Norman McNab’s letter We need honesty over renewables (letters 4 Nov), hits the nail on the head.
He accuses the renewables industry (Wind in particular I would guess) and our Government ministers of spreading misleading information in relation to renewables being the cheapest form of energy. Unfortunately most people only hear or see what they want to.
The latest RenewableUK poll conducted by YouGov claimed to show ‘overwhelming support’ of 70 per cent for onshore windfarms. Of the 1,700 respondents to the poll, only 7 per cent (119) were from Scotland, that is 0.002 per cent of the Scottish population. Of those 119, only 38 (32 per cent) replied that they lived within five miles of a windfarm. That is 0.0007 per cent of the Scottish population. Choosing so few respondents from the UK area with the most onshore turbines in a poll seeking to determine public opinion on the issue makes the results inherently unreliable. In contrast, there were 192 respondents from London. Why ask Londoners their opinion of living within five miles of an onshore turbine when there are none anywhere near?
RenewableUK has interpreted results from a statistically skewed section of the UK public to show that there is ‘overwhelming’ support for onshore windfarms. As the mouthpiece of the renewable industry, it might be expected that any poll would be biased in favour of commercial concerns. It is more worrying that results from this and similarly unreliable and biased polls are widely quoted by mainstream media such as the BBC and used by the Government to inform and underpin policy, justifying the push for further expansion of windfarms in the name of reducing carbon emissions, regardless of impacts on hapless rural residents and environmental damage.
Aileen Jackson
Uplawmoor
East Renfrewshire
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