Dales can take a lead on alternative energy

NEWS that no less than four schemes for massive wind turbines on the edge of the Dales have been either turned down on appeal or been withdrawn by the applicants has been welcomed by Dales lovers.

The schemes – at Chelker near Draughton, Brightenber near Gargrave, Killington Lake in Cumbria between the Lakes and Dales National Parks and Knabs Ridge on the edge of Nidderdale AONB, would all have been highly visibly intrusive from the summits and slopes of the National Park and AONB.

A major factor in their withdrawal was the avalanches of local protests, led by conservation bodies including the Yorkshire Dales Society and CPRE, but also several single-issue pressure groups such as the Friends of Craven Landscape, that emerged to defend their local heritage.

However, current plans for six massive 125-metre turbines, higher than the tallest skyscraper in Leeds, at Lindley Moor, above the Washburn Valley, could still result in structures visible many miles away.

There are few more divisive issues in the Dales, or that raise more emotion. Views are polarised.

On one side stand the greens, people who believe passionately that unless the world accepts the need to switch massively away from burning fossil fuels, most notably coal and oil, then humanity is doomed as global warming accelerates during the present century until it reaches a point when we face stifling hot summers, ferocious winter storms, floods, crop failures, disease and mass migration. Some advocates even argue that gigantic turbines are things of beauty.

On the other side are those who do not trust the scientists or believe technology will find a way, and that in any case with huge new coal-burning power stations and motorways opening in China by the day, why ruin a beautiful rural landscape with huge structures which are mere tokenism in view of the massive growth in fossil fuel consumption elsewhere in the world?

Both sides provide impressive figures to prove on the one hand how efficient wind power produces unlimited, emission-free, low-cost energy, or on the other hand that massive subsidies are required to achieve this, and how, in periods of still weather, wind power doesn’t deliver.

The truth of the matter is that both sides are right. But many people and organisations, including the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority and the Yorkshire Dales Society, would argue that it is wrong to see wind power - even less visually intrusive off-shore turbines – in isolation from a whole range of other solutions to the twin problems of global warming and looming UK and world energy shortages. High amongst these solutions is energy conservation. Homes and offices need to be designed or adapted with insulation to reduce heating energy loss.

Transport is another massive consumer of fossil fuel. We need to move away from the huge, petrol-guzzling cars most families living in the Dales choose to smaller, more energy-efficient vehicles. The folly of both Government and North Yorkshire cutting back public transport to levels which no longer serve the needs of local communities and visitors must be reversed. Schemes such as DalesBus must be expanded, as well as prioritising new investment in railways such as the Settle-Carlisle and Bentham lines, and even reopening strategic links such as Skipton to Colne. Cycling and walking need to be encouraged both for health giving pleasure and to meet local transport needs, with more safe, traffic-free cycle ways and electric-assisted bike schemes.

But a major opportunity in the Yorkshire Dales for emission-free energy production is water. Fast-flowing moorland becks and rivers once turned the waterwheels that powered the corn and later textile mills that led the Industrial Revolution in the Pennines. A century or so after these mills disappeared, rediscovered technology such as the Archimedes Screw and modern turbines has enabled several new hydro schemes, with the active support of the park authority, to be constructed in the Dales.

Projects such as the rebuilt turbines at Linton Falls, near Grassington, hydro schemes on the Ribble at Settle or the little River Bain at Bainbridge contribute to local electricity supplies and feed into the National Grid, saving many thousands of tonnes of carbon in the atmosphere. But there are now many other micro-generators on becks and streams in the Yorkshire Dales, such as the one at Halton Gill, which blend into the landscape.

Even in less than always sunny Yorkshire, solar power, with carefully sited solar voltaic panels on homes and farm buildings, can dramatically reduce fuel consumption and bills. Fracking, even if geologically possible in the Dales, would be political suicide and is thankfully a non-starter.

This isn’t just an issue for the Dales. A major new report, backed by such hard-headed organisations as the United Nations, OECD, International Monetary Fund and World Bank, kills the myth that energy conservation costs money.

Co-authored by Lord Stern, the report suggests new technology in farming, land management, food production, urban design and public transportation linked to communication technology, can massively reduce carbon emissions. But the development of this technology itself will boost the local economy and create jobs.

The Dales could be at the cutting edge of this technological revolution, which might include a host of small-scale developments, including water and peat moor management, domestic–sized wind turbines, new forms of permaculture, integrated rural transport. Save giant turbines for the North Sea.