Canadian Wind Turbine Kills 10 Birds and Bats a Day

[The Straight Story]

Canadian Wind Turbine Kills 10 Birds and Bats a Day


Not all renewable energy sources are completely environmentally friendly. For instance, Canada’s Wolfe Island Eco-Power Centre2, the country’s second largest wind farm, has demonstrated itself to be a killer of birds and bats.

The first study of the 86 wind turbines found they killed 45 birds and 45 bats over a two-month period (May-June 2009). A second report (covering July-December 2009) documented 602 bird and 1,270 bat fatalities, or about three bird kills and seven bat kills a day. A third study (of the farm’s first eight months of operation) uncovered 1,962 bird and bat deaths, for a daily average of eight a day. Thirty-three different bird species were included in the fatality report.

In California, so many birds, including dozens of golden eagles, have collided with wind turbine blades at the Altamont Pass wind farm that it gained the nickname “Cuisinart of the Air.”

Wind energy proponents point out that far more birds are killed by power lines, pesticides and automobiles than by turbines, and that more recent turbines have been designed to be more bird and bat friendly.

http://www.allgov.com/Controversies/ViewNews/Canadian_Wind_Turbine_Kills_10_Birds_and_Bats_a_Day_100806

[GoCubsGo]

1. Bats aren't killed by the turbine blades

They die from internal hemorrhaging due to the pressure changes caused by the blades. I'm not sure how the newer turbines are more bat-friendly, but any of them need to be shut down on nights during migration, and on nights when there is slow wind speed during periods when bats are active.

[RC]

10. I'd like to know who thinks up this shit.

Why don't birds in the vicinity die the same way? Why don't humans in the vicinity feel the pressure change? And don't tell me it is only within the arc of the blades, because things don't work like that.

Where's your source for this 'information'?

[derby378]

2. BP response: "OOH! OOH! BUY OUR OIL, SUCKERS!"

I can see it now...

[Electric Monk]

3. Misleading headline . 86 turbines kills ~10 birds & bats a day, not each turbine

Still not a good thing, but misleading sensational headlines don't help someone's argument.

[activa8tr]

4. Sarah will solve this problem, with Drill Baby Drill!

No birds, fish or other animals are killed by THAT, I'm sure.



:sarcasm: :sarcasm: and maybe a :nopity:

Really poster, what is the purpose of this thread?

[Arctic Dave]

5. I bet there are some really, really fat foxes and coyotes around them.

Queue the song, "the circle of life".

[Vinca]

6. Why can't they put giant cages around them? Like a house fan.

[Vinnie From Indy]

7. My! What a highly selective bit of concern for bats and birds.

10 bats and birds a day? Oh the humanity! I guess the authors are working up to reporting on the never ending holocaust of birds by evil housecats with names like Fluffy and Mr. Whiskers. The DAILY toll of death at the paws of housecats across this nation is undoubtedly in the thousands. Good God! When will the slaughter end?

I would also point out that bird strikes by automobiles each day probably number in the hundreds across America.

Lastly, one should also consider that the bird death toll from the BP oil spill is probably far greater than all the wind farms in all the world will produce in a hundred years.

[damntexdem]

8. And saves how many animals, and plants, by its contribution to clean energy?

I love the Altamont Pass wind farm. When I lived out there, I liked to drive out through the hills above Livermore, whether on the 580 freeway or on winding hill roads, and see the variety of windmills in action.

[fishbulb703]

9. Lets use atoms to make our power. Its cheap, safe, and efficient.

Did I just support nuclear power on DU?!
Oh no...

[slampoet]

11. REAL HEADLINE - Each turbine Kills ONE Bat or Bird every WEEK.

[taught_me_patience]

12. I guarantee the pollution from burning the equivalent amount of oil

kills more than that.