I BELIEVE that the Cambo oilfield should continue to be developed.
I am all for taking measures that will slow climate change, but is there such a thing as a green motorised vehicle? Many will point to battery-driven versions as being green – but although they are cleaner, they are definitely not Green.
Unless every part of a vehicle is produced using renewable energy sources, there remains a large carbon footprint element to production – for example from extracting and smelting materials for the vehicle’s structure and battery, and the disposal of those batteries where there is a high corrosive and toxic element involved. There is also a carbon footprint in producing glass for all vehicles, as well as for commercial buildings and homes.
Even if we remove all vehicles from our roads and only public service vehicles and trains are used for travel and commerce, we would still need to develop the Cambo field for a number of very important reasons, not the least of which are the plastics needed to build the buses and trains, since even reverting to steel or aluminium is hugely energy-intensive.
We also need oil for transporting goods around the world by sea, for our cleaning products, medical procedures, personal care and treatment of and recovery from injuries.
Oil is also used in lipsticks, paint, paper, clothes, electrical wiring and what about computers, smart phones and tablets, and much more?
Oil is part of our lives in so many ways that we do not notice, but take for granted. Oil is not going away.
Francis Deigman, Erskine.
TURBINE IMPORTS ARE A DISGRACE
LIKE many I was dismayed but not surprised by the announcement that the wind turbine tower manufacturing facility at Campbeltown is finally to close (“Anger as key ‘green jobs revolution’ firm goes into insolvency”, The Herald, September 9).
A few months past I made a Freedom of Information request to the Scottish Government asking how many of the onshore and offshore wind turbines greater than 2MW that are now operating in Scotland had any of the three main components of towers, blades and hubs manufactured in Scotland. The response was that the Government did not hold such information. A similar request to the industry trade body which strongly supports wind farm development in Scotland, Scottish Renewables, has produced no reply.
The answer to my query is of course that not a single one of the many thousands of wind turbines now operational in Scotland has been made in this country. All have had most, if not all, of the major parts imported from other countries. These imports continue, as anyone viewing the blades and towers regularly unloaded at Glasgow’s docks can see.
Why have successive Scottish Governments so lamentably failed to effectively address this deficiency? England has seen the need to develop a home industry with turbine components today being constructed at major factories on Humberside and the Isle of Wight.
The facility at Hull is owned by Siemens, one of the three major suppliers to Scottish onshore and offshore wind farms. Siemens has recently announced a major expansion which will double the number of skilled jobs. So much for the claim by the South Korean owner of the Campbeltown site that its closure has been caused by deteriorating market conditions.
No doubt the Scottish Government will be boasting at the forthcoming climate change conference in Glasgow about how much of Scotland’s electricity comes from the wind. Hopefully others will be drawing attention to the disgraceful inability of the Government to secure and sustain the necessary manufacturing capability.
John Riddell, Fairlie.
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