Damage to bird and bat populations is often mentioned in arguments against new turbine installations and in recent weeks I have picked up comments (in non-wildlife articles) which imply significant losses. For example, one comment was to the effect that a wind farm in the States had killed over 100 eagles in a few years of operation. Another passing comment said that these farms can have a catastrophic effect on bats, both from direct collisions and from organ damage due to pressure-wave effects close to the blades.
It would be very helpful and interesting to have some hard evidence.
Checking this website, I found a few papers on wind farms but they were not very informative. Most dated from the early 2000s and called for thorough and extensive research into the effect of these farms but did not mention any hard data. There was one recent survey but it only addressed displacement, not collisions.
I am sure these issues have been extensively researched in recent years and I expect that reliable data are available. Hopefully there are some members on here who can provide first-hand feedback or provide links to reputable surveys? It would also be very interesting to hear the views of anyone who has had turbines installed closeby in recent years.
hello, I'm central to a few windfarms, 2 of the biggest Eaglesham outskirts of Glasgow & Blacklaw South Lanarkshire. I haven't so far heard of any negative aspects as such. I was reading the following link on Eaglesham with interest (see link) I suppose there are lots of pro's & cons objections to such but I agree that they are required for renewable energy.Regards David
www.rspb.org.uk/.../313565-talking-about-renewables
“Like all great travelers, I have seen more than I remember, and remember more than I’ve seen.”
I am one of those people that some people love to hate. I am a wind farm engineering consultant (offshore and onshore). I am also an avid nature lover. the feeders in my garden are always well stocked (with the correct food at the correct time). Hedgehogs are regular visitors to my garden and are given food supplements and somewhere to hibernate as are toads. I have refused to cut down my garden hedges because they are used for nesting and shelter. I encourage my grandchildren to embrace nature and now wildlife photography.
At first disturbed by my own involvement in the wind industry and its possible affect on wildlife I am now encouraged by the fact that rather than devastating the wildlife, wind farms that I am involved with (Post construction)are actually encouraging growth and diversity.
One of my recent projects involved dozens of people doing fingertip searches through the vegetation for weeks to relocate crested Newts to a new (and safer) habitat (they are thriving), It also involved delays to allow nesting birds to breed before starting construction. It is not an uncaring industry and I spend a good part of my time carrying out health, safety and environmental audits all over the UK. In fact, While on site I have spent many happy hours watching raptors using wind turbines as hunting perches, at first I feared for them with turbine blades turning but these amazing birds soon work out that the shadow flicker of the turbine blades startle their ground prey into movement and they are almost always rewarded with an easy lunch (and clearly know how to avoid the blades, I will upload some photos of this shortly) in fact one successful breeding pair have been regular visitors on one site in the Cambrian Mountains for several years and another pair there may be related.
Offshore, Fish stocks on in the area of wind farms have increased dramatically as they have been turned into nursery areas with what are affectively artificial reefs.
With regard to bird kills, after 8 years in the industry and thousands of hours on the ground, I have honestly only seen 5 dead birds beneath turbines, and trust me I do look for them (I see hundreds on the verges of our motorways every day).
One good thing is that the larger the turbines get the less risk to birds as the blade revolution decreases, so I am convinced that with new generation turbines the rate of strikes is going to drop dramatically.
The number of bird strikes by planes trains and automobiles, also glass sided buildings far exceed those killed by wind farms. but like you I will reserve my final judgement until we can get accurate figures rather than unsupported hysterical emotional rhetoric.
Some of you may instinctively hate me because I am not anti wind farm, but please remember the affects that fossil fuel burning, mining, waste and emissions have had on our wildlife, a lot of it at the genetic level. Don't judge before YOU have thoroughly explored ALL of the facts. and remember, I too support wholeheartedly the work of the RSPB, and I want my children to have a future that is full of nature rather than concrete, soot chemicals and nuclear waste.
The main problem with wind farms - same as solar energy - is one of storage. Until we have an effective way to store the energy produced to cover periods of time when the wind isn't blowing or sun not shining, any use of renewables to cover base generating capacity will result in outages. Even using renewables to cover power use above base need is flawed as power stations need fuel to keep ticking over for when they are required to spool up and take over. Some reports I've seen suggest up to 80% of fuel is used for no generating output in this situation. There IS a real benefit in power security (ie not being vulnerable to another government getting grumpy with us and turning off the fuel tap), but again, storage of what we can generate is the missing link.
At present, there is a high probability of power shortages in the UK over the next few years as coal fired stations are closed with no replacement capacity being installed. The industry now seems to be so enmeshed with the subsidy culture that private enterprise won't budge until favourable terms are agreed and governments as usual are too bogged down with political posturing and process to do much in a timely manner. We all end up paying for these subsidies through our bills and taxes (haven't you wondered why your home fuel bill hasn't halved with the recent drops in oil?).
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I read all these posts & info on renewable energy with great interest & wonder why we don't all have solar panels fitted to our house roofs to provide enough electricity for individual use with the excess being fed into National Grid for general use ... wouldn't this option make our country more self sufficient, or is that too simplistic?
2013 photos & vids here
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Ironically, whilst solar panels can help your individual bill, they don't necessarily help the overall situation as you still need to have central generating capacity sufficient to power everyone's homes (at night when the sun isn't shining for example). If you could switch off the central generating plant completely during the day (eg like a petrol powered generator) then there would obviously be a fuel saving at least. Unfortunately, power stations aren't as easily stopped and started as that, so are kept ticking over (and consuming fuel) even when they're not actively contributing to the grid. It's why the green credentials of renewables are somewhat questionable - the necessity for other more traditional generating capacity to still exist is generally glossed over when talk gets round to "zero emissions".
It's back to the storage question again. It IS possible to do this small scale. I have a 12v panel on my garage roof that charges a battery (a car battery basically). That runs all the (LED) lights in my garden (and even a couple of LED reading lights indoors). The sunlight charges the battery and I get free lights in the garden at night. I installed the system as I like technology and it was an interesting project, but it must save me a fair bit as I was able to lose at least 500w of traditional mains lighting by doing so.
Perhaps that would be a more suitable way to reduce energy consumption in new builds - low voltage lights fed by built in solar panel and easily obtainable battery?