Tory minister John Hayes derides wind farm development

31 October 2012

Our take...

The news today that Tory Minister John Hayes has stated the UK is ‘peppered’ with wind farms, and that the development of more of these would result in reviews into the noise of them and their impact on the landscape, was met with disapproval by his Lib Dem boss Ed Davey – a wind farm advocate. However, the renewables issue is much wider than this and whilst the wind farm debate is important and continues, it does divert attention somewhat from other very viable sources of energy and their merit.

For instance, energy generated from waste sources have a double benefit on the environment by using waste that would otherwise emit methane in landfill and generate power which doesn’t drain already depleting fossil fuels. Waste sources include anaerobic digestion, using substances such as farm animal excrement, and biomass from waste sources such as skip waste. These are viable ways of generating electricity that are working well in the UK. Wind, solar and hydro power are all well-known power sources – but to have a future where renewable energy is a key feature we must diversify the sources for the arena to be successful.