Carbon brainwashing

It's especially important that BBC's children's news coverage should be balanced.

Thus we are told that a school in North Tyneside "is going green with an energy-saving wind turbine". The 9-year-old chosen to cut the ribbon and declare the turbine open says (or is made to say):

Having the wind turbine means that we will be able to save money as we won't have to use as much electricity.

It will also educate other children about different forms of green energy and how to save carbon.

Our turbine will generate enough energy per year to make 100,000 cups of tea or power 11 computers; Every year it will save over 1 tonne of carbon.

To see how much energy we are producing we have fitted electronic display panels.

These will show pupils and visitors how much electricity has been generated and how much carbon has been saved."

In days gone by, uncritical reports for children tended to feature uncontroversial items like fluffy bunnies. No problem there.

But the BBC has a duty to put the issue of carbon dioxide in a lightly sketched context. This celebrated turbine will only produce enough power for 11 computers - and not all the time, the wind charmingly came up and the turbine started turning as the boy cut the ribbon.

And the cost of this green folly? We aren't told. Wind turbines come at a significant cost, unlike fluffy bunnies.

By the way, how many tonnes of carbon dioxide were produced in the manufacture of this hardware? Not that I care, but in the interests of balance we should have been told.