Wind power.

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Hythe, Hants
So, on our travels back from Crete yesterday, the Mrs & I noticed that while flying over France that they really have taken a keen interest into wind power in agricultural areas. A turbine in near every farmers field.
This got us wondering why it hasn't taken off over here like that.

Does the french govt give out incentives to the farmers so that a turbine is placed in each field?
 
The local Town Hall where the wind farm gets built receive a proportion of the income from said wind farm, which they normally use to lower taxes for their residents to grease the wheels of planning e.g. my Aunt gets a whole 20 euro a year off her equivalent of council tax because there's a wind farm, though thankfully it's not too close.
 
There's a number of farmers up this way with a wind turbine plus a few fields which have been sold to companies for wind farms.
 
I'm a member of the "it's an eyesore" crew. They're monstrous things that have single handedly destroyed the landscape and skyline across the country for little benefit. Should've just built a couple of nuclear power stations and have been done with it.
 
A bit OT but i was driving back from Norwich recently and went past a massive farmers field full of row after row of solar panels, wonder how much they pull in and make compared to wind turbines....
 
Now that one is a travesty. While so many single out the one or two solar farms that are up on legs so the ground still gets light and animals can still graze the majority seem to be on frames a foot off the ground. It's a waste of land and we should be concentrating on retrofitting buildings and compulsory installation in all new buildings. That's the great thing about solar, it can be very inconspicuous if done right, unfortunately we seem to be pushing towards huge utility owned solar farms in the countryside instead.
 
Come to the Scotland. The damn things are everywhere.

Tell me about it. Morayshire is full of the damn things and there's still more being built and in the pipeline. Not only that but once the developer has a wind farm up and running they then usually put in for permission to expand them. We have more than our share of them and it's hard to look in any direction and not be able to see them. Stick some wind turbines in the Scottish parliament and you wouldn't need them anywhere else.
 
I noticed a few on farms on the train coming back from Liverpool the other week. I don't like to see the dense fields of them but seeing the odd one or a few spaced apart I think actually add to the landscape.

Oh, and my job depends on them, so there's that.
 
I'm a member of the "it's an eyesore" crew. They're monstrous things that have single handedly destroyed the landscape and skyline across the country for little benefit. Should've just built a couple of nuclear power stations and have been done with it.

I like them and you need to be pretty close to really hear them too, it's the placement of some of them which is questionable.

More nuclear power stations? Depends where they're placed, they aren't exactly beautiful either..
 
I'm a member of the "it's an eyesore" crew. They're monstrous things that have single handedly destroyed the landscape and skyline across the country for little benefit. Should've just built a couple of nuclear power stations and have been done with it.

I think hundreds of years of farming and agriculture have had a greater detrimental effect on the landscape of our country, personally.
 
Maybe it's my engineering side getting the better of me but I think they actually look quite stunning in certain places. I don't agree with them being an eyesore.
 
I don't mind either way, but I'd prefer a couple more nuclear power stations. Cheap energy and generally safe (If you treat it right and think about placement).
 
A very large wind farm is being built offshore in North Wales at the moment, when it's built and at full capacity it will be able to power 2/3 of Wales. I don't mind them at all, they're a **** load better than all those coal and oil power plants that are chuffing all that crap into the air we breath.
 
It'd be interesting to see if there is a city/countryside divide on wind turbines. I love a country view with graceful wind turbines in the distance but live in the suburbs.
 
I live on the edge of town but pretty much in the country and don't mind them, was raised in the countryside and can't see farmers being fussed about them if it's their land and them that's benefiting - That's the thing though, some of these farms are in the best spots for high/consistent wind speeds but right next to populated areas which seems a bit daft.

Although no more daft than fracking.
 
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