More chat from our dear friend Daft Old Duffer. Ed
I’ve just been reading through the comments about the wind turbines proposed for Cheverton Down.
Seems to me the one that hits the button is by Meursault, who reminds us of the endless alterations the landscape has been subjected to over the years.
Few, if any of them, permanent.
Railways were new-fangled intrusions
When the railway system was being constructed, for example, the uproar over that new-fangled intrusion into our beautiful British countryside was just as intense as anything we experience today.
The only difference being that instead of us ordinary Jills and Joes having a say, it was down to the landowners.
And now we mourn the passing of those very same smoke and carbon emitting monsters that once polluted the hills and valleys of our fair land – and flock to ride the resurrected examples for fun.
Wind turbines future?
So it will be with the wind turbines. Ugly or attractive, they will arise, flourish and disappear in their turn, leaving a handful of remotely placed survivors for us to take our kids to see and marvel at.
We may not like it, but common sense indicates the future belongs to nuclear powered stations operating at base load with the peak loads being filled in by gas and, increasingly, coal powered plants.
For unfortunately, until fusion power arrives, nuclear power will be far and away the most cost-efficient method (which is all that counts in the end) while there more than enough coalfields yet unexploited to keep the planet glowing like a Christmas tree for centuries to come.
And that won’t be wasted.
Image: Bullish under CC BY-SA 2.0
