small is beautiful, big is ugly

I found a couple of interesting video clips on BBC news. They're both about Spain and harnessing wind power. The first clip illustrates what is appalling about ''wind farms'', and why we shouldn't call them wind farms. Look at the relative scale compared to the surrounding countryside (especially the scene about 2.00 into the clip), it's a large scale industrial invasion, not some quaint farmyard scene. For instance, just think of the tonnage of concrete needed to secure these whirling monsters into the earth! And this is to provide energy for people who live in the cities so that they may carry on ''business as usual''. As there's more of them than those living in the areas of countryside at risk, they'll be justified by due democratic process. Good, isn't it? No, not really.

The second clip is a good news story. But first it's interesting to spot that though the clouds are moving gracefully across the skyline, the turbines are very, very still. For whatever reason - maintenance, mechanical failure, or likely just not enough wind - these things don't work all the time and, on their own, aren't going to provide the energy needed for the towns and cities. As I said, this is a good story because the people of El Hierro (pop. 10,000) have understood this and combined the small number of turbines - just five - with a hydro-electricity plant, thereby storing the energy gathered by the wind by converting it into a head of water to be utilised when there is not enough wind. They claim it, along with existing solar energy systems, will make the island self-reliant in electrical power. This looks like clear thinking. I know we can't easily use the combined system of wind and hydro- everywhere, we're a bigger island, we have big urban areas that need massive amounts of energy and we don't have that ideal topography in the amounts needed. Instead our turbines will need to be backed up by conventional power stations.
Not good.