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September 12, 2007

Wind Power Woes: A Big Blow To Bats

Drive along 580 in the San Francisco Bay area and you can't miss the mountaintop wind turbines, or windmills. One of the earliest wind farms on the planet, the Altamont Pass Wind Farm once produced half the world's wind energy. Over time, the turbines have gotten bigger and more efficient - and less harmful to the environment.

But how can wind be harmful to the environment in the first place?

My husband asked me this a few years ago and it was hard to come up with reasonable concerns and risks. Sound pollution was a concern - the smaller turbines whined like mad - and that alone could disturb people and wildlife, but since many of these wind farms are built in high wind areas (generally not where you want your house) and in fields otherwise used for farming, even that was not a huge deal, from what I could see.

I did wonder if, like any fluid system, if too many wind turbines were clumped together, if they would result in wind blocks, inevitably sending the wind around and altering weather patterns, but that seemed managable through prudent planning and implementation of wind farms.

Still, wind seemed a little bit too good to be true, and this has proven true, to some extent.

The inital smaller turbines did generate a lot of noise and people didn't want to have to look at them. Increasingly, wind farms are being built offshore and there are some concerns about windfarm noise and its effects on marine life, but as far as I know, there are no proven concerns.

On land, the wildlife implications are even more concerning. Birds and bats, especially those using the wind to aid their long migratory paths, are showing up dead beneath wind turbines in disturbing numbers.

Why should you care about bats? Because they are the birds of the night - eating bugs, spreading seeds, and sometimes even pollinating.

...recent evidence shows that certain species of bats are particularly susceptible to mortality from wind turbines. Bats are beneficial consumers of harmful insect pests, and migratory species of bats cross international and interstate boundaries.

Dead bats are turning up beneath wind turbines all over the world, but the mystery of why bats die at turbine sites remains unsolved. Is it a simple case of flying in the wrong place at the wrong time? Are bats attracted to the spinning turbine blades? Why do bats die at turbines in such large numbers? Although these questions remain unanswered, potential clues can be found in the patterns of mortality. Foremost, the majority of bats killed by wind turbines are species that migrate; in fact, peaks in mortality tend to coincide with periods of migratory activity. Bats probably follow corridors of high wind during migration, so the sites considered ideal for wind turbines, such as mountain ridges, could actually be places where bat populations funnel through while migrating.

...

Only through further research will we make progress toward minimizing the impact of this new form of sustainable energy on our Nation’s wildlife.

More At: USGS: Bat Mortality and Wind Power: a problem of migration?

Now I'm not saying that wind energy should be discouraged because of its wildlife impact, just that having regulation just like any other energy production method, is essential. After all, the environmental impact of wind energy still beats out most traditional energy producers.

Posted by sorsha at September 12, 2007 1:53 PM