Audubon Society "Strongly Supports Wind Power"
by Jeff McIntire-Strasburg, St. Louis, MO on 12.26.06
The issue of bird deaths caused by wind turbines still creates knots in the stomachs of many treehuggers: despite evidence that harnessing wind energy has a relatively light impact on birds with proper planning and siting, opponents of new wind projects consistently conjure up images of wind turbine blades coated in blood and feathers (or at least turbines surrounded by avian carcasses). Wind opponents can count on at least one less potential ally, though, as one of the US' oldest conservation organizations, the National Audubon Society, has publicly declared its support for continued wind development, and its belief that the climate crisis poses a much bigger risk to our feathered friends:
In the November-December installment of [Audubon] magazine, [NAS president John] Flicker wrote a column stating that Audubon "strongly supports wind power as a clean alternative energy source," pointing to the link between global warming and the birds and other wildlife that scientist say it will kill. The venerable environmental organization and avian champion was now on record as embracing wind power. ...Flicker's column followed an article in the September-October issue of Audubon that examined the issue in depth. Writer Michelle Nijhuis noted that much research must still be done on wind turbines and farms' impact on birds and bats, and that wind developers often don't want to take time to do the most thorough impact assessments. Still, she notes the partnership efforts between NAS and AWEA, and claims that wind turbines and bird species can co-exist peacefully if developers and government officials do their homework. ::Renewable Energy Access, UPI, Lime.com, and kauaianken at HuggIn an interview with AWEA's Wind Energy Weekly industry newsletter, Flicker said that the organization's decision to speak out about wind came as a result of the recent increased urgency on the part of the scientific community with respect to global warming. Specifically, he cited a recent study by John Hansen for the National Academy of Sciences suggesting that if greenhouse gases are not reduced in the next decade, a significant number of plants and animals could face extinction by the middle of the century.
"It creates a sense of urgency beyond anything we have seen before," said Flicker, adding that he wants to ensure his organization is not an obstacle for wind power but a help. "I want to make sure Audubon is doing everything we can to promote both conservation and wind energy."
Flicker summed up the Audubon perspective with stark directness. "When you look at a wind turbine, you can find the bird carcasses and count them," he said. "With a coal-fired power plant, you can't count the carcasses, but it's going to kill a lot more birds."
The NAS' President is named Flicker? Grinning here. At any rate this is a necessary and useful statement. I imagine the cap statement will become a soundbyte and a good many public hearings.
Wouldn't the best solution to this be the use of Terra Moya Aqua's vertical turbine? I think I heard about it on Tree Hugger; it has significantly higher efficiency, and is far more bird safe than the conventional turbine. It was announced as a breakthrough, but then I see people complaining about the same old problems that these breakthroughs overcome. Terra Moya Aqua is not the only example; time and time again, you see breakthroughs that appear to be totally overlooked.
Well, for my part, I'm bringing this guy's work back to all of your attention:
http://www.tmawind.com/
The best of both worlds: higher efficiency, lower noise, and bird safe.
How many birds are killed by cars, buildings, discarded fishing lines, hunters, poisons, domestic animals?
How many dead birds have been found at the base of current wind farms?
I had seen similar research and blogged about it awhile ago. Basically the story that wind turbines kill birds comes from the Altamont Pass wind farm, which was poorly sited at the crests of hills where raptors tend to congregate in their hunting patterns. Also the turbines there were constructed with perches which gave the birds further reason to be near the turbines. But the Altamont farm has been closely studied and they learned the lessons which are available to other wind farm builders. One of the differences is modern turbines are supposedly built without perches, which make it harder for birds to stay in the vicintiy of the turbine in the first place .. and second the turbines today are vastly larger than the ones in the Altamont pass. The larger turbines place the blades higher off the ground, and further they turn more slowly while still generating more power, and slower turning blades are easier for birds to avoid. My blog entry has a pointer to the details.