IT’S an argument that is not going to go away and it’s one that affects every one of us who goes to the hill and mountains and wild landscapes of the UK.

I’m unapologetic about my opposition to large on-shore wind turbine developments and I’d be the first to admit that my resistance to wind farms is based more or less purely on, albeit far from insignificant, aesthetic grounds. I’ve often wished I had more knowledge of the genuine power generation capacity of these giant turbines and a greater awareness of the consequences of their intermittent output. Like many of the voices raised in opposition to wind farms mine has been swamped in the morass of figures, statistics and spin put out by the international power corporations who have most to gain from covering our wild places in spinning monsters.

But now Dr John Etherington’s book, The Wind Farm Scam, has given us the ammunition we need to argue against what he calls “a power source that is environmentally and economically counter-productive.”

John Etherington was a Reader in Ecology at the University of Wales, Cardiff. Since his retirement from the University in 1990, he has devoted himself to researching the implications of intermittently available renewable electricity generation, in particular wind power. He is a Thomas Huxley Medallist at the Royal College of Science and a former co-editor of the International Journal of Ecology and his book should be read by everyone who has an interest in protecting our wild places.

The arguments put forward in this book, in a very readable way, are that wind turbines cannot generate enough energy to reduce global CO2 levels to any meaningful levels. On top of that, the intermittent nature of wind power cannot generate a steady output. That means we still have to rely on a back-up from coal and gas-powered plants which simply negate any savings of greenhouse gas emissions.

Most of us are familiar with the environmental and aesthetic drawbacks of onshore wind farms and many of us are only just beginning to realize that the millions of pounds the power companies are offering, as bribes, to local communities is being paid for by increased fuel costs. As John Etherington says: “Wind power is being excessively financed at the cost of consumers who have been neither consulted nor informed that this subsidy is indeed being paid from their bills to support an industry that cannot be cost efficient nor, ultimately, favours the cause it purports to support.”

This is a vitally important book and should be compulsory reading for every politician and green fanatic in the land. Buy one and send it to your MP or MSP. The only downside is that this book will make you very angry for we are being conned by our political leaders big style - but maybe that shouldn’t come as any surprise.

The Wind Farm Scam, by John Etherington, is published by Stacey International at £9.99