Wind turbines and birds
Many people are afraid that wind turbines kill a huge number of birds. Opponents of wind power often use this argument to stop development of wind farms but is it really the true?
It is estimated that each year in the USA
- 57 million birds die in collisions with vehicles
- 1.25 million in collisions with tall structures (towers, stacks, buildings)
- more than 97.5 million in collisions with plate glass
- 4 million to 10 million night-migrating songbirds in collisions with telecommunications towers
- household cats in the U.S. are estimated to kill 100 million birds each year
In comparison each wind turbine kills 0 - 2 birds per year at worst.
Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) figures show that total installed wind energy capacity in 2006 was 74,223 MW
Let’s say that every wind turbine has a capacity of 100kW (usually they have more - even over 1500kW), it gives us around 742,230 wind turbines worldwide.
Let’s count with the worst scenario - 2 killed birds per turbine per year
Wind turbines kill 1,484,460 birds worldwide annually
Let’s have a look at the list above again and bear in mind that those numbers are only from the USA.
Source:
AWEA, 2002
Renewable energy, Godfrey Boyle, 2004
Wikipedia
Should we kill cats to save birds? Maybe if we use wind turbines to kill cats then they’d be saving birds.
Comment by puttputt — 25 June 2007 @ 8:14 pm
Brilliant! We offset our bird kills by killing kittens. Say we kill a 1yr old kitten. In her/his lifetime he’ll probably eat at least 100 birds. Therefore, we’re offset for 50-100 years!
It’s perfect!
Comment by Kin — 3 July 2007 @ 2:12 am
I am sure that wind machines are not that harmful to birds, but those numbers about the millions of birds killed just seem way out of whack. I have driven a lot in my life and have only killed one owl. Cats don’t kill that many birds either. Usually the ones they get are sick or weak. This article does not sound very scientific.
Comment by Jim — 7 July 2007 @ 7:38 am
To Jim:
Hi, you might not believe it but these are the facts. Here are the links to fact sheets from American Wind Energy Association (AWEA). I know that those numbers are horrified but, people should know the truth.
Here are the links:
Avian collisions: http://www.west-inc.com/reports/avian_collisions.pdf
Cats and Wildlife: http://wildlife.wisc.edu/extension/catfly3.htm
Even worse:
I’ve found an updated version of bird mortality in the USA
cats (1 BILLION per year)
buildings (100 million to 1 BILLION per year)
hunters (100 million per year);
vehicles (60 million to 80 million per year)
communications towers (10 million to 40 million per year)
pesticides (67 million per year)
power lines (10,000 to 174 million per year)
Check it out on http://www.awea.org/pubs/factsheets/050629_Wind_Wildlife_FAQ.pdf
Comment by Petr and Vera — 7 July 2007 @ 9:18 am
Not all birds killed by cars and trucks need to be collisions either. A low flying bird can get grounded by a sudden gust. big transport trucks probably take far more than cars. Also, it likely depends also on how much highway driving ones does. I suspect that those small ones that are little bigger than a humming bird would just sound like a rock or a huge insect when they smack into the car at high speed and might make little sound at all if they hit the underside when taking off or the tires.
Comment by Sean — 9 July 2007 @ 4:04 am
Coal power and oil companies are and will be giving large amounts of money to “ecogroups”, who will come up with something to slow or stop the rise of alternative energy. This does two things. First it slows the progress of alternative energy. Second, it acts to discredit and fractionalizes the environmental movement.
The best way to counter this is to do what was done in this article: Fight with hard numbers!
Second is to reverse discredit them. Publicize that they are being funded by the Obnoxicorps.
Comment by Steve Elder — 10 July 2007 @ 1:40 am
Here is the real question- How many birds does the oil industry kill every year? Or the coal industry? The impact of fossil fuels on wildlife compared to clean energy? These are the questions we should be asking. Its time to go green, YESTERDAY!!!
Comment by Straywolf — 10 July 2007 @ 7:16 am
Also, can anyone compare these numbers with bird population? May be, the “average lifespan of birds” is also a relevent parameter specially if “per year” is quoted. Too deep hmmmm?
Comment by Anil — 10 July 2007 @ 9:18 am
Vertical Axis Windmills:
- seen by birds as solid objects
- operate at very high & low wind speeds
- produce almost no noise at all
- operate in harshest of cold & marine conditions
Check windside.com for an example. There are many others.
Comment by check — 15 July 2007 @ 10:51 pm
o my god the buildings are so cruel. destroy the buildings at all costs. ps peace out dude!
Comment by curtis — 17 September 2007 @ 2:04 pm
wow yes, lets kill all the cats !
Comment by killerdog — 17 September 2007 @ 2:08 pm
If you look at the data from the windmills at Altamont, CA you will find that their windmills kill 800-1300 birds per year. Many of which are raptors, eagles, etc. The numbers are greater than people are willing to state.
Comment by loumoral — 30 September 2007 @ 8:01 pm
Altamont Pass Wind Farm has over 6000 wind turbines so it’s only 1300 / 6000 = 0.217 birds per turbine, which is not that bad.
Comment by Petr and Vera — 2 October 2007 @ 1:53 pm
Hi guys,
Im doing a dissertation on self-sufficiency and so exploring alternative energy. can anyone tell me exactly how efficient these wind turbines are? what are the minimum wind speeds required? how much energy it can produce? and any other usefull information you know of? its for relatively small communities so probably wont be lookin to use massive turbines.
Thanks.
Pat
Comment by Pat — 6 November 2007 @ 5:34 pm
Wich one is worse? Windmill’s killing bird’s or global warming killing all of us
Comment by sparky075 — 11 November 2007 @ 3:26 pm
i believe we are straying from the point here, we must eliminate all the cats on this world
Comment by killerdog — 19 November 2007 @ 2:41 pm
Think about it this way, global walming will kill more birds and we are responsible for that.
if we do build these, we can build them in locations that birds are less likly to find and we are still making electrisity…
or we can have power plants that have loads of wing tunnels with turbines powering them and also powering homes…
Now thats a good idea.
Comment by Fayt Graydon — 21 April 2008 @ 2:04 pm
Killing birds is nasty. Can we put a noise generator (ultrasonic?) near the windmills to re direct the birds?
Comment by Uncle B — 8 June 2008 @ 11:30 pm
Wind turbines kill bats as well, mostly through barotrauma (the difference in pressure causes their lungs to hemmorage) and perhaps half by collision. Migrating birds of prey are also killed.
So just turn off the turbines at night and during peak migrating seasons. Simple.
http://www.motherjones.com/blue_marble_blog/archives/2008/08/9391_wind_turbines_d.html
Comment by Carol — 27 August 2008 @ 7:02 pm