Concerned by radio discussion outburst

Letter: Listening to Any Questions on BBC Radio 4 on August 22, followed by Any Answers, I was concerned by Jonathon Porritt's outburst to James Delingpole.

Neither James Delingpole nor Jonathon Porritt addressed the real problem of wind power in any depth because they were distracted into an argument about whether climate change is happening or not.

No one can say for sure if carbon is raising the temperature of the planet. There may be a consensus of scientists for or against but there is no proof either way.

Leaving that aside, the main problem with wind power is that it cannot displace conventionally generated energy, such as oil or gas, coal or nuclear, because it is unreliable.

It does not matter how many times this is pointed out to the BBC, the Government or some environmentalists, they cannot get to grips with the fact that the wind does not blow all the time and therefore no conventional power station can be closed down as they are needed for back-up.

It is ridiculous to say that other forms of renewables can substitute for wind power when there is no wind because there is virtually no investment in wave or tidal energy research or development. All our eggs are being dropped into the bottomless basket case of wind energy.

Ann West and Robin Laird in Any Answers, gave good lucid reasoning for the pointlessness of large-scale wind generation in the UK. .

It was disgusting to hear Jonathan Porritt attacking people who oppose the destruction of their landscape for no good reason.

Dave Haskell, Pembrokeshire