The energy debate

Professor Edward Mallia (The Sunday Times, June 6) deserves our respect and admiration for soldiering on at the front line of the hunt for eco-friendly energy sources. However, his advocacy of the proposed wind farm on Marfa Ridge fails to explore some of the consequences. A barrier of whirling blades on the crest of a ridge overlooking a bird sanctuary would appear to be most inappropriate. Have the flight paths of birds entering and leaving the sanctuary been studied?

Another class of victim, highlighted in the February 2004 issue of Scientific American, is bats. Factors leading to the death of many bats are still being studied but may include: (i) bats may not be using their echolocation when the collisions occur; (ii) the wind turbines may be emitting high-pitched sounds that draw the bats to the site; (iii) the bats may be getting caught in wind shear associated with the turning turbines.

Consequently, the construction of some hundreds of wind turbines is being re-evaluated. Our bat population has been decimated by pesticide use and loss of habitat. These useful creatures help control the population of flying insects which make life in our warm climate somewhat less pleasant. Should we be concerned?

Professor Mallia also dismisses, by omission, the value of the present use of Marfa Ridge, i.e. simple leisure. We live on a tiny, over-populated, over-developed, isolated rock with one of the highest levels of noise pollution in the world. The social value of the few remaining places where loud noises are the exception rather than the rule is incalculable. Quite simply, they are priceless.

Pardon my rusty physics, but I believe that the dB scale used for sound is logarithmic and allows for the inverse-square rule. If the noise at 500 m is less than half the level reckoned as dangerous to the human ear, then the noise at 250 m is approaching the level reckoned as dangerous to the human ear. The crest of Marfa Ridge, in the area where it is proposed to place the wind farm, is less than 500 m wide. Need I add more?

The visual impact of the wind farm would be terrible. Its proposed location is the crest of a ridge, directly abutting St Agatha's Tower, one of the most photographed land-marks in the north of Malta. This watch-tower was recently restored, at a substantial expense, by Din l-Art Helwa. It stands in splendid isolation, dominating the sky-line of Mellieha Bay. Long may it be so.