ENERGY policy in Great Britain has been a shambles for years. Cowardly governments have turned a blind eye to repeated warnings over prices and supply. Disaster has been avoided thanks only to lucky escapes rather than good stewardship. A case study in the stupidity of the British government’s attitude to energy – aided and abetted by the European Union – is its continuing obsession with wind farms, a so-called sustainable source of energy which is costly, inefficient, unreliable – and ultimately unsustainable.
The official line from London and Brussels has always been that wind turbines produce energy more cleanly and cheaply than any conventional alternatives ever could. Try telling that to the inhabitants of the Scottish island of Lewis, who are currently fighting Amec, an engineering consultancy, and British Energy, a giant electricity group. Both are intent on converting the tiny Hebridean Island into one of the world’s largest wind farms. Aside from how 181 turbines covering the northern half of the island will look, the farm will upset Lewis’ fragile ecology, and spell disaster for numerous rare animals.
