Wind Farms are Net Carbon Dioxide Emitters
Sovereign Independent UK -
Large British wind farms will actually release as much carbon dioxide as fossil-fuel power plants, according to a study conducted by researchers from Aberdeen University and published in the journal Nature.
The source of the emissions is not the windmills themselves, but the land on which they are being constructed.
“Much of the cheap land being targeted by developers desperate to cash in on wind farm subsidies is peat land in remote wild land areas of the UK,” said Helen McDade of the John Muir Trust.
“This [study] is a timely reminder that we must have independent and scientific assessment of the effects of policy and subsidies.”
The uplands of Great Britain, where conditions are generally thought to be ideal for wind farms, consist largely of peat soil; indeed, two-thirds of Scottish onshore wind farms (and half of those in Great Britain) are slated for bogs and other peat land.
The peat contained in these areas hold at least 3.2 billion tons of carbon, making it one of the most important carbon sinks on the planet.
“The world’s peat lands have four times the amount of carbon than all the world’s rainforests,” said peat scientist Richard Lindsay of the University of East London, who was not involved in the study.
Read More: sovereignindependentuk.co.uk
2013-03-24 06:33:26
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