a scam, with greedy speculators chasing grants and subsidies. Hopefully local planners are now beginning to see past the hype and the bogus green credentials.

cheers
fitz

FourWinds Apr 23, 2008 05:38:23

Replying to Rhiannon

Rhiannon wrote:

you'll be releasing lots of carbon dioxide into the environment = kind of counterproductive.

The CO2 you would be releasing has only been out of circulation for a few thousand years, so it wasn't too long ago that it was part of the ecosystem. The CO2 from coal on the other hand has been out of the ecosystem for millions of years.

Wind farms are an odd one. The question of long term maintenance without fossil fuels bothers me. However, at the moment they seem a necessary step forward. There is a right and a wrong place to build them though. And Lewis never seemed like a good idea to me.