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en.friends-against-wind.org...
In 2013, we assessed whether the presence of turbines in Great Britain impacted the stress levels of badgers (Meles meles) in nearby setts. Hair cortisol levels were used to determine if the badgers were physiologically stressed.
Hair of badgers living less than 1 km from a wind farm had a 264% higher cortisol level than badgers more than 10 km from a wind farm. This demonstrates that affected badgers suffer from enhanced hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal activity and are physiologically stressed.
No differences were found between the cortisol levels of badgers living near wind farms operational since 2009 and 2012, indicating that the animals do not become habituated to turbine disturbance.
Cortisol levels in the affected badgers did not vary in relation to the distance from turbines within 1 km, wind farm annual power output, or number of turbines.
We suggest that the higher cortisol levels in affected badgers is caused by the turbines’ sound and that these high levels may affect badgers’ immune systems, which could result in increased risk of infection and disease in the badger population.
originally posted by: Kester
I was one of a three man team who dug a well. I've just zoomed in on it on Google, it looks like it's still in use. The water was exactly where the dowser said it would be.
One of the neighbours played loud reggae on his sound system, some days we could hear it above ground. On the days he kept the volume down enough that we couldn't hear it above ground we could still hear the bass line below ground coming through the earth. That instilled in me the knowledge that noise we make above ground can travel further through earth than through air.
It's clear how much badgers suffer from wind turbine noise.
boards.straightdope.com...
Why on all of the nature shows that I've seen are American badgers in a permanent state of being REALLY pissed off, while British badgers walk right into peoples houses and get treats and pats and seem to be having a fabulous time?
Because they are different species with different habits. American badgers are Taxidea taxis. They are solitary and territorial and are more carnivorous. European badgers are Meles meles. Eurobadgers are social creatures that share communal burrows that eat mostly earthworms. One might expect creatures that live in social groups to be more...well...sociable than solitary creatures.
originally posted by: Kester
a reply to: rickymouse
European badgers are friendlier. I should have put something extra in the title to make it clear.
boards.straightdope.com...
Why on all of the nature shows that I've seen are American badgers in a permanent state of being REALLY pissed off, while British badgers walk right into peoples houses and get treats and pats and seem to be having a fabulous time?
Because they are different species with different habits. American badgers are Taxidea taxis. They are solitary and territorial and are more carnivorous. European badgers are Meles meles. Eurobadgers are social creatures that share communal burrows that eat mostly earthworms. One might expect creatures that live in social groups to be more...well...sociable than solitary creatures.
originally posted by: Kester
Here we have badgers living in town, ripping open the bin bags. I saw one running away from me recently, it was so fat it's sides flopped up and down as it ran. Junk food is another stress we're putting them under.
NONINVASIVE SURVEY METHODS FOR CARNIVORES
1. Hair corrals are structures that use at least
one strand of barbed wire to encircle an attractant
and are predominantly used to sample
ursids.
2. Rub stations are structures saturated with scent
lures to induce rubbing, and they typically use
one of two types of hair collection devices:
a. Barbed rub pads usually consist of a carpet
pad with protruding nails (or, in some cases,
stiff natural fibers) and are used primarily
for felids.
b. Adhesive rub stations typically consist of
blocks of wood covered with adhesives and
are used mainly for canids.
3. Tree and post hair snares are wrapped with
barbed wire or fitted with alternative hair
snagging devices and have generally been used
to sample wolverines (Gulo gulo).
4. Cubbies are boxes or tubes containing attractants
and fitted with snaring devices at the entries
or along the inside walls and are used
mostly for mustelids but can be effective for
other small- to medium-sized species.
Finally, we have grouped passive methods into
two categories:
1. Natural rub objects are objects found in nature
(e.g., bear rub trees) that are fitted with hair
snagging devices.
2. Travel route snares are hair snagging structures
that target animal travel routes or other areas
of concentration such as dens, burrows, beds,
and latrines. Travel route snares employ one of
three types of hair snagging devices:
a. Barbed wire strands strung across travel
routes are primarily used to sample ursids,
but they have also been used for badgers.
b. Adhesives (such as double-sided sticky tape)
hung across travel routes are used to sample
hairy-nosed wombats (Lasiorhinus krefftii)
in Australia, and have been employed for
some North American carnivores.
c. Modified snares and traps are leg and body
snares or traps that have been adapted to allow
animals to escape but deposit hair samples
in the process. These are used for a variety
of species.
Barbed wire strands strung across travel
routes . . . have also been used for badgers.
www.telegraph.co.uk...
Emily Gosden, energy editor
4 JUNE 2016 • 8:00PM
England is not windy enough to justify building any more onshore wind turbines, the chief executive of wind industry trade body has admitted.
Hugh McNeal, who joined RenewableUK two months ago from the Department of Energy and Climate Change, insisted the industry could make the case for more onshore turbines in some parts of the UK, despite the withdrawal of subsidies.
But he said this would “almost certainly” not be in England, as the wind speeds were not high enough to make the projects economically viable without subsidy.
is anticipated that this new blade design will operate in winds eight times slower than the wind needed by other turbines! This means that the Max-V Turbine technology will produce more electricity and for more hours of the day. Turbine Drawing.-2 Currently the wind industry designs aerodynamic efficiency like an aircraft propeller. This results in long thin blades that utilize less than 3% of the available air flow effectively, when measuring the tip area versus total area. Most of the air passes through unaffected. Only the tip of the blade maximizes leverage. In the illustration to the right, all the flow impacts the back plate causing it to accelerate and divert through the turbine blades. These blades are mounted around the perimeter at both the maximum point of leverage and highest flow velocity. As a result all the flow is then utilized for the maximum energy conversion.Metal blade w Cone In addition it should be stated that conventional turbines frequently kill birds by blade impact. With the Max-V Turbine design the birds will see it as a solid object and therefore fly around it, not attempt to fly through it as they do with conventional wind generators. The Max-V Turbine design can also be used as a water turbine in rivers. Water is 780 times more dense that air, so it can produce far more electricity for the same size. Wind comes and goes, but rivers run 24/7 year-round. Thus hydro power can be more reliable and more productive than wind. So the Max-V Turbine technology design will: Utilize as many of the molecules as possible. Accelerate all flow prior to extraction of energy. Divert all flow to the maximum point of leverage. Place all of the blade area at both the maximum point of leverage and the highest flow velocity.