US windfarms kill 10-20 times more than previously thought

[ScienceRocks]

US windfarms kill 10-20 times more than previously thought

The Obama administration is issuing 30-year permits for “taking” (killing) bald and golden eagles. The great birds will be legally slaughtered “unintentionally” by lethal wind turbines installed in their breeding territories, and in “dispersion areas” where their young congregate (e.g. Altamont Pass).

By chance (if you believe in coincidences), a timely government study claims wind farms will kill “only” 1.4 million birds yearly by 2030 (1). This new report is just one of many, financed with taxpayers’ money, aimed at convincing the public that additional mortality caused by wind plants is sustainable. – It is not.



Dr. Shawn Smallwood’s 2004 study, spanning four years, estimated that California’s Altamont Pass wind “farm” killed an average of 116 Golden Eagles annually (2). This adds up to 2,900 dead “goldies” since it was built 25 years ago. Altamont is the biggest sinkhole for the species, but not the only one, and industry-financed research claiming that California’s GE population is stable is but a white-wash.

Eagles are not the only victims. Smallwood also estimated that Altamont killed an average of 300 red-tailed hawks, 333 American kestrels and 380 burrowing owls annually – plus even more non-raptors, including 2,526 rock doves and 2,557 western meadowlarks.


In 2012, breaking the European omerta on wind farm mortality, the Spanish Ornithological Society (SEO/Birdlife) reviewed actual carcass counts from 136 monitoring studies. They concluded that Spain’s 18,000 wind turbines are killing 6-18 million birds and bats yearly (3).

Extrapolating that and similar (little publicized) German and Swedish studies, 39,000 U.S. wind turbines would not be killing “only” 440,000 birds (USFWS, 2009) or “just” 573,000 birds and 888,000 bats (Smallwood, 2013) (4), but 13-39 million birds and bats every year!

http://canadafreepre...p/article/63235

 

[Windship]

horse shit.
The blades move to slowly.

 

[elektra]

horse shit.
The blades move to slowly.

People are so quick to respond out of emotion and what is imagined, now what is true.

The tips of the Wind Turbine blades are traveling at 120 mph.

http://www.acua.com/acua/uploadedFiles/Home/ACUA_Information/Files/Fact_Sheets/windfacts06.09.pdf

2. How fast do the blades turn?
Depending on wind conditionsthe bladesturn at rates between 10 and 20 revolutions per minute.
Considering the length of the blades, at average wind speeds of 13 to 15 mph, the tips are traveling
at 120 mph. At maximum wind speeds, the blade tips are spinning at an estimated 180 mph.

 

[Windship]

Ill bet you that if we got the tip speeds higher, we could produce even more clean energy.

 

[ScienceRocks]

Ill bet you that if we got the tip speeds higher, we could produce even more clean energy.

We could produce even more bird meat for the homeless

 

[Old Rocks]

The problem of birds and windmills can be solved by engineering. Overall, the kill rate of the mills is several orders of magnitude smaller than the kill rate of windows in tall buildings. Or of our housecats, for that matter.

 

[NYcarbineer]

lol, the same people who want to bring back DDT also want to shut down all the wind farms for the sake of the bald eagle?

 

[Old Rocks]

lol, the same people who want to bring back DDT also want to shut down all the wind farms for the sake of the bald eagle?

Logic is not exactly the strong suit of our 'Conservatives'.

 

[mamooth]

Extrapolating that

Would be nonsense, given Altamonte Pass is a special bad case. Hence a junk estimate.

 

[Moonglow]

We all know that petroleum never hurts any animals or the environment...

 

[whitehall]

Where are the animal rights groups like PETA, the Audubon Society, the Humane society and about a thousand others? Are they really political action groups that couldn't care less about animals? When you can walk up to a windmill and film a magnificent raptor being cut out of the sky with these giant unseen blades things are pretty bad. How many condors do we have left on earth? The administration gave the windmill industry a 30 year permit to kill condors, eagles and other raptors and so far PETA is silent.

 

[whitehall]

PETA is just another left wing "watermelon" group, green on the outside and red on the inside. Their mission as well as the mission of many but not all "environmental" related groups is to undermine the fabric of society. It doesn't matter how many animals are brutally killed as long as a left wing quasi -socialist democrat is in the White House and the end justifies the means.

 

[mamooth]

Here's the original study.

http://proceedings.esri.com/library/userconf/egug2005/papers/avian_mortality.pdf

Mark DuChamp, the author of the piece cited in the OP, took only the high end of each estimate, and didn't mention that there was also a low end. That is, he was deliberately dishonest. Honest people don't quote a range of "500-2000" as "2000". Since he was dishonest on that point, he can't be trusted anywhere.

Duchamp is also a global warming denier, which pretty much guarantees he just makes it all up. "Save the Eagles International" looks to be an astroturf group founded in 2011. It's basically a couple we-love-fossil-fuels-rah-rah-rah guys and their web page. No peer-reviewed science, but a whole lot of "I believe" and "This is being covered up" type stuff.

 

[sealybobo]

US windfarms kill 10-20 times more than previously thought

The Obama administration is issuing 30-year permits for “taking” (killing) bald and golden eagles. The great birds will be legally slaughtered “unintentionally” by lethal wind turbines installed in their breeding territories, and in “dispersion areas” where their young congregate (e.g. Altamont Pass).

By chance (if you believe in coincidences), a timely government study claims wind farms will kill “only” 1.4 million birds yearly by 2030 (1). This new report is just one of many, financed with taxpayers’ money, aimed at convincing the public that additional mortality caused by wind plants is sustainable. – It is not.



Dr. Shawn Smallwood’s 2004 study, spanning four years, estimated that California’s Altamont Pass wind “farm” killed an average of 116 Golden Eagles annually (2). This adds up to 2,900 dead “goldies” since it was built 25 years ago. Altamont is the biggest sinkhole for the species, but not the only one, and industry-financed research claiming that California’s GE population is stable is but a white-wash.

Eagles are not the only victims. Smallwood also estimated that Altamont killed an average of 300 red-tailed hawks, 333 American kestrels and 380 burrowing owls annually – plus even more non-raptors, including 2,526 rock doves and 2,557 western meadowlarks.


In 2012, breaking the European omerta on wind farm mortality, the Spanish Ornithological Society (SEO/Birdlife) reviewed actual carcass counts from 136 monitoring studies. They concluded that Spain’s 18,000 wind turbines are killing 6-18 million birds and bats yearly (3).

Extrapolating that and similar (little publicized) German and Swedish studies, 39,000 U.S. wind turbines would not be killing “only” 440,000 birds (USFWS, 2009) or “just” 573,000 birds and 888,000 bats (Smallwood, 2013) (4), but 13-39 million birds and bats every year!

http://canadafreepre...p/article/63235

Car and coal pollution will destroy the whole planet. Birds need to learn to get out of the way. They will evolve.

 

[Big Black Dog]

Sounds like horse hockey to me. Where's all the dead birds? Wind power in it's self is a joke. I worked for 15 years at a nuclear power plant and we discussed it often. Not cost effective. However, all the flap over a bunch of dead birds is just as silly. Just the kind of horse hockey spun by our present government who can't do anything right.

 

[whitehall]

Sounds like horse hockey to me. Where's all the dead birds? Wind power in it's self is a joke. I worked for 15 years at a nuclear power plant and we discussed it often. Not cost effective. However, all the flap over a bunch of dead birds is just as silly. Just the kind of horse hockey spun by our present government who can't do anything right.

Where's all the dead birds? In the freaking land fill. Where do you think they are? It's legal for windmills to kill condors and eagles and magnificent raptors but it's still illegal to traffic in their carcasses. In other words the left wing hypocrites say that a kid who picks up a dead eagle and keeps a couple of feathers is liable to arrest by the feds but killing them is legal. Meanwhile PETA is on vacation and the Sierra Club is fine with the concept as long as a radical left winger is in the White House.