Sir,

The treasured landscapes of Wales are under threat from wind turbine developments.

In addition, the electricity consumer is footing the huge bill for these machines. Therefore we do well to question the efficacy of the wind industry and motives behind creating the huge pot of subsidies that supports it.

The government provides annual statistics relating to wind power, electricity generation and greenhouse gas emissions, which are available on the internet.

Analysis of these figures shows that between 2002 and 2009 (latest figures) the UK fleet of wind-turbines saved, on average, around 623 tonnes of CO2 emissions per annum per megawatt of installed capacity.

Installed capacity in 2010 was 5,378 megawatts, giving a total saving of around 3.35 million tonnes of CO2 per annum.

Total CO2 UK emissions are currently around 600 million tonnes per annum. This saving represents just over half of one per cent of UK CO2 emissions.

We can quickly calculate, therefore, that to save just five per cent of our CO2 emissions will take a ten-fold increase in the UK wind-turbine fleet, resulting in immense damage to our landscapes and costing the electricity consumer hundreds of billions of pounds.

A little research leads me to the conclusion that investing this money in the insulation of buildings and improving the efficiency of transport would yield far greater CO2 savings.

And as these measures are self-financing, ie they yield a positive return on the investment, all the money wasted on wind energy could be creating large numbers of jobs in the economy.

I have corresponded with our MP on this subject several times but, sadly, he has done nothing to change my impression that he is not prepared to stand up and speak out against what appears to be a deliberate misdirection of our money into the hands of landowners and industrialists.

Steve Davies

(Chepstow)