Feeling Better About Birds Bats & Offshore Wind
by John Laumer, Philadelphia on 02.14.07
A Danish study Lloyd posted about in 2005 has been updated, and the findings are positive. An infrared collision-detection system developed by Denmark's National Environmental Research Institute has documented that birds are not at serious risk from the blades of offshore wind turbines. Per the full article in the MIT Technology Review, the “Thermal Animal Detection System (TADS) is essentially a heat-activated infrared video camera that watches a wind turbine around the clock, recording deadly collisions much as a security camera captures crimes. The first results, released this winter as part of a comprehensive $15 million study of Denmark's large offshore wind farms, show seabirds to be remarkably adept at avoiding offshore installations”...”The Danish findings are also resonating across the Atlantic, casting doubt on worst-case scenarios presented by Cape Wind's opponents”.
"TADS was mounted on a Nysted wind-farm turbine that was situated in the most common flight path, and during more than 2,400 hours of monitoring that concluded last fall, it spotted only fifteen birds and bats and one moth flying near the turbine, and it recorded one collision involving a small bird or bat".
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I'm curious about the impact of off-shore oil rigs on local birds and fish. People talk about how ugly they are, or how they disturb the wildlife (apparently not a lot). But they hardly talk about the horrible monsters that are oil rigs.
I'm amazed it takes such a system to convince some people of the common sense fact that birds have eyes and brains, just like us, and can avoid flying into wind turbines.
And I'm amazed that some people with eyes and brains still manage to walk into doors or drive into posts!