It is no surprise to learn that wind turbines are only as good as the wind that makes them turn. But that is no reason to abandon them. Indeed, the opposite is true. More work is needed to make them more efficient: better locations, across the north of Scotland and out to sea, must be found for them, and the search for the holy grail of wind — a means of storing the energy it generates — must be stepped up.
There is one simple reason for this: wind power is one of the only tried, tested and functioning sources of alternative energy currently available, and will continue to be so for at least 20 years. While other forms of carbon-free production are beginning to develop, we cannot afford to wait for them. With a massive question mark hovering over nuclear energy, wind is, for the time being, the only show in town.
Those who oppose turbines on the grounds that they are unsightly, inefficient or potentially threatening to bird life have to explain what they would propose in their place. If the answer is coal and gas, then they must explain how to counter the argument of the overwhelming majority of scientists who believe that carbon emissions from fossil fuels are driving the world towards destruction.
To deny that argument is to leave our children and grandchildren to cope with the environmental mess. It also puts the future of the West in the hands of gas and oil suppliers in some of the most turbulent and unstable countries in the world.
The events of the past few weeks have shown what that means. They make wind, as a source of power, seem positively rock-solid in comparison.