When I dug into this issue many years ago it turned out that cell phone towers
and tall lit radio towers were the main culprits in bird kills. There was
something about the combination of bright lights and support cables where
migrating birds would circle and clip the cables, dying in huge numbers.
Neither of these two factors are present in modern wind farms. I reached out
to Audobon as well and at that time they confirmed their support for "well
sited" wind turbines.
While wind turbine RPM is down, the blade lengths are way up, and my
understanding is that the tips are still travelling quite fast. For instance,
a 3MW Vestas Turbine has a 300 Foot (90 Meter) Rotor Diameter, so if the blades
are spinning at 20 RPM, the tips are travelling at about 200 mph (90 m/s)
Greg McPheeters
________________________________
From: bob ellison <reelli...@gmail.com>
To: 'RE-wrenches' <re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org>
Sent: Thursday, June 21, 2012 4:47 PM
Subject: Re: [RE-wrenches] Wind Turbines killing birds and bats
Drake,
There is nothing to it that is documented and recent. There were some problems
years ago (20 – 30) due to tower design and poor placement.
The towers are a different design and it was never a serious issue in any case.
Years ago the towers were a freestanding design with many places to perch and
look for game to pick off for lunch. Rotor diameter is also considerably larger
and slower now. Something like 20 rpm vs. 200 rpm. I have watched black birds
chase a hawk through the sweeping rotor for 10 -15 minutes, no problems. It
might have been the hawk leading the black birds through the rotor. Either way
it was fun and fascinating to watch! I think I videotaped it but it was years
ago and I have no idea where it might be.
My house windows, cat and car get MANY more birds than my turbine ever has. The
cat and car do fairly well, when birds fly into the windows it is loud and not
good for the birds at all. I have never found a dead bird under any of the
turbines that I service.
I did find a dead bird in its nest that was inside a nacelle once, it was
uninjured and just dead, no sign that it was damaged at all.
There is all kinds of misleading stuff like those links out there, it’s just
not accurate and done by the anti wind folks.
Hope this helps,
Bob Ellison
From:re-wrenches-boun...@lists.re-wrenches.org
[mailto:re-wrenches-boun...@lists.re-wrenches.org] On Behalf Of Drake
Sent: Thursday, June 21, 2012 6:18 PM
To: RE-wrenches
Subject: [RE-wrenches] Wind Turbines killing birds and bats
Hello Wrenches,
A very knowledgeable friend has concern about wind turbines killing birds and
bats, and sent me these links. From previous posts on this list and
information I've heard elsewhere, I thought this really wasn't much of an
issue, more of a red herring by those who are opposed to wind energy.
http://www.batsandwind.org/pdf/baerwald%20et%20al%20current%20biology%202008.pdf
http://coalicionventanasverraco.org/files/horn_et_al_2008.pdf
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/09/090928095347.htm
http://www.abcbirds.org/abcprograms/policy/collisions/pdf/wind_rulemaking_petition.pdf
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_impact_of_wind_power
How much of an issue is this really? Can we put the danger into perspective?
Does this kill more bats and birds than the pollution it displaces?
Thanks,
Drake
Drake Chamberlin
ATHENS ELECTRIC LLC
OH License 44810
CO license 3773
NABCEP Certified PV
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