The lunatics have taken over the asylum!

Over the past few years 'man-made global warming' has become an obsession, the Government have completely swallowed every peace of propaganda hook, line and sinker. One of the ways this Government and the previous one has shown its commitment to the warmists obsession is by setting our national energy policy by EU targets on renewables.

Now let me say this before I start to look at this issue; I am an environmentalist, I believe we should look after the planet, I believe we should use renewable energy, I believe we should protect endangered areas and peoples, I believe we should be investing in renewables. But the problem I have with our Government and its energy policy is, it is based upon completely ridiculous targets and will not meet our needs in the future. The policy is this, Britain is committed to generating nearly a third of its energy within ten years from renewables, mainly through erecting thousands of wind turbines.

At the moment there are about 3500 wind turbines in and around this country, last year they contributed about 1.6 per cent of our energy needs, the Government want to build about 12,500 of these, shut down 6 coal fired power stations and hope that these wind turbines will meet the demand. Well they won't, anyone with half an ounce of common sense would realise that the wind does not blow all the time and when there is very little wind we will need to get our energy from somewhere, this will mean we will have to import it at astronomical expense.

Wind turbines are so expensive that Holland recently became the first country in Europe to abandon its EU renewable energy target, announcing that it is to slash its annual subsidy by billions of Euros. The Danes, who have built more wind turbines per head than any other country have the highest electricity prices in Europe. In Spain the rush for wind and solar energy has been a national disaster. In Germany, having built more wind turbines than any other nation in the world they are now building new coal fired power stations like crazy.

The first lie peddled by the wind industry and repeated like parrots by our politicians is to exaggerate their output, they talk in terms of 'capacity', as if this is what they will actually produce. This is what they have the potential to produce, but never do because the wind does not blow all the time. Here are two examples; there is a 350ft wind turbine beside the M4 near Reading, it only worked at 15 per cent of its 'capacity' last year, the Government subsidy was £130,000 given to its owners and it produced £100,000 worth of energy.

A Swedish firm recently opened what is now the largest off shore windfarm in the world, off the coast of Kent and stated it would power thousands of homes with its 'capacity' of 300 megawatts. What we were not told is that its average output will only be 80 megawatts, a tenth of that supplied by a gas fired power station, we will be paying a subsidy of £60 million a year, or £1.5 billion over its 25 year lifespan.

We are told its is worth it if we can cut down on CO2 emissions, but when you take into account the smelting of metals used, the carbon intensive concrete used for the massive foundations, the building of miles of roads to get to these turbines, and the releasing of immense quantities of CO2 locked up in the peat bogs were many turbines are built there is probably no benefit. On top of this you need to keep the traditional power stations on tick over 24 hours a day to provide back up for when the wind does not blow.

A recent newspaper article exposed the immense human and ecological catastrophe being inflicted on Northern China by extraction of the rare earth minerals needed to make the giant magnates that every turbine in the west uses to generate its power.

The cost to the British consumer in a few years time will be immense, the Government have signed up to the 'Renewable Obligation Certificate subsidy scheme', whereby for every megawatt hour of energy produced, the wind turbine will earn £49 for its owners and it is twice that amount for off shore wind turbines. The industry is dominated by foreign owned companies and will not even benefit British companies.

I could blame the EU for all of this, but no one was more keener than Gordon Brown and Ed Miliband and now David Cameron and Chris Huhne to sign us up to these ridiculous targets. To meet their targets the Government are committed to spending £100 billion building these monstrosities, plus another £40 billion on connecting them to the National Grid. According to the electricity industry we will need to spend another £100 billion on upgrading the existing power station to provide back up, which adds up to £240 billion, or nearly a quarter of a trillion pounds. This will mean it will increase energy bills for every house hold by about £1000 a year.

What saddens me most is that over the next few years our politicians will destroy huge swaves of our beautiful countryside and our coastline with this complete folly. They are willing to follow a policy that is going to blight this country for years to come, not only in destroying our countryside but we will not be able to produce enough energy for our industry and conventional use. When the rest of the world is moving on and their economies are growing, and at a time when we need to invest to keep pace with the rest of the world our politicians are following a crazy fantasy and unfortunately it isn't a bad dream but reality.

What I find so amazing is, if you spend a little time researching this issue like I have done you will quickly realise the sums do not add up. It is quite obvious that the wind does not blow all the time, even those who are obsessed with 'man-made global warming' would agree with that, so why on earth are we wasting billions of pounds on this ridiculous fantasy. When other countries in Europe are moving away from wind energy why is our Government following this absolutely moronic policy? It does seem that our leaders have really lost the plot, but unfortunately for you and me they are in charge and they are following a path that eventually will lead to complete catastrophe.