Is celebrity opinion worth a jot?
On a recent edition of the BBCs "The One Show" the veteran broadcaster and celebrity Janet Street Porter was given 5 minutes to voice her own very personal hatred for wind energy projects.
Of her three main objections: noise, cost/efficiency and visual impacts she had to concede defeat on all but one.
Visiting a large wind farm in Kent she admitted on camera they weren't actually very noisy at all. Very disappointing!
Next she said they are so costly and inefficient at over £1M each and only generating at a capacity of 25% - 30% and then was immediately shown to be wrong again. No machines are designed to run at 100% for prolonged periods and the "spare" capacity is also a function of life expectancy. The £400M given in subsidy to renewables also pales when compared to the vast amounts given to run the nuclear program and to clean up after it. Reluctantly Ms Porter conceded defeat yet again.
Which left her only one argument - they are ugly. That's a very subjective and personal opinion which she has every right to. There are however plenty who think the exact opposite.
So, how much should we care that "celebrities" use (or abuse) their position within society to push their own personal and sometimes prejudiced views upon the rest of us? In a balanced television debate should 5 whole minutes of prime time be given to such a personalised and non-informed view?
Of course it's ok to criticise renewable energy, but please let's have some well informed balance.
