Wind power could put birds at risk

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.omaha.com/article/20101230/NEWS01/712309874#wind-power-could-put-birds-at-risk

Published Thursday December 30, 2010

By Juan Perez Jr. WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER

One of the nation's largest bird conservation groups says rapid construction of wind energy projects will endanger several avian species.

That includes the whooping crane, a famous migratory bird and annual visitor to central Nebraska.

Officials with American Bird Conservancy on Wednesday cited data from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that estimates 400,000 birds of various species are killed by turbine blades annually.

The conservation group's concerns come as state and national officials push to expand wind energy development in the coming years.

“Golden eagles, whooping cranes and greater sage-grouse are likely to be among the birds most affected by poorly planned and sited wind projects,” said Kelly Fuller, a spokeswoman for the conservancy.

“Unless the government acts now to require that the wind industry respect basic wildlife safeguards, these three species will be at ever greater risk.”

FULL story at link.

[FormerDittoHead]

1. Forget about the BP oil disaster. Let's put regulatory roadblocks to windmill farms now!

:sarcasm:

Windmills aren't being built in a vacuum. (joke!) They're being built as a much better alternative to oil and coal which hurt our environment about 1,000,000 time more.

I want to see RECKLESS ADOPTION of windmills. I want to see "Americans have gone crazy over wind energy as oil imports come to an end".

As far as I'm concerned, the gov't should be greasing the skids for windmills. DOUBLE the tax credit for building them.

Let's not forget WHY we're putting windmills up in the first place.

[shraby]

4. Those blades I've seen on videos of windmills move so

slowly, I don't know how any birds would run into them. They would be easily avoided by the birds.

[XemaSab]

7. Oh yeah?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9srPoOU6_Z4

[FormerDittoHead]

14. They move VERY quickly - they're GIANT. But I still say we need windmills more than a few birds.

Consider it takes the Earth 24 hours to go around once.

THAT'S ABOUT 1,000 MILES AN HOUR!!!

http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/ask_astro/answers/970401c.html

But as I wrote above - I'm thinking there is NO "zero impact" energy source.

The more roadblocks we put up for wind farms, the longer / harder it will take to build them.

[TheWraith]

15. Not really, they're actually moving pretty fast.

A jetliner may appear to be going slowly across the sky, when it's actually moving at ~500 miles an hour. Perspective and distance can play tricks. But studies have shown that modern wind turbines aren't really any more dangerous to birds than, say, skyscraper windows are.

[LongTomH]

2. Greenman3610 addressed this issue in one of his YouTube videos!

Check out: Renewable Energy Solution of the Month - Wind The question of bird kills is addressed, starting about 4:53 in.

More birds are killed by collisions with building windows (100M - 1B), loss of habitat, collisions with automobiles (80M), collisions with high-tension wires (1B).

More attention to siting and design can reduce the number of birds killed by wind turbine blades.

[Vincardog]

3. Bingo got it in one.

[FedUpWithIt All]

5. When i was a child, we took a field trip to a local coal plant.

There were large areas where you could not take a step without your foot landing on a pile of dead bird. I also suspected, even as a child, that the areas where this was not the case had been cleared of many more dead birds.

With wind energy, 37 birds are estimated to be lost per turbine per year totaling around 7000+ birds a year. Fossil fuel losses estimated at around 14.5 million and nuclear plants at about 327,000.

http://www.nukefree.org/news/Avianmortalityfromwindpower,fossil-fuel,andnuclearelectricity

It stuns me that a discussion of the number of bird deaths from wind turbines is even discussed as if it is a rational argument against this type of very clean energy, especially when it is clearly are drastic reduction from the losses incurred from other energy sources.

[joshcryer]

10. Yes, but more studies need to be done, especially for migration areas.

And Greenman neglects, as I posted on that video, that wind requires more power lines, which will kill more birds.

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[XemaSab]

17. I would LOVE to get a job with them

They are my FAVORITE NGO. :D

[PufPuf23]

8. I am all for wind energy but placement can be an issue.

Mountain passes are great for funneling wind but also may be critical migratory routes.

[MisterP]

9. earlier Conservancy report

http://mediamatters.org/research/201005040009?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+mediamatters%2Flatest+%28Media+Matters+-+Latest+Items%29

I am of course suspicious at all the people howling against the OP; Pickens could conceivably hire shills to tell us to ignore environmental problems to wind and solar just like as with the last greenwash darling, nuclear

[PufPuf23]

19. I almost posted before the example of Altamonut Pass -

mentioned in your link.

IMO the problem are mostly narrow passes and to a lesser extent gentle ridgetops that are prime wind sites and the the larger, rarer, and more susceptible bird species and habitats or ranges are placed at increased risk. The gentler ridegetops have other issues regarding various wildlife and habitat problems.

Wind turbines on the flat country -- desert and plains or mountain wind deltas in flat counrty are IMO of far less concern compared to mountain passes where winds funnel and gentle ridge tops where larger, more susceptible birds are at risk and there are other wildlife habitat problems.

[joshcryer]

12. Migratory routes have always been a big issue for the bird supporters:

Here's a study that they were working on: http://www.abcbirds.org/newsandreports/releases/090723.html

I cannot tell if the change of position by ABC Birds is due to the study or what.

[XemaSab]

18. There are a few wind farms planned for Humboldt south of Scotia

:(

[Altoid_Cyclist]

20. Placement is indeed the key.

In this area, they are sprouting up faster than dandelions in the spring.

They are destroying large tracts of forest to do it, and they are putting them up in some of the more dense migration routes.

This is an interesting series of articles about the local wind farms. It was done before more sites were approved so the situation has only become worse.

http://www.jvas.org/cc.html




We have it all in PA, AMD from the King Coal days, the Marcellus Marauders and Fracking and they've even managed to screw up one of the cleanest energy forms we have by poorly thought out turbine placement.

[joshcryer]

21. Tragic that they thought surrounding those woodland with turbines was a good idea.

[joshcryer]

13. ABC Birds' release, they are concerned about three species:

http://www.abcbirds.org/newsandreports/releases/101229.html