Wind Farms kill birds and bats.

Where do they get off calling this stuff "sustainable energy" when the environmental impact is so great?

The law of unintended consequences may put wildlife advocates and global warming alarmists who promote renewable energy at each others throats as wind farms drive many avian species closer towards extinction.

Turbines Killing Birds, Bats

According to the Times, thousands of raptors are dying annually because of the turbines, which have been killing the avian beauties for three decades.

The size of the annual body count — conservatively put at 4,700 birds — is unique to this sprawling, 50-square-mile site in the Diablo Mountains between San Francisco and the agricultural Central Valley because it spans an international migratory bird route regulated by the federal government. The low mountains are home to the world's highest density of nesting golden eagles.

Scientists don't know whether the kills reduce overall bird populations but worry that turbines, added to other factors, could tip a species into decline. "They didn't realize it at the time, but it was just a really bad place to build a wind farm," says Grainger Hunt, an ecologist with the Peregrine Fund who has studied eagles at Altamont.

But back to 2011. Such is the bird body count that avian biologists worry whether the turbines might chop a species into extinction, the Times reports.

"It would take 167 pairs of local nesting golden eagles to produce enough young to compensate for their mortality rate related to wind energy production," said field biologist Doug Bell, manager of East Bay Regional Park District's wildlife program. "We only have 60 pairs."

Not only did these idiots build a wind farm right in a migration path, they are planning to build a new wind farm right next to a condor habitat. Wildlife advocates fought hard to bring them back from the edge of extinction but, in the war to fight global warming, they may be heading back to the endangered list, casualties in a war against an enemy many don't even believe exists.

Sadly, the paper reports, California condors, which were driven to the brink of extinction, are "a successfully recovered species that is expanding its range into existing and proposed wind farms in Kern and Fresno counties." One energy company's plan will erect 102 turbines on more than 12,000 acres east of the Piute Mountains. According to the Times:

A risk assessment of that project warned that condors spend considerable time soaring within the potential rotor-swept heights of modern wind turbines, which are more than 200 feet tall. It also pointed out that condor roosts are as close as 25 miles away.

The birds aren't the only victims, bats are falling victim to the wind turbines as well, only for them, its not getting chopped up that they have to worry about; the way the turbines kill them is truly horrific.

Bursting pulmonary blood vessels killed the bats, the magazine reported in 2008, "suggesting that the air pressure difference created by the spinning windmills had terminated them, not contact with the blades."

As the wind moves through a wind turbine's blades, pressure drops behind them by five to 10 kilopascals (a pascal is a unit of pressure), and any bat unlucky enough to blunder into such an undetectable low pressure zone would find its lungs and blood vessels rapidly expanding and, quickly, bursting under the new conditions.

The New American



Is this really the best way to "save the planet"? It seems the more those global warming chicken little maniacs do to try to help, the more harm they do to the world around us. Maybe they should trust in nature to take care of itself and stop trying to fix something that ain't broke.

reply to post by FortAnthem


Regarless, the environmental impact of wind-farms is much less than any coal mining operation.

reply to post by FortAnthem


really? you are complaining??? oil kills EVERYTHING!!! so um it is a "much safer" alternative.


dont be pointing out the splinter in your brothers eye until you attend to the rafter in your own.

Perhaps they could install some kind of sound device that creates soundwaves that would deter birds or bats from flying in close proximity to them?

Originally posted by josh2009s
reply to post by FortAnthem

 

Regarless, the environmental impact of wind-farms is much less than any coal mining operation.

Yes, its much easier on the eyes when all the dirty nasty stuff that comes with producing our energy is destroying some other country half way across the world.

Are Rare Earth Minerals Too Costly for Environment?

It doesn't look very green. Rare earth processing in China is a messy, dangerous, polluting business. It uses toxic chemicals, acids, sulfates, ammonia. The workers have little or no protection.

But, without rare earth, Copenhagen means nothing. You buy a Prius hybrid car and think you're saving the planet. But each motor contains a kilo of neodymium and each battery more than 10 kilos of lanthanum, rare earth elements from China.

Green campaigners love wind turbines, but the permanent magnets used to manufacture a 3-megawatt turbine contain some two tons of rare earth. The head of China's Rare Earth Research Institute shows me one of those permanent magnets. He's well aware of the issues.

ZHAO ZENGQI, Baotou Rare Earth Research Institute: The environmental problems include air emissions with harmful elements, such as fluorine and sulfur, wastewater that contains excessive acid, and radioactive materials, too. China meets 95 percent of the world's demand for rare earth, and most of the separation and extraction is done here. So, the pollution stays in China, too.

PBS

It would be hard to find a source of energy that doesn't cause environmental damage. At least we have learned how to mitigate the damage caused by the sources we currently use.

Originally posted by FortAnthem

Bursting pulmonary blood vessels killed the bats, the magazine reported in 2008, "suggesting that the air pressure difference created by the spinning windmills had terminated them, not contact with the blades."

As the wind moves through a wind turbine's blades, pressure drops behind them by five to 10 kilopascals (a pascal is a unit of pressure), and any bat unlucky enough to blunder into such an undetectable low pressure zone would find its lungs and blood vessels rapidly expanding and, quickly, bursting under the new conditions.

The New American

I was reading intently until you got to here....10kPa is a very small amount of pressure change (to give you an idea 100kPa is equiv to roughly 14PSI).

It also fails to state that the pressure rises slightly as the wind meets the blade and equalises on the leeward side of the blade back to atmospheric pressure.

I can only speak for Australia(I believe the concern of birds WRT wind farms, was initially brought up in Europe) but I know that the university where I studied engineering is researching ways to repel birds from the turbine blades.

reply to post by FortAnthem


just how many people are crying out against wind power for the birds' sake:

Man-made structure/technology
Associated bird deaths per year (U.S.)

Feral and domestic cats
Hundreds of millions [source: AWEA]

Power lines
130 million -- 174 million [source: AWEA]

Windows (residential and commercial)
100 million -- 1 billion [source: TreeHugger]

Pesticides
70 million [source: AWEA]

Automobiles
60 million -- 80 million [source: AWEA]

Lighted communication towers
40 million -- 50 million [source: AWEA]

Wind turbines
10,000 -- 40,000 [source: ABC]

Cry me a river...looks like we need to get rid of the cats and put up more wind farms...

Must have been the natural gas and oil companies who started this argument...

science.howstuffworks.com..." target="_blank" class="postlink">statistics
science.howstuffworks.com...

Umm,. No nuke, no coal no oil and now we shouldnt have wind farms?
How would you suggest you get the power to your home that you are
getting to your computer to write your message,.?
or the lights you depend on at night,.
or the power that gives you the food you eat?
Somewhere along the line a sacrifice WILL need to be made to make everyone happy,.
Maybe we should just go back to the mid evil ages. and live under candle light.

You do realize that sustainable energy does not mean no harm energy? Every form of energy production has some drawbacks. The key is using a method that's powered by a source that can't be depleted without some extreme event like the explosion of the sun, a locally obtainable source, and has minimal impact on future generations.

Yes, windmills cause some damage, but it's nothing compared to oil and coal mining. Both of which can be depleted. .

Originally posted by v1rtu0s0
Perhaps they could install some kind of sound device that creates soundwaves that would deter birds or bats from flying in close proximity to them?

Yes there absolutely is a way to work around the problem here. Wind is too plentiful and powerful a source of renewable energy to give up on.

With a little research we will find away to help protect birds and bats but wind and solar or perhaps cold fusion is the only way we will keep ourselves and the planet alive. Everything has a price let’s try to keep that price low.

Originally posted by Hawking

Originally posted by v1rtu0s0
Perhaps they could install some kind of sound device that creates soundwaves that would deter birds or bats from flying in close proximity to them?

Yes there absolutely is a way to work around the problem here. Wind is too plentiful and powerful a source of renewable energy to give up on.

The is some devices that do that already. Whistles mounted on the tips of the fan blades, speakers mounted on the fan hubs that emit hawks/eagles/owls calls, etc...

I think that the ultimate solution will be a case of implementing several different types of devices that deter birds & bats.

I know over here we had a large problem of cars hitting kangaroos at night...The solution was to mount special whistles on the front fenders of cars which repel them with a high-frequency pitch that humans cant't hear.

I am sure that - given time - we will be able to eradicate the problem of birds and bats being killed by wind farms.

reply to post by FortAnthem


I am a big fan of windpower, and will continue to support the use of this type of energy now and in the future.

Some excerpts from the article below explain why:

Common Eco-Myth: Wind Turbines Kill Birds

It's a given that anytime we post a story on wind power someone is going to comment that "turbines kill birds," suggesting that wind power may therefore be unacceptable. Compared to what? Hitting birds with automobiles (along with turtles, groundhogs, and deer)? Birds caught by feral cats? Birds colliding with buildings or phone towers? Quite possibly, a higher mortality will be attached to the transmission wires needed to get the wind power to market. Why, then, do many associate bird mortality only with wind turbines? We hope to get to the bottom of this "death by turbine" myth hole, and point to the factors that can actually be managed though public involvement.

and the article ends with this:

In the United States, cars and trucks wipe out millions of birds each year, while 100 million to 1 billion birds collide with windows. According to the 2001 National Wind Coordinating Committee study, “Avian Collisions with Wind Turbines: A Summary of Existing Studies and Comparisons to Other Sources of Avian Collision Mortality in the United States," these non-wind mortalities compare with 2.19 bird deaths per turbine per year. That's a long way from the sum mortality caused by the other sources.

For an excellent overview of all the major bird mortality categories we suggest you visit this site page maintained by the American Wind Energy Association.

source

It's not just birds and bats it affects:

reply to post by Chadwickus


That's a residential area???

I don't doubt that there may be concerns with the technology but the only sound I've heard around wind generators is the woosh from the air pushing the blades .... The oscillating sound you can hear in the video has been added. (In this case it appears that Hungry Beast appears to have gone the way of ACA & Today Tonight.)

I used to spend the better part of each day only a hundred metres or so from a wind turbine. I've never had any health complaints or noticed any untoward sounds.

Maybe this is an issue with older turbines? Maybe the Stephen's are upset at the loss of there vista's? I find it hard to give them any credibility when they complain about the impact on a residential area.

This burns me up because I like watching Hungry Beast.....

reply to post by OccamAssassin


I don't think they're dabbling in sensationalism here.

Different turbines will make different sounds, that's a given, so I have no reason to believe that the sound in the video has been manipulated.

What it shows though, is that it needs to be researched more.

Wind farms kill a few thousand birds a year
Coal power pollutes to the tune of millions of tons a year and kills how many species over decades?
Nuclear power, something goes wrong it kills or makes sick everything within 100s of KMs for years

Ill take wind power thanks

Originally posted by Chadwickus
reply to post by OccamAssassin

 

I don't think they're dabbling in sensationalism here.

Different turbines will make different sounds, that's a given, so I have no reason to believe that the sound in the video has been manipulated.

What it shows though, is that it needs to be researched more.

For the benefit of the doubt I watched the video again.

The sound has definitely been added.

This can be confirmed by the corresponding deep wooshing sound that I know the turbines produce....The deep woosh drops in volume in several places on the video but the high-pitched oscillations continue.

The Stephen's were against even considering to have the turbines installed in the first place. Sounds like they wouldn't be convinced that the wind farm would ever be acceptable. Which in my mind puts them on the biased side from the outset... Now they just want it switched off...I'd be willing to bet that even if the wind turbines closest to them were shut down that they wouldn't be satisfied until the lot was switched off and removed.

NIMBYism (Not In My Back Yard)

It shouldn't be hard to prove the claims of infra-sound being emitted from the wind turbines. The technology to do such is relatively cheap and the expense of dragging out an independent scientist/engineer to prove such a claim would be tax deductible.

Sounds to me that they are just a pair of people pissed at losing a nice view and will find any excuse possible to get there vista back.

reply to post by FortAnthem


There is no such thing as large scale 'sustainable energy'.

The ONLY way to negate the impacts our current levels of consumption have on the planet is to reduce the amount we use.

reply to post by OccamAssassin


Yes, the sound has been added as a background noise.

But I'm doubtful it has been altered in anyway apart from possibly being looped.