General Discussion

Anyone else in favour of the reported proposal? We're on the opposite side of town, so unlikely to be affected by the potential noise consequences, but I'm all for renewable energy resources being harnessed and therefore wholeheartedly support the planning application. Would I be a Large-esque NIMBY if it was planned for over here? I'd like to think not.

you are joking wind farms here in dawlish . where are they going to put them ?

Next to the A338.

oh my god . think of the bats.

& the birds.

"the birds"? Oh my god, I can't believe you wrote that! ;-)

I am resident in the Ashcombe valley if they want to put them along the top of the hill along long lane its ok with me . I think the government should make it compulsory that every town village should take its share of turbines to many wingers around we need green energy as soon as possible i think they should just get on with it and build them

i agree leatash can only be good for the environment and us. Im sure birds and bats will find their way around them lol

Turbines cause noise for anyone living nearby -not good. They don't replace power stations as they don't work when the wind doesn't blow. They only give good profits to owners because of the high rate of subsidy. And you have to fill the ground underneath them with tons of concrete for support, and add access roads, which will despoil the land forever. They can affect birds. No, I don't want them.

You're right DawlishBlue they can never be as effective as powerstations until two underlying problems are solved: 1. We need an effective means to store electricity produced (still no good technical solution for this); and 2. Production is inconsistent - only when the wind blows, or when the sun shines in the case of solarPV.

Problem 2 could be solved by another alternative energy source - either wave or tidal - both of which are always there; tides don't stop and waves (swell) are there 24x7 as well. So I personally would advocate serious research/investment in that area.

Of course there has also been discussion of putting wind farms out to sea as well to ameliorate the environmental impact and have more wind exposure. Thinking laterally how about "bobbing" wind turbines which generate from both wind and wave power?!

As for the environmental impact, windmills on hilltops have been around for hundreds of years. It would be interesting to know how the serfs of the middle-ages might have blogged about their feudal lord building yet another windmill on their local hills!!

Apaert from whether the technology is right or not we are facing a real conundrum - the dilemma of how we meet future energy needs with diminishing fuel versus the environmental impact. If it's not us it'll be the next generation who'll have some tough decisions to make. Best to sort it out now I think.

Forgot to mention, my bobbing windmills could have solar PV tiles on them as well - so energy in all weather conditions!

All for renewable free energy! The sooner the better. No offense to anyone who hates them, but i think you to be very ignorant. Oil is responsible for a lot of evil on this planet, and we need to stop our dependency on this.

A lot of people are against nuclear power, but i'm for it too as its much better to the environment and is very safe these days. But to be able to run everything off free energy should be a priority for all of us!

I so agree with you Mark the only way forward, not just for us but everybody, Oil dependency must end

the sooner the better

And the South West is the best region for Solar PV electricity production - theoretically every house could be a generator to cover its own needs and feed back into the grid - dramatically cutting dependency on carbon-fuel based power stations