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Green groups blow up a storm over turbine rule



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ENVIRONMENT bodies have hit out at plans to allow wind turbines to be built only on homes that are more than 300ft apart.
The Scottish Government's consultation on permitted development rights for microgeneration – which includes wind turbines and solar panels on homes – closed yesterday.

New rules set out by the government would give automatic planning permission for wind turbines on homes, but only if the house is 328ft from the next residential property.

Friends of the Earth Scotland (FES) and Scottish Renewables, the green energy trade body, have written to the Scottish Government asking for that rule to be relaxed.

Duncan McLaren, the chief executive of FES, said: "This is a ridiculous disincentive to people to use that technology."

David Cameron, the chief technical officer at Scottish Renewables said:

"If we get the rules wrong, it could be disastrous, practically excluding many technologies from urban areas."

Responses to the draft regulations will be put to MSPs later.





The full article contains 166 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
Page 1 of 1

  • Last Updated: 12 May 2008 9:50 PM
  • Source: The Scotsman
  • Location: Edinburgh
 
1

Guga II,

Rockall 13/05/2008 04:10:12
Surely the distance apart of various houses should depend on the size of the turbine? What numpty thought up the 300 feet for all houses, regardless of the size of the turbines, or even the location of the houses?

If the government were genuinely interested in micro-generation by wind turbines, they would make a bulk purchase of suitable turbines to enable them to be sold to people at an affordable cost?
2

Unimpressed one,

13/05/2008 08:03:25
Guga you hit the nail on the head:

"If the government were genuinely interested in micro-generation by wind turbines"

Some of our more savvy politicians have realised the worthless folly that windpower is, however as a sop to the greenatics they make noises about 'renewable futures'.
3

Boy Wonder,

13/05/2008 08:58:22
"Green groups blow up a storm over turbine rule"

Take out the words ... Green ... storm ... over ... rule ... pluralise the word "turbine" ... and you'll learn the future of these things in Scotland!
4

Hmm ...,

13/05/2008 10:34:37
... `David Cameron, the chief technical officer at Scottish Renewables said:

`"If we get the rules wrong, it could be disastrous, practically excluding many technologies from urban areas."'

He surely doesn't mean "disaster" in the sense of Burma's cyclone or China's earthquake does he?

This desperation to sound important is all that the Greens are good for - shock, horror, calamity if they don't promote the fascism that they are paid to promote.

It IS difficult to describe an unhelpful rule as "disaster" but that doesn;t stop them trying.
5

Ard Righ,

The Rock Of Edinburgh 13/05/2008 11:51:15
Technology based on an intermittent source of power is stupid.

http://www.searlsolution.com/

6

Saoghal Beag,

13/05/2008 12:34:20
The planning guidance doe not prevent the installation of turbines closer than 300m, it gives permitted development status to those over 328m distant, so just a lot pf huffing and puffing.

Ard Righ, the most unreliable source of energy in scotland last year was nuclear, based on the achieved output against the potential output.
7

Unimpressed one,

13/05/2008 12:36:44
"Ard Righ, the most unreliable source of energy in scotland last year was nuclear, based on the achieved output against the potential output."

But at least it works, just ask the French.
8

Saoghal Beag,

13/05/2008 13:08:22
but since nuclear is the most unreliable option it works less than any other source of energy.

9

Ard Righ,

The Rock Of Edinburgh 13/05/2008 17:47:01
7 Troll

Yeah, love the radioactive half-life that is forty times longer than recorded history.

The most reliable is hydro-electric. Go back to your union masters and glow green.
10

Geomac 1,

Scotland 13/05/2008 18:28:04
I have to wonder why informed people are still thinking about building windmills on their homes - the published data on those already existing suggests that they are a total waste of time and money!!
If one person has one installed and tells the truth about its performance to his neighbour, then the 300 feet will be far too short!!
11

GlenB,

Skye 13/05/2008 18:32:12
These small turbines are very noisy close up so you wouldn't want one near your house or attached to an adjoining property.

I bet that any imbalance in the system would set up vibrations through the structure - a bit like having your washing machine on fast spin continuously.
12

Saoghal Beag,

13/05/2008 20:11:40
GlenB, i am not a fan of small scale wind turbines, under 5kW, but it is unfair to describe them as noisy, they are not silent but the noise levels from them is not high.
13

Saoghal Beag,

13/05/2008 20:21:36
Ard Righ, hydro is also the most responsive and the generation source used to meet demand surges, something nuclear can't do.
14

GlenB,

13/05/2008 21:30:54
#12

It depends on what your background noise is like.

Round here it's non existent so any noise is very loud.

 

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