Pone Rana;

Thank you for your comments. It saddens me to see you resort to insults just because my views appear different to your own.

It may surprise you that I actually have some sympathy to some of your points. I think there are two different types of "green thinking," one is taking care of the planet and the enviroment and the other is political; I subscribe to the former but not the latter.

It makes sense to take care of the enviroment because only a fool soils their own bed so to speak. I support recycling because it makes sense to conserve our resourses but, I do not support the way the politicians go about it. They need to explain why it is critical and sensible to do and to make it easier. The way it is done at the moment appears to make it more about raising tax and bullying people rather than looking after the enviroment. The green political agenda is very much a thing of the left and is designed to further the ideals of the left; higher taxation, bigger state and more interference is people's lives. It is also tied into the other flagship policy of the left; The EUSSR, with the same goals.

Let's look for some common ground.

We do indeed need to find an alternative power/fuel to replace oil which will run out and is linked and controlled by foreign and often unstable countries that don't share our values and views of the world.

I feel that because we are as far north as we are, then solar, with it's current limitations, is not the answer and is unlikely to be in the future. The technology has improved over the last decade or so but, the UK is still a long way north and that won't change. As previously stated; at the time we need the power most; in the winter, solar energy is at it's least efficient at this latitude.

Wind is not the answer neither because, with the current technology, these too require a steady, slowish wind speed. All too often, at our latitude, when a high sits over us in the winter, the air temperature falls below freezing and the wind disappears altogether. This means we need other power generating plants on standby to make up for the loss of the power from the wind turbines.

We should focus on new nuclear technology, especially given that we import much of our power from France and they produce much of it from nuclear resourses. It is hypocracy for the left to deny us our own nuclear power programme but, buy the same end product from the French.

Capital expenditure;

If we don't take into account the economic costs of any project, we just continue to make ourselves less and less competitive in the global markets. Power and transport are two big costs in any industry and if we adopt a cavalier attitude to them for the sake of misguided political ideology, we make our products more expensive and even less attractive to buyers.

By following the "Political Green Agenda," so loved and backed by the left, we shall bankrupt our nation.

By following a real green agenda, not based on political ideology, we could save the planet and remain competitive.

We have seen nations burn down rain forest in order to grow rape seed for bio fuels; this is not sensible enviromentalism, it is madness.

I do not think we shall see an end to the political green agenda because too many people are making too much money out of it and have too much money invested in it. Those apostles of it also control the media and education/indoctrination system in our country.

We may well bankrupt ourselves if we continue to follow the political green agenda and then need to be bailed out by the EUSSR using our own money in exchange for handing over even more powers to Brussels. I think Greece will be the model used by The EUSSR but here, our government's hamstringing our economy using the Political Green Agenda, will be the reason we run out of money.

Finally, I take your point about selling surplus to the grid but, again this is an artificial market set up, at great expense, to further the political green agenda. All it does is help make power more expensive and our industry less competitive.

I hope this clarifies my position.

   Firstly any excess electricity is sold to the national grid and so school holidays are not relevant. Secondly it is vital that we replace the oil that we import to generate electricity and the actual electricity that we import from France by home generated electricity. Even if most of the saving is lost to repaying the capital investment these other factors make it worthwhile. There are also green reasons but it is useless discussing those with people who have the same views as Tonk. The point is that solar panels can be justified without even raising green issues.

   More silly green wash.

The net saving of £72,000 pa does not take into account the huge capital outlay that will take at least fifteen years to recover. What condition will these panels be in then? How much will the maintenance cost? Will the panels need replacing after this fifteen-year period? I also wonder whether it is folly to install such green bling on a school, given that the very period that these panels will work best; in the summer, the school is closed for the summer break.