Skylons

Having turned up for a meeting exactly 24 hours too early this evening, I thought I'd mitigate my feeling of utter arse-ness by taking photos of pylons at sunset, making soup and drinking excellent wine.

The pylons are those currently at the end of the Beauly to Denny transmission line. They are due to be replaced along the entire route by mammoth (and I do mean BIG) skyscraping pylons which will have a significant impact on the visual environment, and the campaign to stop them has failed. (one article here if you're interested: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/energy/windpower/9366706/Wind-farm-pylons-steel-giants-of-the-glens.html)

I believe strongly in renewable energy, but not to the detriment of everything else, and definitely not when you lose considerable energy as you transmit over long distances. It's wasteful, it's harmful, it's disproportionate, and taking 'green' energy all the way from hydro, wind and tidal generation in the highlands of Scotland to feed the greedy Central Belt is just wrong.

Renewable energy should be generated close to its main consumption. Nothing wrong with a bloody great wind farm on the former Ravenscraig site. Remediate brownfield, turbines along the M8 corridor, feed the beast which munches the most.

(Rant over)