On a bleak moor south of Glasgow is the largest onshore wind farm in Britain with 215 turbines, a third of them being 140 metres tall.   The Whitelee visitor centre has an informative and hands on display about the turbines and production of electricity.  This turbine is only 110m high but is still the height of a 35 storey building and able to power over 1000 homes.  Although they don’t appear to be fast the tips of the blades can reach 160mph (240kph).  Because it is the windiest country on the continent, Scotland has the potential to produce 25% of Europe’s wind energy even though it is only 1% of its area.  Recent proposals to build even taller turbines on the island of Lewis have proved controversial too.  Love them, or hate them, huge windfarms are here to stay and will continue to appear on the landscape.

Today we can use wind to power our lives - previously the sun was used to indicate time.

(Extra) I was unable yesterday to add this sundial which stands on the battlements beside Culzean Castle.  As I have been blipping some unusual sundials I wanted to add this to the 25 that can be seen in the tags.  The sundial sits upon a bearded man’s head and consists of a brass plate with 16 compass points and each hour has 30 divisions.    The dial plate indicates latitude of 55’30’’ so it must have been made for Culzean.  In the walled garden there is a very ornate one with 41 separate dials but it appears to have been elsewhere before being presented to the National Trust for Scotland.
Sundials 26, 27