I suspect there is no easy answer and that it depends on the design of the
windfarm and where it is placed. I can certainly easily find research on the
web that shows modern wind farms kill around 2 birds per tower per year, but
I have no way of knowing whether this is true or not! Given the millions of
birds that collide with cars or buildings each year or are killed by cats or
are affected by droughts, logging and other events this is probably
insignificant - although it might be relevant to one or two specific
species.
I am in general in favour of windfarms as ONE of the ways we can try to
reduce our impact on the planet - they are certainly not the whole solution.
I suspect many people who do not want an "eyesore" in their area seize on
any research they can find to try and stop them being built. I suspect (but
have no way to back up this suspicion) that the long term effects on our
birds (and us!) of doing nothing will be worse than having a few birds
killed by windfarms.
Reducing consumption of energy (which takes us back to a recent debate on
the petrol use whilst doing Twitchathons!) is probably just as
relevant,.....
On 10/04/07, Greg <> wrote:
The point that I was making in this debate was that we should be looking
for
solutions that don't have a major impact on our birds (and other
organisms).
If wind farms can be developed where the impact on birds and bats is
minimal
then they should be acceptable. I am receiving mixed messages though,
that
on the one hand wind farms are killing millions of birds and bats and on
the
other that modern design has reduced the problem. What is the truth?
What
about the White-tailed Eagle?
Is anyone up with the scientific literature on the issue of bird and bat
deaths from wind farms.
Greg Clancy
| 