Time to listen to rural Scots
WHILST your Letters Pages are full of concerns from those living in the
Central Belt, why is it that the vast array of wind turbines and HV pylons
that desecrate rural Scotland receive no attention? The First Minister may
well criticise Boris Johnson, but at least Westminster has extended
democratic rights over wind farm applications to rural England. Why then do
Central Belt politicians refuse to grant the same rights to those in rural
Scotland?
A good move by Holyrood in listening to rural Scots would be a decision to
run the HV cables in the GlenKens of Galloway underground, closely followed
by a decision to set up two National Parks in southern Scotland to balance
those north of the M8.
Ian Moir, Castle Douglas.
Green claims don’t stand up
GREEN electricity should be electricity that is generated 100 per cent from
renewable sources, not fossil fuels. Several major companies claim to
supply “100 per cent green electricity”. This is impossible since fossil
fuels generate a large percentage of the electricity sent to the grid.
A report by consultancy firm Baringa in partnership with ScottishPower and
Good Energy shows that as little as three per cent of the power supplied by
green providers is “genuinely green”; they have asked the Advertising
Standards Authority to investigate. Could the claim of “100 per cent green
electricity” be termed “greenwashing” which is similar to “whitewashing”,
but used exclusively by the green brigade?
Clark Cross, Linlithgow.
JOHN Fleming (Letters, May 7) claims that I am unaware that wind power can
be used to electrolyse hydrogen. He is obviously unaware of the sheer cost
and unviability of this idea in the context of trying to power a huge
industrial economy like the UK.
Other people in his shoes claim that batteries are the answer. But the
world’s biggest battery (Gateway, California) would only provide the UK
with energy for a theoretical maximum of 4.5 seconds. I can’t find the cost
of Gateway but it’s undoubtedly at least $100 million. I don’t have data
for hydrogen from electrolysis but it’s surely in the same ball park.
Geoff Moore, Alness.
JOHN Fleming should note that any process connected with renewable energy,
and now with that latest fad – the storage of electricity – is always
presented as being feasible and just needing a bit of money to perfect. The
wastage involved in conversions is always ignored, as are any other
downsides to any green process.
Malcolm Parkin, Kinross.
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