Some of your recent correspondents have pointed out the inefficiency and unreliability of windfarms.
Now new research by scientists from Durham, Leeds and York universities has highlighted the importance of peat moorlands as “carbon sinks”.
The plants on the peat bogs remove carbon from the air as they grow and, due to the wet conditions, do not rot and release CO2 when they die.
Leading environmental experts estimate that improving the management of peat bogs could reduce greenhouse gas pollution by up to 400,000 tons a year, the equivalent of removing 2 per cent of cars from England’s roads.
If the peat is damaged,however, it could emit 381,000 tons of carbon annually.
This illustrates the folly of schemes such as the one by Coron- ation Power to erect 21 turbines on the moors around Todmorden.
The main justification used by developers for their windfarms is that they produce “clean” electricity with no harmful CO2 emissions.
The fact is that the excavations for the huge concrete bases and the construction of new access tracks are bound to cause erosion of the peat, which would in turn release the CO2 stored within it into the atmosphere.
This is surely one more compelling reason to object to the applications now being considered by Calderdale Council. The reference numbers are as follows: Todmorden Moor, 07/00349; access road to Reaps Moss, 07/00351/ WDF; Crook Hill, 07/00632/WDF.
Mary Lawrence
Delf End Farm,
Wadsworth,
Hebden Bridge
14 April 2007
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2007/04/15/wind-farms-threat-to-peat-moors/