Customer Reviews

The Wind Farm Scam (Independent Minds)

5 star:		(31)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

John Etherington explains the shortcomings of wind energy with a clarity that cannot be refuted. Only environmentalists of the sickest green hue could find anything to argue with in this book.

The Wind Farm Scam answered all my questions, it laid out in clear, easy to follow tables and charts the reason why we should stop building wind turbines today. Technical details which I have previously found hard to get to grips with were explained in plain language, clarifying the mystery of such things as the national grid and load factors.

If all of our politicians read this book we might at last get a well balanced and realistic policy on energy for the UK. For too long we have been subjected to propaganda from the wind industry trying to convince us that the only way to save the planet is to cover all of our wild uplands with machines reminiscent of H G Wells 'War of the Worlds'

Please read it and come to your own conclusion. The government is advised on energy by the very people who stand to benefit from the subsidies. How can that be right?

Dr Etherington's book explains, at the technical level, what many people know at the level of common sense - that wind power can't possibly save significant levels of CO2, that wind cannot produce reliable base load energy and that wind power is hugely expensive compared with other main forms of energy production. For arguments sake, lets suppose a fleet of wind farms can produce between 10GW (when wind is blowing at its optimum speed) and 0GW of electricity (when the wind is not blowing much at all) - where is the shortfall of electricity going to come from? You've got it, it has to come from dependable power stations which can be cranked up quickly to fill the gap, and the only power stations that can do that are fosil fuel ones. But hang on, what happens to their output when the wind farms are producing their maximum 10 GW? If you down scale the fosil fuel (best being gas) generators which have been built as dedicated back up for wind, then not only are they going to be run incredibly inefficiently, but they are going to operate at a whacking great loss - unless of course they are heavily subsidised by the general public, just like wind farms.
The bottom line is that for every GW of wind energy generated we have to duplicate that investment by building dedicated back up fosil fuel generators which will be run very inefficiently because of the need to constantly ramp them up and down in order to fill the wind energy gap. This will inevitably lead to near zero saving in CO2 emissions and a cost of electricity (remember to add on the billions of pounds required to upgrade the electricity distribution system) which will force millions in the UK into fuel poverty.
If you have swallowed the wind industry and political propoganda that wind energy is the answer to our energy and CO2 problems, then read Dr Etherington's book which I am sure will change your mind.

There is little to add to the positive reviews about this wonderful little volume except the following: Concerning presentation, literary style, clarity of argument, logical structure, etc., etc. this book is certainly one of the very best I have ever read. It's all straight to the point, no waffle or superfluous information whatsoever. This volume is - in a word - lean!
A must read!!!

This is a timely book! The UK government is trying to drive through a massive programme of wind farm construction over the next 10 years - usually in the face of huge, democratically-expressed, local opinion against them. The population at large up till now has been willing to go along with this policy, which threatens to despoil large tracts of our beautiful countryside and cause misery to those who are obliged to live close to the huge new generation of turbines around 400ft in height, because it seems the 'green' and 'noble' thing to be doing. But will this policy actually make a real difference to the UK's carbon emissions? What is its real cost to the consumer? Will this policy prevent the lights going out? Do wind farms actually produce the goods?

In the face of the stream of propaganda from politicians and energy companies telling us how wonderful wind farms are, there has been a lack of authoritative independent advice for those who want to come to a balanced judgement. Now Dr John Etherington, a former editor of the 'Journal of Ecology', has produced this handy 200 page summary of the key issues involved. His conclusions are clear from the title of the book: it is a 'scam'!

What do you think? If you care about the despoilation of our countryside; if you care about the direction of our country's energy policy; if you are threatened with a wind farm development (and make no mistake, they are coming soon to a field near you); then read this book.

For many years I've had this gut feeling that wind power cannot be the salvation to our future energy crisis that it is made out to be, due to its unpredictability as a power source.

I knew I needed facts, and John Etherington provides them in abundance in this fascinating book which, despite the title, is low on hype, simply letting the facts speak for themselves.

Virtually every statement is supported by source literature as noted in the footnotes at the end of each chapter. It must have taken John years to have unearthed so much information - on the inefficiency of Aerogenerators (as he says, they're not turbines); the numbers of birds and bats killed by blades moving at tip speeds of up to 150mph; the huge subsidies paid to companies to build these towers (or they wouldn't be built); the noise nuisance; the need for the building of more thermal backup power stations 'just to be on standby', and much, much more.

Every politician; each and every member of each County's planning committee in England, Wales, Scotland & N. Ireland needs to read this book to understand just a little of the complex delusion which is being foisted on us all. There is more to the story than John has been able to cram into this 190-page book, but it is simply a must-read for anyone who is prepared to step out from the all-encompassing bandwagon of 'Climate Change' hysteria to learn some of the facts for themselves.

'The Wind Farm Scam' provides one of the most concise routes to understanding some of the truths about 'Global Warming', and the current deeply flawed and supremely expensive schemes being used to attempt to address this current challenge. I can't recommend John's book highly enough.

John Etherington's book is about engineering. In a clear and concise way the text demolishes the 'pernicious smokescreen of propaganda surrounding the windpower industry' and shows that wind generated electrical energy can have no useful part to play in meeting the power needs of Great Britain, Europe, and the rest of the world. The book does not focus on the rights or wrongs of the debate surrounding global warming caused by anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions, other than to point out that the total reduction in carbon dioxide emissions possible due to all of the planned wind farms in the United Kingdom will result in a reduction of four ten-thousandths (0.0004) of global CO2 emissions. Bizarrely , even the IPCC state that man-made carbon dioxide emissions will contribute to climate change for more than a millennium. The expected life of a wind-turbine is 30 years, thus far the average life has been some ten years.
In engineering terms, the author shows that wind power is unable to meet either the standing or instantly variable electrical load requirement. Also that wind power has never been able to generate more than one-third of the installed capacity and that the available electrical power is most often at the wrong time and in the wrong place.
The author also proves that, for every gigawatt of wind power installed, a further gigawatt of conventional generating plant, (usually gas fired), is needed as backup, for when the wind doesn't blow, or blows too hard. Windmills also require electrical power to start them up again when they've been stopped, and that has to come from conventional generating plant. The weather patterns across the UK and Europe are remarkably similar, so ALL the windmills in Europe will probably stop at the same time.
There are some less important arguments stated against wind power such as; nearby wind farm significantly reduce property values, very little employment is created, and historically none of it has been UK employment, wind farms kill massive numbers of birds and bats, flicker and low frequency noise have deleterious effects on health, wind farms have a negative effect on tourism, wind energy companies look for a view to fill with their 600 foot monstrosities, and so forth.
This is an important book. It should be read by all politicians, (although the likelihood of a politician understanding their own stupidity is very small).
I commend this work to you.

Reading this stimulating critique of the 'development' of the Wind Industry one is left with the inescapable conclusion that the future of our planet cannot be left to the Private Sector or indeed our short-sighted Government. The lack of quality information that has proven provenance and is the result of rigorous intellectual enquiry is all too apparent when one considers the case for Wind Generation of electricity on the scale that is currently proposed. The modern trend to 'spin' the facts is leading to a widespread distrust of both Government and Industry. Before any debate on our future energy requirements occurs there needs to be a decoupling of electoral and commercial interests from the arguments and a degree of transparency in consideration of future needs and the implications involved in trying to supply them. This book makes a powerful case for some form of environmental accounting of costs and benefits of various solutions together with a widening of the social and economic compass that they might entail. This book is an enormously important contribution to the debate

I found this book very informative and explodes alot of myths about Wind farms, feel it should be essential reading for every politcian, planning offficer or anyone who will be affected by Wind Farms and associated infra structure, pylons hubs and cables.

May be a bit technical for me but I was still able to follow and get facts from it. It seems to me that whole wind industry and obsession with it is rather like the old Emperors new clothes, and people need to be informed and debate green energy with real information not propganda and they will get it from this book.

Dr. Etherington has expressed exactly what these wind farms are and why. I think everyone politician, mayor, town planner, councils and other authorities should be made to read this book and see that these turbines are "environmental vandals" not "green energy. The companies are only in building wind farms because they make money from governments who think that giving companies money they are helping global warming. Global warming is a natural phenomenon and although we may contribute it seems that more carbon dioxide was produced in the dinosaur age than now. I think we should clean up our act but not at the expense of wind turbines which require extra sources of power to keep them running. Keep up the good work Dr. Etherington.

Contains all you will ever need to know about windfarms. Tells you ALL the facts not just what the developers and Governemnt want you to know.