Turbines Kill So Many Birds They're Effectively an Apex Predator

[NickB79]

https://www.yahoo.com/amphtml/tech/turbines-kill-many-birds-apos-220800384.html

Wind turbines are vital for sustainable power, providing cheap electricity without producing any sort of pollution. But they can be deadly for birds, and new research shows just how deadly: Wind turbines kill so many birds that in ecosystems where they are placed, the turbines effectively take on the role of a top predator.

We’ve long since known that wind turbines are a danger to birds. A typical wind farm can kill thousands of birds every year, including raptors like falcons and eagles. The deaths of these larger birds are the real problem because they can cause ripple effects throughout the entire ecosystem.

Take, for instance, a wind farm in the Western Ghats region of India, where a group of researchers from the Indian Institute of Science performed their study. In the area of the wind farm, raptors were around four times less common than in other areas. They kept dying to the turbines, which is not great for the raptors but good news for fan-throated lizards, the raptors’ prey.

In and around the wind farm, lizard populations exploded, completely unchecked by predation. So few of them were being eaten that they even lost almost all fear of danger. The researchers found they could approach the lizards without them running away. The lizards, in turn, reduced the population of their own prey species, causing a dramatic change in the ecosystem

[underpants]

1. 👀

Just waiting for the responses.

[TreasonousBastard]

2. Oy, the problems of "unexpected consequences" and how often do...

the "solutions" actually make the problem worse?

Well, not always:

“Researchers have found the cause behind mysterious bat deaths near wind turbines, in which many bat carcasses appeared uninjured. The explanation to this puzzle is that the bats’ lungs effectively blow up from the rapid pressure drop that occurs as air flows over the turbine blades.”

Subramanian’s story describes a number of ongoing efforts to come up with ways to protect flying populations, while still allowing for the expansion of a sorely-needed form of renewable energy. In one case,

“Sometimes a slight change in procedures can make a big difference. For example, most turbines are set to turn on when wind speeds reach 4.0 metres per second. But when the Iberdrola Renewables Casselman Wind Project in Pennsylvania increased the threshold to 5.5 metres per second, it slashed deaths of bats — which don’t fly as much in high winds — by 93% while shaving just 1% off of power production, says Ed Arnett.”


Read more: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/scientists-save-bats-and-birds-from-wind-turbine-slaughter-13026284/

If left alone by the wingnuts on all sides, science will work it out.

[CentralMass]

3. Well, bird window strikes are estimated to kill1 billion birds/year in the U.S alone. Oil spills .

kill 500,00/year. Cats kill up to 3.7 billon birds annually.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/01/29/cats-wild-birds-mammals-study/1873871/


An article putting wind turbine deaths in perspective.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/01/29/cats-wild-birds-mammals-study/1873871/

"The number of birds killed by wind turbines is relatively tiny. “Collisions with wind turbines account for about one-tenth of a percent of all ‘unnatural’ bird deaths in the United States each year. And of all bird deaths, 30 percent are due to natural causes, like baby birds falling from nests,” according to AWEA.

Billions of birds are killed each year by domestic cats. Yes, that’s billions with a b. Collisions with communications towers kill about 6.5 million birds each year; this is about 18 times more than wind power technology. Electrocutions kill about 5.4 million.

Furthermore, nuclear power plants and fossil-fuel plants kill far more birds than wind power. “Within the uncertainties of the data used, the estimate means that wind farm-related avian fatalities equated to approximately 46,000 birds in the United States in 2009, but nuclear power plants killed about 460,000 and fossil-fueled power plants 24 million,” according to a paper published by Benjamin K. Sovacool titled “The Avian and Wildlife Costs of Fossil Fuels and Nuclear Power.”

Windows strikes:
https://abcbirds.org/program/glass-collisions/

Another article with a chart showing causes of bird mortality.

http://www.sibleyguides.com/conservation/causes-of-bird-mortality/

[NickB79]

4. The difference is that the turbines are killing a larger percentage of raptors

And as these birds play a larger role in ecosystems than other species, due to their predatory nature at the top of the food chain, their loss has a larger impact overall.

I believe it would be similar to me saying it's not so bad when hunters shoot a few hundred wolves, since they already shoot thousands of deer every year.

[CentralMass]

5. I'lltake wind power and it consequences over the adverse effect of drilling for and burning natural

gas and oil any day.

[hunter]

6. Except that's not how it works.

Natural gas is the preferred fuel whenever wind turbines are not running at their rated power, which is most of the time.

Yes, hybrid gas/wind power systems might "pay for themselves" depending on how the math is done, but that actually makes them highly undesirable because it only encourages the installation of new gas capacity.

It's also possible that ultra-efficient gas power plants that don't have to cope with varying inputs of wind power might have an overall carbon footprint similar to hybrid gas/wind systems, without the adverse environmental impacts of wind turbines.

But in the long term gas really isn't that much more desirable than coal, especially fracked gas, with or without supplemental wind energy.

Quitting fossil fuels is like quitting smoking. Our civilization has a two pack a day habit. Cutting back a third or even a half, or switching to "light" cigarettes, isn't going to save us. A one pack a day smoker is still a smoker.

This is not a matter of the perfect being the enemy of good. Hybrid gas/wind systems are simply nowhere good enough. The adverse environmental impacts of wind turbines are not negligible.

An economy powered entirely by solar, wind, and other non-fossil fuel energy systems would look nothing like the economy many affluent humans now enjoy. We're fooling ourselves if we think wind turbines will eventually overtake and displace natural gas in our current economic system. The only way to quit fossil fuels is to quit fossil fuels. Wind power is not a drop-in replacement for fossil fuels.

As more humans worldwide join the consumer middle class the installation of new hybrid gas/wind energy systems will only increase the overall consumption of natural gas, especially fracked gas, which will only increase the carbon footprint of humanity.

There's more than enough natural gas remaining in the ground to destroy what's left of our planet's natural environment.