POLL: Do you agree that wind turbines look “pretty”?
Labour MSP Rhoda Grant said last week she felt wind turbines were “pretty”, and a temporary measure that can be “taken down”.
Ms Grant said she had driven around Shetland and had liked what she had seen, adding: “I quite like the look of turbines”.
Her comments have been widely criticised by anti-windfarm campaigners, who have accused her of a “lack of empathy”.
Marvin Hutchison – who told The Shetland Times he plans to leave his Voe home because of the turbines – called her remarks “more than an insult”.
Do you agree with Ms Grant that the turbines look “pretty”?
Let us know your thoughts in our poll below, and read the full reaction to Ms Grant’s comments in today’s Shetland Times.
Last week’s poll asked: “Have roads become less safe for cyclists?”
There were over 650 responses, with 51 per cent saying they feel the roads in Shetland are now less safe for cyclists.
jim ivens
Pretty? Pretty bloody awful!
Ali Inkster
If she thinks they’re so pretty I guess she will be putting in bids for the houses that are being put up for sale?
George Herraghty
Readers, and Rhoda Grant MSP, may be interested in the following poll taken many years ago.
Scotland on Sunday online poll 29 April 2012 Page 16
Do you agree with Donald Trump that wind farms are a blot on the Scottish landscape?
83% YES 17% NO
Figures: Yes 865 No 173 Sample 1,038
The Scottish Government’s wind farm fiasco is so despised, most Scots actually agree with Donald Trump!!!
John Oakes
You could argue the case with seeing hulking iron framed power lines dotted around British isles or windfarms and the increase eyesore viewing them from the bedroom window. Either way they provide power but blot the same landscape. Offshore coastal and wave generated currently in use in northern Ireland increase much more appealing.
George Herraghty
John, wind turbines do NOT actually produce any energy at all, FULL STOP.
Stand one in a giant hanger and see what happens, or doesn’t.
The First law of Thermodynamics states that energy cannot be created or destroyed; it can only be converted from one form to another.
‘Renewables’ should really be called energy collectors. They collect energy in the form of wind or sunlight, and convert what little there is into electricity.
Therein lies the perpetual problem. If it is dark, still and cold, typical midwinter, there is no energy to collect, thereby literally leaving us in the dark!
As we frequently discover wind ‘energy’ is a technological dead-end.
The extortionate cost of subsidies and permanently required back-up are kept well hidden.
The other problem with parasitic ‘unreliables’ is their voracious material, maintenance, repair, replacement and space requirements.
At present, all the world’s energy plants occupy around 0.5% of the Earth’s surface. Trying to capture all our energy from solar and wind might require an astonishing 50% of the Earth’s surface. Nature and Biodiversity? Completely wrecked.
As for “powering half of Scotland’s homes”, when there is no wind, the whole array will ‘produce’ precisely Net Zero.
John Oakes
I agree with your reply wholly. Only reason I was concerned about, was the blots on the scenic landscape Shetland has to offer.
I remember being there in 88-89 at Saxa Vord and travelling up and down seeing a lonely wind powered generator on the hill. Unlike where I live in Manchester and several other cities and towns these wind farms are everywhere. Ironically I see the Drax power station wood pellets train as I sit on a EV bus to work. Yet we wait for new nuclear power supply Solar fields more wind generations. Only thing missing is the utility company hiking the prices up, till majority of people unable to afford to use the power supply.
Leslie Sinclair
Yes they produce cheap energy but will be the bills be any cheaper, and they are not pretty.
Pauline walsh
They are NOT PRETTY AND NOT ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY EITHER!
Destroying our home and way of life, should never have been allowed to come here.
The thought of naming them is just outrageous and I’m sure Lizzie is turning in her grave,
after her life was made a misery when they started to be built!