Wind Turbines and Bird Fatalities

The American Bird Conservancy has developed an official policy with regard to wind energy and its potential impact on bird and bat populations. While they express concern for bird and bat fatalities caused by wind turbines ( a graph addressing causes of bird fatalities -from wind turbines at <1 in 10,000 to those caused by buildings and windows at 5,500/10,000 can be viewed at ), they also recognize that wind, as a renewable source of energy, has none of the negative side effects associated with the generation of power by burning fossil fuels. They note that power plants are the largest industrial air polluter in the U.S., emitting sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, carbon dioxide, particulates, and mercury, all of which have deleterious effects on wildlife as well as humans. SO2 and NO cause acid rain, and carbon dioxide has been identified as the chief greenhouse gas contributing to climate change or global warming; both results that harm birds and bats. Consequently, rather than oppose wind energy, they suggest that “each state should adopt guidelines or regulations to assure the prevention or minimization of avian impacts from new wind turbine construction and operation”.
To review the entire policy go to .

Comments

[Wind Turbines]

Hi,

Just wondering if my link could be added to the NEO wind links section. I feature much educational content relating to wind turbines and wind energy.