Delingpole is seeking help in fisking the claims made about wind power by RenewableUK (formerly the British Wind Energy Association). The specific claims are in this article by the organisation's deputy CEO, Maf Smith:
Why I don’t think wind costs the earth
By Maf Smith Deputy Chief Executive, RenewableUK
Britain is the windiest country in Europe so let’s use it to the full. We have enough wind energy installed to supply nearly five million households all year round. We already get five per cent of our electricity from wind turbines – we’re on course to get 25 per cent of it by 2020. Turbines don’t need much wind to start turning that’s why they generate electricity for at least 80 per cent of the time.
We want to keep electricity bills as low as possible. So we have to stop importing massive amounts of expensive fossil fuels from abroad as we have no control over how much they cost. We know exactly how much wind costs: just 2p per household per day – that’s according to independent regulator Ofgem.
Nearly 12,000 people work in the UK’s wind energy industry.
That number is set to increase to nearly 90,000 by 2021.
Independent opinion polls by Ipsos MORI show two-thirds of us want more wind power, and 57 per cent have no problem with the visual impact of wind turbines on the landscape.
There are many myths peddled about wind energy, often by those with a vested interest in spreading untruths.
The fact is that modern wind turbines aren’t noisy. Try standing right under one and hear how quiet they are. No doctors who are experts in the field believe that wind turbines affect people’s health. There’s no peer-reviewed evidence to support any such claims. And there’s no direct evidence that they affect house prices, in fact the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors says they don’t.
This reliable source of power is providing us with a secure supply of energy and jobs while cutting carbon emissions – so wind doesn’t cost the Earth.