07 May 2005
From New Scientist Print Edition.
John Etherington Llanhowell, Pembrokeshire, UK
David Suzuki implies that the opposition to wind farms is largely down to their impact on landscape (16 April, p 20). He has missed the point: much of the outcry stems from two matters of greater concern.
First, wind power will never contribute significantly to controlling concentrations of atmospheric carbon dioxide. Secondly, attempts to force energy generated by wind power onto the grid will impose serious unreliability or will negate much of the promised saving of CO2 emissions by requiring "shadow" back-up generation.
The 2004 Consultation on the Review of the Climate Change Programme of the UK's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs recognises that by 2010, renewable electricity generation will save 2.5 megatonnes of carbon emissions per year at most. This is much less than a thousandth of the global emission, and an infinitesimal fraction of the quantity that needs to be removed from oceans and atmosphere to meet the guidelines set by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change to reduce the atmospheric concentration of CO2 by a third.
It is a good idea to stop burning fossil fuel and to avoid further unnecessary carbon emission, but I am afraid wind power isn't a viable alternative. Suzuki will have sacrificed his view for less than nothing, and most of us like such views as they are.
Copyright © New Scientist, May 2005
