Green Party: Prince Philip 'Fundamentally Wrong' on Wind Farms

A member of the UK Green Party has criticised remarks by Prince Philip, who branded wind farms as "absolutely useless".

In a series of attacks, the Duke of Edinburgh said wind turbines are "completely reliant on subsidies" and "an absolute disgrace", according to a report in the Daily Mail.

He also said wind turbines "would never work" and, when confronted with a counter argument, the Duke apparently replied: "You don't believe in fairy tales, do you?"

Prince Philip's comments were recently backed by Former Chancellor Lord Lawson, which brought the issue further into the spotlight.

But UK Green Party environment spokesperson James Abbott said comments like these are "unfortunate" and "fundamentally wrong", because they undermine the efforts of renewable energy solutions.

"It's yet another example of misinformation... It [the comments] simply gives more ammunition to the sceptics," he said.

Abbott argued that the renewable energy sector was one of the fastest growing and advanced economies.

"If it doesn't work, why on earth is Germany investing billions of euros into renewables? Why have so many countries invested so much into things like wind turbines?"

Abbott said the biggest argument surrounding wind turbines is that we don't want to be covering our highlands and national parks with them, an area in which he conceded there is room for debate.

"But in terms of the technology, they do produce energy. When the wind doesn't blow, they don't generate power. That's a given, we know that. We know that technology has its limitations, but they do provide useful energy," he said.

Abbott said while we cannot solely rely on renewable forms of energy, we also cannot rely on fossil fuels as they become more expensive and scarce. He said he believes that wind turbines make a positive contribution to part of a wider solution of alternative forms of energy.

As for the Duke's comments that renewables are "completely reliant on subsidies", Abbott refutes the idea, pointing out that there aren't many industries that "spring from nothing" and that "you've got to invest to get it off the ground".

"It's a fairy tale to be imagining that this industry could get going without public support," Abbott said.

"That argument about subsidies is just plain silly."

Above all, Abbott said, the comments are "not favourable", especially when science shows that climate change is evident.

"The sensible people that could counter all these arguments are very rarely interviewed... They [scientists] just get on with their work."

"It's important that we take on a world view [when it comes to climate change]... and take a look at what is going on in the rest of the world, because this is a global issue."