Onshore Wind Generation costs now at 3.3 cent per kw/h or less.

[Beebo]

[off-topic] Our local shoot buys grouse chicks wholesale from France, rears them, releases them, and shoots some of them. The rest could count as an invasive species.

Pheasant aren't native either. they are from India.

It’s the other birds that are culled to protect the game birds that I worry about.

 

[matticus]

Pheasant aren't native either. they are from India.

It’s the other birds that are culled to protect the game birds that I worry about.

Yes (and dont' we already have a thread about gamekeepers killing "undesirable" birds? )

 

[matticus]

I've been reading about the Green MP in Thurrock-ish(?) who is trying to delay some scheme that will require loads of pylons in his constituency. Of course it's a thorny problem, NIMBYs vs global concerns ...

... but someone made the persuasive point that pylons aren't forever, they don't destroy the environment; we may not even need most of them when/IF we solve the climate crisis.

 

[Regular.Cyclist]

I did an event called Run The Blades yesterday which is run around Whitelees Wind Farm on Eaglesham Moor. It has 215 turbine, generating up to 539 megawatts and is the UK’s largest onshore wind farm. The are 130 kilometres of trails to explore, on foot, by cycle or by horse, with free parking and free entry to our onsite Visitor Centre.

It’s a huge, and impressive, place which is quite remote and I can see why people would not want something like that next door to them.

Even on a relatively calm day yesterday they were still generating power and there is still plenty of room for expansion should they wish to.

 

[albion]

I like to use turbine sites as a drink/coffee stop. It was the Wingates Wind farm I passed yesterday.
Rather than head into Rothbury on reaching Great Tosson I turned left to Little Tosson and then Elsdon for a great Simonside Hills loop from Morpeth.

What struck me was the paucity of them. And far better to have a windfarm than any of those common very smelly farms alongside.

 

[albion]

I am not sure why, but Charles, fond of odballish green issues apparantly was very anti windfarm.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news...gy-review-duchy-cornwall-estate-wind-turbines

It is weird. The current trend of solar farms is caused by solar being dirt dirt cheap. Yet a big tall wind turbine takes up hundreds if not thousands and thousands less farmland space than solar per energy unit generated.

 

[Regular.Cyclist]

Wind farms have their own problems and can be a danger to wildlife, particularly birds and bats.

 

[albion]

A 'predictable turbine' comment.

Two dead cats, 1 dead adder on my ride yesterday. Plenty of dead birds but that is essentially car litter.
The hedgehog made it across.

 

[Regular.Cyclist]

May be a predicable comment but it is a real issue that is now considered when siting new farms to ensure that they are away from known migratory route for birds and areas of known bat populations.

The planning of these can be managed to reduce the risk. Road kill is a completely different issue.

 

[albion]

If other birds get to witness that 0.0001% of deaths they will change pattern.
Not that migratory birds usually fly low.
https://theconversation.com/migrato...much-higher-than-expected-new-research-167582

They fly high to stay cool.

 

[Regular.Cyclist]

That is assuming a breed that flys directly to a destination and is not one of those that using the UK, and other countries, as stop overs on their travels.

The game and wildlife conservation trust put out their position statement on it in 2014.
https://www.gwct.org.uk/policy/position-statements/wind-farms/

 

[albion]

Yet they (now) say this '

• Home>
• Position Statements>
• Wind farms

Wind farms​

Thee GWCT has done no research into the conservation impact of wind farms. The views that follow are based on a review of wind farm research conducted by others, combined with a knowledge of moorland management for wildlife acquired through our own research.'

Contrast to all the farming caused EXTINCTIONS.

 

[Regular.Cyclist]

You seem to be quite vociferous in a defence of wind farms, unnecessarily so.

Everything humans do, including wind farms and solar power, have their pros and their cons. You pointed out one con from solar and I pointed out one for wind farms. There is no agenda here, certainly from me.

 

[albion]

Well, the 'bird strikes' thing has always been blown up by the big slicky oil media.

 

[albion]

It got me curious. Trump loves his lies and said turbines are killing all the birds.
Yet there, it was calculated that about 1.17 million are killed per year by turbines.

By the same report, 70 million are killed by cars, 70 million by pesticide and about half a billion by cats in the US.