Wind farms generate bird worries

[depakid]

From the no free lunch with energy department:

As more turbines churn in the gorge, wildlife biologists fear the blades will threaten raptor numbers



The rapid expansion of wind energy farms in the Columbia River Gorge's shrub steppes could put hawks, eagles and other raptors on a collision course with fields of giant turbines and their 150-foot blades.

By year's end, more than 1,500 turbines will be churning out electricity in the gorge, a windy corridor at the forefront of a nationwide effort to produce cleaner energy. Until now, most of the projects have gone up in wheat fields -- cultivated land that long ago drove away the rodents that raptors hunt.

But as wind energy developers move into wilder areas along the gorge's ridge lines, near canyons and amid shrub-covered rangeland, the potential for conflict rises. If bird studies confirm the fears of Oregon and Washington state wildlife biologists, the green-minded Northwest might be forced to weigh its pursuit of pollution-free energy against the toll on raptors and other birds.

The numbers sound small: Nationwide, collisions kill about 2.3 birds of all varieties per turbine per year, studies show. In the Northwest, it's about 1.9 birds per turbine. That could mean more than 3,000 bird deaths a year in the gorge.

But birders say those numbers are meaningless because the totals make no distinction between abundant and rare species. Golden eagles and ferruginous hawks -- a threatened species in Washington -- already are few in number, said Michael Denny of the Blue Mountain Audubon Society, and even a few fatalities could prove devastating.

"We'll have certain species in sharp local decline," Denny said. "If you lose breeding populations like the ferruginous hawk, you're not going to see them recover."

More: http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/1193622908249580.xml&coll=7

[daninthemoon]

1. I wonder how much more it would cost to put a grate around the

blades, kind of like old room fans. Is it feasible? Is there some kind of repellent like light or sound that could warn them off? There's gotta be a way to fix this.

[bluerum]

2. Sound or light should be do-able. Perhaps the concerned scientist can

research that because in 100 years wind will be a major energy source in some parts of the country.

[malakai2]

8. Light is a no-no

Pulsing red lights are MAJOR bird attractors, even flashing white lights attract birds. If you want to see a major bird kill, go find a guyed radio tower with several pulsing red lights, preferably one in the middle of a migratory corridor, and visit it at first light during peak shorebird/songbird migration. Get there before the scavengers, and it's pretty ugly.

Current guidance within industry for radio towers, transmission lines, and wind turbines is to use flashing white lights, with the longest pause between flashes allowed by the FAA. They know what happens with ESA and MBTA if they don't mitigate for deaths PRIOR to species being added to various lists.

[bluerum]

13. Ok - that leaves sound - or visual. I remember hearing that painting

the shadows of predators species on airport runways keeps pigeons and such from milling about on them. I wonder if an image of a predator bird on the top of a wind mill would help.

[lynnertic]

3. that would kill efficiency.

You can see for yourself - remove the grate from the front of a fan and its output will increase. In school we measured the difference to be 20%.

[daninthemoon]

4. Figured somethin like that. I wasn't thinking so much about a full

grate on a box, but in olden times, like 40 years and more ago, there was more like a wire frame than a full on grate. Course, then there would probably too much space and the birds would get in anyway. It's such a perfect power source, there's gotta be a way.

[Sal Minella]

5. Have you seen the tall turbines, the blades rotate around the shaft,

and birds perceive these turbines as a solid object and can avoid them.

[NickB79]

6. Is it just me, or does it look like there are solar panels on that last picture?

Wow, that would be something: a solar-panel wind turbine.

[daninthemoon]

7. Super cool! I think I did see that somewhere. Chicago maybe?

[AZ Criminal JD]

11. I doubt you saw anything solar in Chicago

[daninthemoon]

12. It's not solar, it's wind. Isn't it?

[stuntcat]

9. also bats, I heard

Bats might be affected by them I've heard. People don't usually think of them as important but they do help pollinate, and they eat flying bugs who make grubs that eat plants' roots.

[depakid]

10. "they eat flying bugs."

Yep- like mosquitoes that aside from being a major nuisance, are vectors for disease.

The fact that a single gray bat (which currently is endangered) can consume more than 3,000 mosquito-sized insects in one night should be enough to make anyone glad to have 'em around!

Researchers Alarmed by Bat Deaths From Wind Turbines

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A39941-2004Dec31.html