HOG meeting

Birds and wind turbines, bad combination, right? A recent posting on the American Wind Energy Association site discussing the impact of bird deaths with the installation of wind turbines gave me some realistic facts to ponder. I think wind energy is one of the top, if not the top choice for the immediate future of renewable energy. But wind turbines have a couple of drawbacks. They used to make that funky whooshing sound. That has been reduced dramatically with newer blade designs. They look like a giant pinwheel stuck in the middle of the forest. Actually I’d rather look at a wind turbine with the blades gracefully arcing through the sky than one of those god awful porcupine grid work pyramid cell towers stuck out there reminding me I should check my voice mail. And then there are the bird strikes. Don’t get me wrong, I like birds. I’m the kind of guy who will stand out in the backyard and watch a group of hawks float on invisible thermals in graceful circles until they drift out of sight. To be honest, I’m not particularly fond of crows, but that may have something to do with the fact that they are smarter than I am. Anyway, here is an excerpt from the Defenders of Wildlife article referenced in the AWEA November 5 post.

Bird mortality from wind turbines should be put into perspective. The Cato Institute projects: “Ten thousand cumulative bird deaths from 1,731 MW of installed U.S. capacity [as of 1995] are the equivalent of 4.4 million bird deaths across the entire capacity of the U.S. electricity market (approximately 770 GW)” (Bradley 1997), and uses this figure as argument against expansion of wind energy. However, in reality, even if wind power supplied all of the country’s electricity, bird fatalities would still be dwarfed by the mortality figures for other types of structures: vehicles, 60 to 80 million; buildings, 98 to 980 million; power lines, up to 174 million; communication towers, 4 to 50 million (Erickson et al. 2001). Furthermore, the American Bird Conservancy estimates that feral and domestic outdoor cats probably kill on the order of hundreds of millions of birds per year (Case 2000). One study estimated that in Wisconsin alone, annual bird kill by rural cats might range from 7.8 to 217 million birds per year (Colemen & Temple 1995). [emphasis added]

I have had my reservations about wind turbines and a lot of it had to do with the impact on the bird population. After all, alternative energy generation is supposed to be about conserving dwindling resources. Previously, all I had to go on was anecdotal information from community protest groups and the media that covered them. But being a skeptic, I need to have accurate information and evidence to make an informed decision. After some searching, I found some hard facts to help me decide. Yes, there is a small impact on bird population, but then again I don’t like dolphins getting caught in fishnets and I still eat tuna. We all have to make personal choices. When it comes to the sustainability of our planet, I think there is a balance of coexistence that must be realized. We only have a couple of options here. We either have less people inhabiting this little blue ball or we use our brains and solve the problem of too many needs and not enough resources. I vote for using our brains. Wind, solar, biomass, ocean current turbines, etc., they all have a role to play. But there won’t be any play unless we get into the game. My decision is to use our brains, overcome the problems and just do it. Now… if we can only do something about those damn cell towers.