I WOULD like to add a few facts to the Friends of the Earth debate (‘Wind farm wars’, Daily Echo November 8), in the hope they will be included rather than mocked.

The small group of Andy Atkins supporters are pictured holding a banner saying “Clean British Energy”. The facts are as follows: “Clean”: A single large wind turbine, rated at about 3.5 megawatts, will typically contain about 1,300 pounds of rare earth metals.

Most production of rare earth metals is in China where radioactive and chemical waste from the production is killing any living thing including humans over large areas around the production sites.

“British”: Navitus Bay is a joint cooperation between Dutch Eneco and French EDF. Ninety per cent of production, installation and jobs connected with wind farms in the UK is currently going to foreign companies and I don’t think the UK can claim ownership of the wind!

“Energy”: Current load factors are below 30 per cent (load factor is a measure of how much electricity a turbine generates, expressed as a percentage of how much it could generate), intermittent generation (wind is not a constant) and payment of millions each year to the wind companies to stop production because the grid cannot handle the fluctuation of generation.

This is not going to solve or even help our future energy needs.

“Friends of the Earth”? Have they considered the dolphins and porpoises that will be killed by the noise from the drilling during installation, the birds that will be slaughtered, the protected offshore reefs and coastline and the whole visual damage to the World Heritage site? I am amazed that this is a so-called “green” organisation.

Why is it ignoring the fact that there is little or no CO2 saving from wind farms and their only purpose is corporate profit and political expediency? If a wind farm is built, Eneco suggest four per cent loss of visitors.

A poll carried out for conservation charity John Muir Trust showed almost half the British public would be put off visiting scenic areas where there are windfarms. Which survey do you believe?

MIKE SANDERSON, Ballard Estate, Swanage