International Studies
S1 Sustainable Development
Resource 3: Our rocks and minerals
Wind power – good or bad?
Task 1
“Just think about it, you can use something that is free and will never run out
(unlike fossil fuels) and turn it into electricity Water, sun, wind will always be
around. That’s magic!
Making energy available in a useful form always costs something, even if we
use natural resources. Wind turbines are expensive to build, and need to be
strong to resist the weather. Hydroelectric dams are expensive to build and need
to be strong to hold back the water they use to make electricity. Biogas requires
anaerobic digesters to break down waste. Even solar panels are expensive to
install. All of these natural sources can provide energy, but there is a cost
involved in creating and maintaining them.
Nuclear power stations are very expensive to build to ensure that they are safe
and don’t leak radiation. Nuclear waste stays radioactive for thousands of years
and needs to be stored carefully
In rural areas in remote parts of the world, small scale renewable energy is the
only option available.
Look at the passage and the cartoon. If you were the fourth person, what might
you say?
Start, “Renewable energy is not free because...”
Extension Task 1E
Read “New Wider World”, page 104
Answer question Q9, p.110.
Task 2
Case Study-Whitelees Wind Farm
Whitelee Windfarm is the UK's largest onshore wind farm. It is located on
Eaglesham Moor just 20 minutes from central Glasgow. The wind farm has 215
turbines which can generate 539MW of electricity, enough to power just under
300,000 homes*. .
The wind farm became fully operational in 2009 the wind farm producing clean,
green energy. Ten years in the making, Whitelee has been carefully planned and
designed to work in harmony with the existing environment and is home to a 25
square kilometer area of habitat management, one of the largest in the UK.
Species such as merlin and black grouse can be spotted at Whitelee.
Many people believe wind power is essential to having a more sustainable
Scotland. Others, however, are very critical of the impact of wind farm on the
environment, and don’t think they are value for money.
Source A Whitelee Wind Farm website
Look at the Whitelee Wind Farm and Answer the following
questions:
(a) What is the difference between an onshore and
offshore wind farm?
(b) How many wind farms are there in Scotland?
(c) How many houses can be powered by Whitelee Wind Farm?
(d) What happens when
a. It is too windy?
b. There is not enough wind?
(e) Suggest two ways in which wind farms do not harm the environment.
(f) Do you think wind farms are one way to “save our planet”?
Source B-letter from local resident
Dear Sir
As a local resident, I am writing to complain about the growth of wind farms in
Scotland. They are causing some serious problems. Loss of wild land; damage to
much loved landscapes - industrialised with turbines, roads, control buildings, pylons
and fences; loss of thousands of acres of access land, now ringed with security fences
and 'keep out' signs.
Human impacts include the loss of attractive scenery which people love to look at;
noise nuisance, adverse health effects; tourists won’t come to 'wind farm landscapes';
damage to property values; not to mention the protests and arguments they have
created in our village.
70% of Scottish wind farms built on peat; huge areas of forest being cut down for
turbines, yet forests use up more dangerous CO2 than wind farms save! ; bird habitats
over huge areas disrupted; bird and bats are killed from badly sited turbines.
They look awful and cost more than they save.
I could go on,
J Smith
Eaglesham
(g) Draw up a table to sum up the main advantages and disadvantages of
wind farms