Interview - Gordon Proven - Friends of the Earth Scotland

Interview - Gordon Proven

Gordon is pictured at his factory in Ayrshire.

Gordon Proven is the Managing Director of Ayrshire wind turbine manufacturer Proven Energy

What motivated your interest in micro-renewables?
I used to help build big power stations. A year at Dounreay convinced me that
nuclear was bad! Also, studying it afterwards, I decided that it was immoral
mainly because of the debt we are leaving for thousands of years for our
descendants. Rather than just moan about nuclear and coal,
I decided that small wind turbines would suit Scotland well.

Was setting up Proven Energy an easy process?
Very easy because we set up and started doing all kinds of general
engineering work. For the first 10 years or so the wind-turbine development
was part-time.

What do you enjoy most about your work?
I enjoy the technical side. I do a lot of talks too so I enjoy the audience
participation.

And the least enjoyable?
Trying to make a profit! It’s not a business you would start up if you
wanted to make loads of money!

How do you find working with your wife as a colleague?
Not bad, considering we work together all day and live together all the rest
of the time, I think we survive! She won’t stop talking about work, that’s
the only problem!

Any micro-renewables on your own house?
We actually re-built our own house from a wreck and put in all kinds of
stuff like a concrete base for a big heat store and for holding up a wind
turbine, but we can’t get planning permission! So we’ll probably have to
move. We do have wind turbines running our offices though!

If you ran the country?
I’d set up a task force to make joined-up government work, for transport,
energy and everything. The problem is that at the moment there are so many
barriers to going green.

Your top environmentally-friendly tip?
Install a wind turbine...funnily enough! No, but seriously, something the
government could do is outlaw tungsten light bulbs. They could shut down a
nuclear power station if they just gave everyone energy-saving lights
instead.

Opponents of wind turbines say they are inefficient and ugly?
Well they’re obviously not engineers! People who say wind turbines are
inefficient are ignorant of the facts. They’re probably more efficient than
most big power stations. A nuclear plant is probably about 30% efficient at
best. And ugly? Well, its just a matter of what you think - I think they’re
beautiful and most people I speak to think they are beautiful things too.

Why don’t we all have wind turbines already?
It’s all because of government policy. If we had our way, we would all have
a wind turbine - it takes time though. And this is why the Government needs
a task-force to get the whole thing speeded up.

Not everyone can afford a wind-turbine, can they?
People can save energy and insulate. We are developing new types of wind
turbine that are designed for mass-production and therefore low cost. But in
the mean time, save energy!

What do you think of the current rush by political leaders to install
micro-renewables on their homes?
It’s typical tokenism - “look, I’m green”. I want to see them do something
serious.

What do you think about plans to build a new programme of nuclear power
plants?
It’s completely crazy. Not only is it immoral and dangerous, but it’s
uneconomic. I was a control-systems engineer and something that’s never
brought up is that nuclear plants are very bad at varying their load output
and as a result you have to distort the rest of the energy market if you
have a nuclear station.

What would you say to someone in order to convince them to join Friends of
the Earth?
If you can’t get up and do it yourself, join the little club that’ll do it
for you!

Any other issues that you feel passionate about?
Nuclear weapons. I mean we are trying to stop Iran getting nuclear power and
weapons, which is totally hypocritical. Not only do we need to stop nuclear
power, but we need to get rid of our nuclear weapons as well.

Any interesting clients?
We’ve got a new one coming up which is on a Global Warming Research Station
on top of the Greenland ice shelf. They’re actually talking about a mini
wind farm up there but the difficulty is putting foundations into snow!

Place you’d most like to see one of your turbines?
Well, I’ve seen them almost everywhere! We’ve got them in Lapland,
Antarctica, Saudi Arabia... but where would I most like to see one?...On my
house!

Proven Energy - 01560 485 570 or www.provenenergy.com
Tel: 01470 542414 or visit www.white-wave.co.uk.

Interview by: Ruairi Revell and Louise MacDonald

JOIN US

Working for positive change...

GET ACTIVE

Get involved with our campaigns

Free e-newsletter