There is a growing debate in the South Hams as to whether wind farms should be allowed in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB).

A number of Parish Councils have joined together to try and get South Hams District Council to have a policy of no wind farms in the AONB

There is a preference for solar arrays in fields.

I am told solar is more efficient than wind

Three issues
1. Appearance
2. Efficiency
3 Returns on Investment

I am a supporter of no to wind farms and yes to solar arrays.

I was told by one individual that because I liked the looks of older cars and Morgans that obviously I would think that way.

Is this a debate in other areas I wonder?

Can't say I am a fan of wind farms on land. Off shore and in a suitable location for shipping and wildlife, maybe.

Not sure about how a debate for solar farms over wind farms will stack up. Might be best not to go there, because solar farms take up the land completely where as it is still possible to farm underneath them to a certain extent.

Efficiency...well the sun shines less than the wind blows, I reckon, so that doesn't stack up in my thinking.

Solar on everyone's roofs ? Well that might be viable and acceptable to most, but in reality the amount generated for our needs would still be a drop in the ocean.

Cost and output ?......we would be better investing in Nuclear.

There's no easy answer. Especially as we seem to be consuming more and more electricity year on year.

Where in the South Hams Pete?

I think there are some field arrays in Wiltshire, but they are very land greedy.

I like wind turbines. They are elegant, and serene until you get up close and hear the whooshing noise. I can see four from here. I just can't see why you'd erect four. Why bother? Why not fill the field?

It's time they built the Severn tidal barrier, but unless they innovate, nuclear is still the best unless we want to be put over a barrel by the gas tribes in Europe. (a sort of unexpected mixed pun there!)

I would be up for tidal power once they have sorted out how to efficiently generate power from wave movement.

It's so logical when you think about particularly for us as we are an island.

Harnessing energy from tidal flow should be a much more reliable source of energy as the energy is there to tap into as regular as clockwork.
Don't know enough about it to understand the technical issues. Would be good to know more.
As a small country I can't see how we can seriously persue 'on land' wind farms or solar farms to the level that is going to meet our needs, but tidal, like TRMAN says, could make a difference for us....and unlike Nuclear, Wave and tide would be less of a threat/danger to us as far as terrorism/war go's.

I can't understand why we don't have more discussion in the media about all this because our future depends on it somewhat.
Never mind about X Factor on tv...we should have a few talent shows/competitions on science and technology....we can't sing ourselves out of oblivion..

The parishes involved are essentially the coastal one that cover from Wembury to Dartmouth. SHDC seem sympathetic to a policy. Within Newton & Noss a number of farmers have put up small arrays and they seem unobtrusive and have been working nicely even in our recent weather.

I couldn't agree more. The predictability of tidal flow makes it a far better prospect than wind or waves. There is already some pretty good stuff out there for areas of high tidal flow, not necessarily involving huge barrages, such as the system installed in the entrance to Strangford Lough http://www.seageneration.co.uk/

Found this site about tide generation.
Worth a read.

http://www.oceanenergycouncil.com/index.php/Tidal-Energy/Tidal-Energy.html

Errr, EXCUSE ME...

I'd rather not have our river messed about by humans, thank you . There could be a potentially serious threat to wetlands and associated wildlife, plus where are all the surfers going to go ( ) with no more Severn Bore?

You can keep your wind farms, too - blot on the landscape - ruin the potential for . We have one generator, to the south of Stroud, it's been up for 2 years or probably longer, I still don't know if they've fixed it. Certainly for the first 18 months it didn't produce a milliWatt. A total waste of time, space and .

I'll vote nuke, if given the choice...

I agree nuclear is the way to go but it takes a long long time to come onstream once a decision is reached.As we are not the greatest nation at making these sorts of decisions.....

The push for windfarms is comming from the farming community as they try and find new ways of generating revenue.

Thus far the solar arrays are working well even in the great summer weather we have been having.

Tidal seems the way to go but the technology is not there yet, I have often wondered why they have not utilised the Thames barrier?

cheers