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Effects on wildlife

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bagitha Wed 19-Oct-11 10:11:11

I was saddened to read this morning that wind turbines kill bats as well as birds if not carefully sited. The bats don't even have to collide with the turbine sails – the air pressure they create bursts the bats' lungs! The article the link takes you to shows how the wind farm in question was very badly sited with regard to bats (or perhaps I should say it was sited without regard to bats!) and they are now having to switch the turbines off at night. Very inefficient, but mainly sad for the bats because I'm sure it's happening elsewhere too. sad

wattsupwiththat.com/2011/10/18/holy-irony-batman/

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jinglej Wed 19-Oct-11 10:47:04

Oh that's awful! Learning curve I guess. At least, I hope they learn.

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carboncareful Wed 19-Oct-11 16:59:35

There are articles in New Scientist about this: here is an extract with a proposed solution.

"Windy day

One solution could be to increase the minimum wind speed needed to set the blades in motion. Most bats are more active in low wind.

The study was funded by a number of bat conservation groups together with energy companies with a financial interest in wind energy, such as Shell Canada and Alberta Wind Energy."

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