November 16, 2003
Big Air
Duncan Stewart, broadcaster and environmentalist, is lucky to be alive. He was filming around Chernobyl in Belarus recently when he took a fall, broke ten ribs and punctured his lungs. He is slowly recovering back in Dublin and Wild on One, the Radio One wildlife programme visited him in hospital this morning. Duncan spoke passionately about wind energy, pointing out that there is the potential to provide 25% of Ireland's energy needs from wind energy.
The issue of Derrybrien came up - as he pointed out, he comes from just down the road - and immediately, the witless presenters piped up "NIMBYs!" - the gist of their argument (if you could call it that) that if only the country folk stopped objecting to wind turbines, we could be living in a clean energy paradise. Alas, if they had done even five minutes research on the subject…
Germany produces 50% of Europes wind-generated electricity - Denmark is close behind. There are generous EU grants for erecting and producing wind electricity. However, if you have ever been to either of these countries, you'll notice something. The wind turbines are not just hidden away in remote country areas. They are either built off-shore (the really big ones) or they are placed pretty much anywhere. I guess the thinking is that since the landscape, including the urban landscape, is already impacted by human development (electricity pylons, chimneys, etc.) so the odd turbine in the suburbs won't make much difference. Somehow, I reckon that if there was a proposal to build a few turbines in Dalkey, Bray, the Strawberry Beds or Bull Island, the Wild on One crew would change their NIMBY tune pretty quickly.
Wind energy poses something of a problem for environmental activists. Though the source of energy may be clean, the construction of the wind-farms is just as destructive as any other major industrial operation. The same people who complain about ribbon development of houses 'ruining' the countryside seem to have no problem with a massive wind-farm having an even bigger visual, and sometimes environmental, impact on the same landscape. Funny that, eh?
It has still not been officially proven that the wind-farm construction at Derrybrien caused the landslide, in the sense that a huge area of bog might not necessarily be impacted by repeated explosions nearby for quarrying, the incessant drilling of two-storey sized holes for the turbine shafts or the non-stop traffic of ten-tonne trucks ferrying building materials on-site. It could be just a co-incidence. Funnily enough, the Connacht Tribune reported this week that, when Galway County Council approved the County Development Plan (which designated 130 square miles of Galway fit for wind-farm development), the Irish Peatland Conservation council warned about the prospect of damage to the environment. Not that anyone paid much heed to it at the time.
By coincidence, there was a renewable energy conference held in Sligo this weekend. The 'wind' industry professed themselves happy at the reaction of local people when any new wind-farm was planned - the minister, Dermot Ahern, stated that Derrybrien would act as a guide for any future project (presumably, as in 'what not to do').
Posted by Monasette at November 16, 2003 09:28 PM