Wind farms and photovoltaic cells

Wind farms are very controversial. They are large. Some consider them as eyesores - which they are if they are built on a commercially viable scale. But something has to be done to produce electricity in an environmentally acceptable way.

The answer is with photovoltaic cells. These are units which can be fitted on the roof - possibly even replacing tiles in new houses - which generate electricity silently and with no moving parts during the hours of daylight. This electricity is stored in special batteries. Surplus electricity can be sold back to the electricity companies.

There are many people who are keen to take advantage of this option. The Government supports it. The fly in the ointment is the planners!

When will the planners catch up with the fact that we must start creating our own electricity? It isn't an option any more. It's a necessity.

Photovoltaic cells could be placed on the millions of acres of rooftops. What isn't used by the occupier could automatically be sold back to the network.

The advantages of the photovoltaic method of producing electricity are massive.

Firstly there is the reduction in the need for large power stations. Once the technology is established and developed to its full potential it would solve the problem of the climate endangering coal-fired power stations in developing countries. And increased production of the cells would reduce the cost.

Secondly it would provide a nice little extra income and also keep you safe from power outages in bad weather.

Photovoltaic cells work when exposed to light. Even in winter we have daytime!

Storage of electricity produced this way is improving all the time. The more take-up there is of this technology the better it will get. It will also get less expensive.

If you would seriously like to consider using photovoltaic cells you should read this book.

Watching Wildlife - Where has the snow gone?

In 1963 we moved up to Cumberland - which has now been demoted to boring 'Cumbria'.

We had already had the most impressive winter snowfall - we rarely saw snow in my home town of Liverpool so it was quite a novelty. Every winter Cumberland was a glistening, picture-book, snowy wonderland.

That lasted for several years. Roads were often closed for days at a time. Schools were regularly closed because most of the pupils lived in the country and couldn't get in.

By early October the fells would be capped with snow. As a freelance press photographer I was in my element.

I now live in the south of England where panic sets in at what we northeners consider only a mild snowfall so I've got used to no winter wonderlands. My friends in the north say that there hasn't been such regular blizzards and whiteouts as there used to be.

Apparently even Scotland has not fared so well either.

Even when there are falls of snow they don't last so long and the thaw soon sets in.

Global warming seems to be the answer. But why didn't we see what was happening sooner than we did?

Incidentally, in the absence of snow, how about learning to ski in pictures? To see what I mean Click Here!