Wind Turbines Not a Threat to U.S. Bird Population, Says Study

[jpak]

http://www.renewableenergyaccess.com/rea/news/story?id=48393

Proponents of wind energy in the U.S. have long argued that the overall impact of properly sited wind turbines on birds is extremely low compared with other human-related activities and structures. Now a congressionally mandated study released by the National Research Council (NRC) on Thursday offers new findings to support this argument -- and is recommending that implementing national-level policies to enhance the benefits of wind energy and minimize its harms would help guide state and local regulatory efforts.

"The report rightly concludes that our challenge is to design and locate wind-power projects to minimize the negative impacts on birds. It is essential that industry-wide environmental safeguards be developed so that each wind project can be considered on its own merits with appropriate studies before and after construction." -- Betsy Loyless, National Audubon Society, senior vice president

Focusing its study on a mountainous region that included parts of West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania, the report cited that bird deaths caused by collisions with wind turbines are a minute fraction of total anthropogenic bird deaths -- less than 0.003% in 2003.

"The report verifies the fact that wind energy development's overall impact on birds is extremely low compared with many other human-related activities. More than a thousand times as many birds are killed flying into buildings, for example, than wind turbines," said Randall Swisher, executive director of the American Wind Energy Association.

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[flamin lib]

1. In the early days of wind turbines the rpm was relatively fast so

there was considerable danger of birds being hit by the blades. The new technology large rotor with constant low speed feeding a gearbox to produce power is much more eco-friendly. Any bird impacted by one of those blades needs to be removed from the gene pool anyway . . .

Oh, and the old technology was real noisy too.