MoneySaving Poll: Are wind farms an aye-aye or an eyesore?

A question about : MoneySaving Poll: Are wind farms an aye-aye or an eyesore?

Poll started 22 Apr 2014

The Prime Minister is blowing cold on on-shore wind farms, having once been full of hot air about pushing for renewable energy sources.

The Conservative Party says it won't subsidise any new wind farms if they win the next election. They argue the UK is on track to meet its wind power targets, but critics argue this policy is to appease those who think the tall white turbines blight our landscape. So we wanted to test your views.

Are wind farms an aye-aye or an eyesore?

Vote in this week's poll

Did you vote? Are you surprised at the results so far? Have your say below. To see the results from last time, click this

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Best answers:

• I couldn't vote: there is an answer missing - "it depends".
  A single turbine, or perhaps 2 or 3, IMHO, can look ridiculous. Perch it on top of a natural beauty spot and they would dominate yet not necessarily generate that much energy.
  We have a huge one close to us and it just takes over!
  A farm, to me, means *many* turbines, and in the right place can indeed become a feature of a particular landscape, whilst generating meaningful energy.
  Offshore farms in particular should offend fewest people, perhaps even guard dangerous rocky coastlines, and typically generate more energy than land-based. I think they look amazing out to sea!
  Just one view...
• Perhaps the locals should be offered a share of the profits or even community controlled as they often do in Germany.
  For those who say no they should have to accept the possibility of a fracking site or a nuclear power station on their doorstep, or a contract with Mr Putin!
• We have nearby here, and you get used to it. Doesn't bother me that much. Although was huge controversy when they first mentioned them.
• Fantastic looking things in my view but I do understand it's subjective. I do think if your house in on the grid, you should accept whatever generation methods are chosen. No body is ever going to want a fossil fuel power station on their doorstep so windturbines are perhaps a softer option.
• why is there no option to think they're not unpleasant to look at but aren't necessary, as per the leader to the poll? Is it that no-one could possibly agree with the government position?
  Whether they look nice or not is nothing to do with it!
• It seems that many people don't know that the current minimum distance between a massive wind turbine and the nearest building is 600 metres. If the local council objects (because its residents do) or try to apply the latest thinking of 800 metres, they will almost certainly lose a court appeal and have to pay Ј100,000s, so the people of this country have no democratic right over their environment. And the only reason companies want to build them is to make a killing; they even get paid when the grid doesn't need the power! What a fiasco!
• We have one nearby (just the one) and it adds interest. Have seen a huge wind farm in the US, and the twinkling lights at night to warn off airplanes was beautiful. Would much rather see them than have fracking anywhere nearby!
• The MSE poll with 73% in favour of wind farms in some form and 17% against (so far) is very similar to the results found in professional national polls, with a vast majority in favour, although the questions are slightly different.
  This one conducted in 2012 has 66% in favour, 28% neutral or don't know and only 8% against. Even Conservative voters are in favour.
• I think they're rather graceful and elegant, unlike pylons which gave me nightmares as a kid.
• I think they look Ok, perhaps if i lived in the countryside and they wanted to put one outside my frontdoor i'd change my mind.
  I was watching a programme on Tv last week, Tony Robinson travelling around showing what a nice place we live in. I think it was the Peak District he was in and at an old railway viaduct which was unused since the trains stopped running in the Beechams cuts. There had been plans put forward to demolish it and return the countryside back to the way it was, but there was a big campaign to keep it, locals and visitors liked it so much. They pointed out that when the vioduct was first built there was just as big campaign 'cos nobody wanted this eyesore.
  So it just goes to prove times change, building an eyesore can become a thing of beauty. Perhaps in a hundred years we may see groups of people wanting to keep our 'windmills' if they wanted to demolish them.
• How much does it cost to make and install one of these turbines and how long does it take to get that money back?
• I live in Snowdonia National Park and have a direct eyeline to turbines on the other side of the valley outside the National Park. I think they look terrible and detract from the natural beauty that so many tourists come to see.
  I'm not saying that I'm in favour of fossil fuels, but I'm also not saying that if you're connected to the grid you should put up and shut up. I would suggest that the majority of people who are in favour of on shore turbines don't actually live within sight of them.
  I believe there are far more reliable ways of generating renewable energy. We're an island for goodness sake with reliable and predictable tidal forces. Why not make more use of that? I lived in S Wales for 40 years before moving here and for as long as I can remember there has been talk of a Severn Barrage. Why has it never happened? Sure it would cost money, but think of the benefits of permanent renewable energy not to mention a third vehicle crossing for the Severn.
• I think that nuclear power is a lot safer and more efficient to produce the massive amounts of electricity that this country needs that we should be looking at this rather than to wind power for our energy needs. The old days of nuclear power having risks are gone, ther eis only the old stigma's to get past. It's ridiculous in this day and age that the safety of nuclear fuel is called into question.
• Nuclear probably is safer than it was but we still have the problem of waste, and when the time comes that the nuclear genrerator comes to the end of it's life the costs are enormous to take it away.
• I would love one in my neighbourhood if it supplied me with free energy.
• I would rather see turbines than fracking any day.