Wind farms to spare the birds

[XemaSab]

Half of the 5,000 windmills in the Altamont Pass will be closed for three months this winter to protect migratory birds under a plan that Alameda County supervisors adopted Thursday, over protests from environmentalists who said all the turbines should be closed for the season.

The move marked the first time during a 24-year dispute at the world's largest wind farm that the county board and windmill owners have agreed to shut down some of the wind turbines to protect birds. The board had approved an earlier version of the plan in July.

On Thursday, supervisors voted 4-1, with Supervisor Gail Steele opposed, to renew the operating permits for the wind farms, but only under new restrictions designed to reduce the number of birds that turbines kill each year, which is about 4,700.

[Benhurst]

1. Good. Does anyone know if experiments are underway to

come up with an effective way to steer birds around the windmills?

[420inTN]

2. You mean changing their natural migratory path?

How about not building windmills in the known migratory paths of these birds?

The repubs would say, damn the birds, build more windmills.

This is one area where the left is fractured... how do you balance environmentalism and renewable resources? If you build windmills, birds fly into them. If you build dams, you're either flooding dry areas or interfering with the salmon spawning runs.

[MostlyLurks]

6. How many birds do they kill per year?

My initial reaction, which I'm sure seems kind of cold, is to balance the numbers.

Wind power is good for the larger populace of birds and other fauna in that area and surrounding areas, as well as for the flora, etc. So if we're talking about a few dozen birds being killed per year, I'm OK with that.

On the other hand, if it's killing large migratory flocks (i.e. entire flocks are flying into the turbines) or affecting endangered species, that's different.

Mostly

[XemaSab]

10. Um....

it gives the number of birds killed every year in the article?

[MostlyLurks]

12. Sorry, I missed that. Lurking here and working at the same time. n/t

[muriel_volestrangler]

8. It's not a problem with most wind farms

Altamont Pass is an exception, because of the migratory route.

[XemaSab]

13. According to the article,

Altamont powers around 120,000 homes. This is a tiny fraction of total energy demands in the state.

If wind power really "solved" our energy problems, I would be more sympathetic towards the pro-large-scale-windfarm side, but it's creating a problem on a scale with most other forms of energy with less of a reputation for eco-friendliness.

Small scale wind, like used in days of old, I don't have a problem with, but Altamont is bad news.

The tough part here is keeping development out of that area. It's a raptor magnet in part because it's a "greenbelt" cutting through the Greater Bay Area.

[MadHound]

17. Actually friend, wind power CAN solve our energy problems

A 1991 DOE report on America's energy resources stated that there is enough harvestable wind resources in three states, North Dakota, South Dakota and Texas, to fulfill all of our electrical needs, including that factored in for growth, through the year 2030.

Altamont was a huge mistake, there was no forethought put into dealing with birds. However that mistake has been learned from, and now not only are wind turbines much more well placed so as not to kill birds, but the speed of rotation has been slowed a bit to give those birds a better chance to survive.

Wind power is the answer to a large part of our energy problems, and we should be actively persuing it.

[Realityhack]

19. And where exactly would that be???

Birds of various types migrate prity much all over the place... and I do not thing the repukes would be PRO WIND.

There are tradeoffs in any prodject like this. Shut down the windfarm and the birds there are safe... but how many die because of the polution from not having the clean power?

The newer windmills autofeather so they turn fairly slowly reguardless of the wind speed... I don't know all the details but watching the new one near me its prity slow.

I agree with the previous poster... find a way to stear the birds around it.

shutting it down is just going to make wind less competitive with other forms of power... in the long run that could cost a lot more birds... just not as obviously or grafficaly.

[420inTN]

21. Not in Capistrano for one.

And, according to a previous poster, the windmill center is in a known migratory path. True, byrds can fly wherever they want, but there established migratory paths. Also, how would you steer the burds around the windmills? Flashing lights, loudspeekers, detour signs?

And, I do know conservatives who are pro-wind.

[Psephos]

22. Actually, the repubs would say...

...damn the windmills, build some gas-fired peak-load power plants.

They need more birds for hunting season, anyway.

Peace.

[ixion]

3. hmmm... I think an easier approach would be to fasten blade guards

onto the existing equipment...

[Sal Minella]

4. Blades on newest turbines rotate much more slowly, 16 revs per

minute, which cuts way down on avian trauma without reducing energy produced. The early turbines that caused so much carnage ran at 70-some revs per minute. As older turbines are phased out the carnage will be reduced.

Sorry I can't provide a source on this -- read this somewhere many months ago. I'm optimistically assuming it is the older Bass-o-Matic turbines that are being shut down during migration.......

[Toots]

5. Some interesting news on that issue in Popular science this month

They are suggesting giant floating platforms with helicopter like blades and computer controlled. These huge platforms are lifted up into the jet stream where winds maintain about 200 MPH fairly constant. The blades are tilted for proper lift and generation and stay stationary at about 40,000 feet where few birds ever fly. The platforms are attached by an extremely high tensile strength 4" cable/transmission line. Each platform can power a city the size of Houston TX. Innovative thought process going on if nothing else.

[jsamuel]

14. Interresting, but the Jet Stream moves, so they would have to be mobile

witht the cables or just accept low amounts of yeild at different times of the year.

[Xithras]

23. No, the upper level winds are always blowing.

Ask any pilot. The jet stream may shift, but the wind is rarely calm at 40,000 feet.

[Benhurst]

11. Thanks for all responses.

:toast:

[Yupster]

7. Near me the problem has been bat carnage

They're getting killed by the thousands.

If you want a villian to the story, the windmills were made by Enron.

[Benhurst]

9. This is surprising. I would have thought the bats' radar would

have kept them out of the way of the blades. Sad. You'd think some sort of sound warning device could be employed.

edited to remove a brain fart (sonar for radar) :spank:

[Ian David]

16. I would try playing recordings of bats screaming in pain and agony

I know if I were a bat, that would keep me away.

[Ian David]

15. Unfortunately, this might do nothing for the bats

Many species of bats are endangered or threatened.

[CdnObserver]

18. Wouldn't birds be expected to "fly on the wind" on long migrations?

Wouldn't birds generally follow wind currents to assist them with flights of potentially thousands of miles?

It seems to me that you would expect birds to fly through these areas.

It seems like it would be a hard issue to avoid. Would some kind of highly reflective coloured paint on the propellers be enough to scare the birds away?

Or would that just cause too many stoners to migrate through these areas? :)

[Gormy Cuss]

20. More from my local paper

The supes's measure also requires phased replacement of the existing equipment with the new slower-spinning machines and the immediate, permanent shut down of about 100 windmills shown to be the most lethal to birds.

Score one for the raptors. Now if they could just fly en masse over to Pombo's place...never mind.

[Xithras]

24. Folks, these AREN'T migratory kills...these birds LIVE there.

FYI, many of the raptors being killed in the Altamont pass aren't migratory, but live there. In fact, the Altamont pass is the center of one of the largest eagle populations on the west coast. The steep terrain and constant winds allow the birds to surf the thermals all day while hunting, meaning that they get more food with less work...birdie paradise.

This decision will spare certain species that do migrate through the Altamont flyway, but will not greatly affect the overall bird kill numbers.

The wind farm was built there for the same reasons. The Altamont pass is the ONLY place in central California where a wind farm can be reliably built. It's one of only three major breaks along this part of the Coast Range, so the incoming wind from the coast gets funnelled through it on its way to the Central Valley. There is nowhere else that these could be built that would generate the same amount of power as reliably.