Scotsman letters
Climate clots
The climate change business gives meaning to the lives of many who have never before had an opinion about anything. It is their opportunity to be somebody in the pursuit of something unprovable, with the comfort of knowing they can never be found wrong in their lifetime.
And it is predominantly a hobby of the affluent, with their built-in sense of superiority that allows them to spout nonsense in the face of facts to the contrary. Rather like the religious zealots of the Dark Ages who could say anything to an illiterate population.
And of course, when they say we must stop flying, and driving, and eating meat, they don’t mean we – t hey mean you.
But if these new zealots really believe the world is ending from a surfeit of carbon dioxide, surely they should be promoting carbon-free nuclear energy, or research into things that might save the planet, rather than the nonsense inventions that plague us. But no, it is all your fault, and you must make the sacrifices they dictate. Silly people. Pity many of them are in Government.
Malcolm Parkin, Kinnesswood, Perth and Kinross
Rejected risks
Isn’t it time to stop paying wind turbine owners to stop generating electricity when the grid cannot accept it? Building a turbine is a commercial decision and the business case for each must take into account periods when there is no wind, and times when the grid cannot accept the power produced. These are commercial risks that turbine owners should not be immune from, and it is wrong that electricity customers foot the bill when the grid cannot accept power.
If turbine owners wish to be protected when they are producing energy that cannot be consumed, they must make a commercial decision on whether to build battery storage as part of the business case for the turbine. The UK has some of the highest electricity prices in the world – something that hurts the consumer and, as importantly, burdens industrial users, making their products less competitive – damaging jobs in the process. Time to make turbines stand on their own feet, so to speak!
Brian Barbour, c/o Port Ligar, New Zealand
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