A report on wind-power commissioned by the German government has been sent back for 're-editing' after it reached unwelcome conclusions, according to Tony Paterson (Sunday Telegraph). Germany plans to double its current 15,000 turbines in 10 years. But Paterson tells us:

The findings of the unpublished report were leaked to Der Spiegel magazine last week. They suggest that if Germany presses ahead with its plan to double the number of wind turbines, annual energy costs for consumers will rise from €1.4 billion to €5.4 billion (£1 billion to £3.7 billion), increasing the average annual household bill by €44 by 2015. The report also states that the government will have to spend an extra €1.1 billion on laying almost 600 miles of new cable and that power plants will have to be replaced or adapted to cope with the inherently large fluctuations in wind-derived energy.

More damningly, the report concludes that the same reduction in 'greenhouse' emissions could be achieved at far less cost by installing modern filters at fossil fuel plants. Meanwhile in Britain David Harrison reports on the likely effect of proposed wind farms in parts of Humberside and South Yorkshire. Country views will be ruined, and property prices cut by a third, warn estate agents. But conservationists are also alarmed, Harrison reports:

Conservationists say, however, that the threat posed by the wind farms to some of Britain's finest wet moorland is even greater than the threat to the residents' quality of life. The wind farms will form a "ring of steel" around the sites, they say, blighting the landscape, damaging the habitat and leading to rare birds being killed by the turbines' propellers. The biggest fear is for the nightjar, whose population has been falling for several years and which is listed as a "priority bird" in the Government's bio-diversity action plan. Campaigners say that it could be extinct in the area within five years if the wind turbines are built. Thorne and the nearby Hatfield Moor contain thousands of rare plants and animals. Thorne Moors has more than 5,000 invertebrates and plants, including cotton grass, cranberry, bog rosemary and sundew.

The UK Government is pushing the development of wind farms in an attempt to reach its target of producing 10 percent of Britain's energy from renewable sources by 2010. Given the high energy costs of wind power, the negative effect on both human and animal life, and the availability of cheaper ways of achieving the same environmental effect, it has to be supposed that wind farms are being pushed for their totemic status. Perhaps they symbolize a commitment to the environment, regardless of whether they provide a net benefit.