Who cares if wind farms are an ‘eyesore’, Mr Shapps? – Grant Shapps’ recent intervention on Sky News’ ‘Sophie Ridge on Sunday’ reminds us of the latent suspicion towards net zero from the Conservative right

32 comments

  1. Wind turbines make me think happy thoughts, like energy independence, less particulates in the air, and not having to give money to Wahabists and dictators.

    The idea that people cannot think of these things in a positive light is beyond me.

  3. Rural middle-class dwellers never have a second thought to power stations and sewage farms being an “eyesore” when they were in sight of where poorer people live.

    And an array of turbines is a lot more easy on the eye (and the conscience) than a coal-fired power station billowing into the whole sky from its cooling towers.

  4. This guy have dirty money in his pockets like the rest of them and doesn’t want to let go of Putin’s gaseous teats cause his lips would stay stuck there from all the sucking up.

  5. “I PAID 1.5 MILLION FOR THIS HOUSE. MY VIEW CANNOT BE RUINED BY WIND TURBINES OR NEW BUILD HOUSES OR EXPANDED/IMPROVED ROADS. Homogenous fields of crops or animals being raised for slaughter are the only views I am allowed to see!!!1”

    NIMBYs are definitely the most pathetic upper middle class Tories from an outsiders viewpoint.

    Just, how dare things be built near their cutesy 6 bedroom farmhouse? How dare we even suggest it? Lmao.

  8. I cannot understand why wind turbines aren’t a favorite of the conservative ideology.

    Building wind turbines would:

    * Support British jobs, especially manufacturing ones
    * Free electricity (i.e. almost pure profit) once you’ve built them, minus the small maintenance and grid access costs
    * Small physical footprint, allow farming beneath them (and some of the fees paid to farmers are jaw-dropping)
    * Keeps the jobs and money and investment in the UK

    Fossil fuels should be the absolute opposite of what conservaties want:

    * All the manufacturing and operations are sent abroad
    * We end up funding massive investments in foreign countries’ infrastructure
    * Money spent at the pumps and on lekky bills leaves the country and goes straight into the pocket of not-very-friendly nations, especially the ones conservatives tend to hate (Middle Eastern ones, communist ones)

    ​

    All the “foreigners taking our jobs” stuff with Brexit, the “Build back better”, the anti-neoliberal and anti-globalisation movements, they should all be pointing towards UK-built renewable infrastructure.

    And the money-burning dependance on foreign fossil fuels seem to embody all the economic political stuff the Tories hate, yet they’d rather fund a new refinery in Qatar than a wind turbine factory in Nottingham.

  9. I’ve never met anyone who doesn’t think they look good yet I’ve heard people complain non-stop about people who think they’re an eyesore. I don’t get it – does anyone on here personally, actually not like looking at them?

  10. Why is wind generated electricity as expensive as gas or coal produced energy . We have quite a few in the fields where I live tbh quite like them but our bills are still high

  11. I just can’t understand how people think something as graceful as a wind turbine is an eyesore. They’re modern day windmills. Whenever I see one they make me happy.

  12. Out of all the forms of power generation available to us, these are the least ‘Eye Sorey’ of the entire lot.

    There’s nothing even remotely pretty about a Coal, Gas or Nuclear plant.

    Concrete – check

    Pipes – check

    Wires – check

    ​

    Wind Turbines have basically none of the above.

  13. There are many eyesores in the world that have provided services; power stations, gas towers, mobile phone masts, electricity pylons, telephone poles, street lamps and road signs…

    The one I object to the most is advertising for which we get the least in return. Maybe our MPs could worry about that one a little more instead.

  14. There is not enough profit compared to nuclear which over 60 Yr life 60% of the costs are interest payments to the funding companies. As cash cows go, this is too good to lose.

  16. Hate the ‘eyesore’ argument. Just sounds so juvenile most of the time.

    I’m another one who doesn’t really mind wind turbines. It certainly helps knowing they are producing green energy, and when they’re spinning I find them quite relaxing to watch.

  18. They’re not even ‘eyesores’, and this is all weasel-words for ‘nimbys are concerned about them affecting the value of their propertie(s)’

  19. If children universally point them out and shout “WINDMILL” in sheer delight, then they’re not an eyesore, and you have no soul

  20. He should come to the west midlands, I’ll show him an actual eye saw looks like the pompous twat

  21. The HYS on the bbc in this report is absolutely shambolic.

    The general public is thick as mince man. So long as these people are alright fuck the future it seems.

    I’m starting to think we are in the end game

  22. Guess what, producing electricity is an ugly, big dirty infrastructure business and some people are inevitably going to have to look at it.

    Personally as long as the government provides reason why a certain spot is the best place for power production (regular wind, perfect spot for a hydro dam, regular sunshine for solar panels, etc) then it should be classed as critical infrastructure and the nimbys get told to swivel.

    And no i wouldn’t mind if it was me, and I already though about it anyway by living in a city and so my forward thinking means I don’t have to look at a power plant in the future. I guess I’ll just get stabbed or something instead but swings and roundabouts

  24. I can’t imagine thinking they’re an eyesore. There’s lots of them near me but I think they look majestic and they make the view less boring. I love them.

  25. I’m fucking sorry how are Windmills an eyesore? They’re some of the most beautifully designed things I have ever seen.

  28. I live in Spain and they have wind farms all over the place here. Great big fields of them, reminds me a bit of when they go back to earth in Star Trek, it looks super modern.

    They also have a solar farm with a moving centralised solex, like in ‘the man with the golden gun’ now that’s awesome.

  29. He doesn’t really think they’re an eyesore. He just can’t see a way to turn them into a 20 year governement project with kickbacks all round in the same way a nuclear plant can be. By the time the cost has inflated beyond all reason the people who made the money have long gone.

  30. Coal mine slag heaps were an eyesore. Thick smoke and smog are an eyesore. Raw sewage in the rivers is an abomination caused by greedy shareholders. Every beautiful white wind turbine is an angel from the heavens that are the incredible ingenuity of engineers. Every silent shiny field of solar panels is a tribute to science that developed them.
    But A lot of Tories own the land. Have done since 1066, Magna Carta and Henry giving away the monasteries. These people are also the NIMBYs who want the garden of England, the Home counties and the Cotswolds to be frozen in a bucolic aspic.
    And they can all feck right off! Winter is coming – except it’s called global heating.
    The oil and gas need to stay in the ground Shapps. The scientists and engineers need to be given whatever support they need to save us from killing everything – which , incidentally, includes your fecking pretty little Cotswold villages.

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