How efficient are mitigation measures for bird-friendly wind power?

UngulateNerd92 said:
Simple measures can make wind turbines more bird friendly. New research shows that measures such as painting the rotor blades or towers, using UV-light and smart micro-siting of wind turbines, decreases the risk for bird collisions considerably.

How efficient are mitigation measures for bird-friendly wind power?
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Great news! I was never a fan on wind power because of how many birds are killed by them, but if something can reduce the risk than wind power may be a good source of electricity in the future.
 
birdsandbats said:
Great news! I was never a fan on wind power because of how many birds are killed by them, but if something can reduce the risk than wind power may be a good source of electricity in the future.
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This is good news and I hope it proves successful. I haven't been supportive of wind power for those same reasons myself. My other reason being that wind turbines have been conclusively linked to droughts in certain areas. I just hope they use the right color painting those rotor blades don't turn into an eyesore, but most importantly, I hope it proves effective at its job/goals.
 
birdsandbats said:
Great news! I was never a fan on wind power because of how many birds are killed by them, but if something can reduce the risk than wind power may be a good source of electricity in the future.
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UngulateNerd92 said:
This is good news and I hope it proves successful. I haven't been supportive of wind power for those same reasons myself.
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To provide an alternative view, I strongly support the use of wind power and believe it already provides a good source of electricity right now. The statistics on bird and bat deaths are sobering, but the long-term impacts on wildlife from climate change are far greater and the turbines help alleviate that. I think we should do everything we can to make them safer for wildlife, but at the end of the day every type of power generation has its issues (just look at hydropower as a prime example) and we need to take advantage of every clean energy there is while we still have the time to prevent further warming.

UngulateNerd92 said:
My other reason being that wind turbines have been conclusively linked to droughts in certain areas.
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Conclusively? Can you provide some citations for this? I'm not familiar with the claim.
 
Coelacanth18 said:
To provide an alternative view, I strongly support the use of wind power and believe it already provides a good source of electricity right now. The statistics on bird and bat deaths are sobering, but the long-term impacts on wildlife from climate change are far greater and the turbines help alleviate that. I think we should do everything we can to make them safer for wildlife, but at the end of the day every type of power generation has its issues (just look at hydropower as a prime example) and we need to take advantage of every clean energy there is while we still have the time to prevent further warming.



Conclusively? Can you provide some citations for this? I'm not familiar with the claim.
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Part of my dislike of wind power is that most of the wind turbines I have seen are always right next to large marshes, I can only imagine how many waterfowl and other waterbirds are lost to those every year.
 
Coelacanth18 said:
To provide an alternative view, I strongly support the use of wind power and believe it already provides a good source of electricity right now. The statistics on bird and bat deaths are sobering, but the long-term impacts on wildlife from climate change are far greater and the turbines help alleviate that. I think we should do everything we can to make them safer for wildlife, but at the end of the day every type of power generation has its issues (just look at hydropower as a prime example) and we need to take advantage of every clean energy there is while we still have the time to prevent further warming.

Conclusively? Can you provide some citations for this? I'm not familiar with the claim.
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The person that told me this was a former co-worker of mine that had a STEM background. If you talk to him about this, you'll see that he did his homework. I can't clearly remember specifically what he said beyond that though.
 
birdsandbats said:
Part of my dislike of wind power is that most of the wind turbines I have seen are always right next to large marshes, I can only imagine how many waterfowl and other waterbirds are lost to those every year.
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At Hamerton Zoo Park we own 2 no. Endurance E-3120 turbines, Hamerton Zoo Park - Animal Park Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire erected on our own land, part of our site some 200m north of the main zoo. These will have been generating for 8 years come December 2020. They are small compared to wind-farm turbines, at 36m high, but produce enough power to run >80 average houses - ALL of the power the Park uses plus a substantial surplus to export to the National Grid.
These machines have been monitored since installation and bird & bat casualties have been zero. In the UK at least inland wind turbines are generally situated towards or at the top of rising ground to take advantage of the venturi-effect increasing the strength of the prevailing south-westerly winds. I have never seen them erected in a marsh.
 
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UngulateNerd92 said:
Here is a link to a relevant scientific paper entitled "Paint it black: Efficacy of increased wind turbine rotor blade visibility to reduce avian fatalities."

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Even if it this did make a positive difference (which would not be possible in our case at least), it could not happen in the UK, as all turbines have to be white. This is a legal planning requirement, and required by central government.
 
Andrew Swales said:
Even if it this did make a positive difference (which would not be possible in our case at least), it could not happen in the UK, as all turbines have to be white. This is a legal planning requirement, and required by central government.
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Why did they pass such a law?
 
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