November 19, 2018
Scotland

Turbines may be turfing out peat’s carbon-cutting benefits

Julia Horton, November 18 2018, The Sunday Times thetimes.co.uk

Study says wind farms’ peatland foundations are a natural store of carbon – and the structures may be eroding the soil’s role.

Supersizing thousands of wind turbines across Scotland’s countryside may not be the most green way to cut global warming because the structures could be cancelling out the carbon-cutting contribution made by the ground underneath them, a government-funded report has warned.

The majority of wind farms are on peatland, where weather conditions are typically better for producing maximum green power to help reduce carbon emissions. But experts at Glasgow and Aberdeen universities point out that the soil they are built on is also a valuable natural store of carbon that cuts emissions – and the turbines could be affecting that role.

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URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2018/11/19/turbines-may-be-turfing-out-peats-carbon-cutting-benefits/