As a piece of public education, the hopeless wind turbine exercise in Huddersfield seems to have been spot on.
As they sang in Mary Poppins: “With tuppence for paper and strings / You can have your own set of wings.” Reality often thinks otherwise, and the delicate deltoid of sticks and tissue paper makes a kamikaze attack on the grass of the park at the first sign of turbulence. So it proved for an aerodynamic experiment by Kirklees council, West Yorkshire. It built two wind turbines on top of the romantically named Civic Centre 3 in Market Street, Huddersfield, for only £100,000. That was in 2006. The problem was that they wouldn’t go round much. It was the wrong kind of wind (intermittent). Even after another £6,431 was spent to encourage them, they seldom did their turn. They’re being sawn down now, though Market Street still has its sights: the bus station, say, or the Plumbers Arms. But as a piece of public education, the turbine exercise seems to have been spot on.
