Wind power and birds
Opponents of wind turbines pretty reliably raise concerns about the turbines massacring birds. Before I worked in the industry, I dismissed this as an invention of fossil fuel companies and/or NIMBYs and assumed it was entirely invented. I now know that neither extreme position is true.
It turns out that wind turbines can kill shockingly large numbers of birds, with the worst example being the old wind farm at Altamont Pass. However, the majority are quite safe - it's all a matter of location (Altamont Pass is on a major migration route), turbine type (modern turbines have larger, slower-moving blades, which birds see more easily), and tower design (modern towers are taller, which takes the blades out of most birds' flightpaths, and they tend to be poured concrete rather than a metal framework that attracts birds with its plethora of perches). So some wind turbines really are as dreadful as opponents suggest, but the majority aren't and we have the knowledge to make all future installations perfectly safe.
The Audubon Society has the best statement I've seen on this issue. There's one paragraph in particular that gets the issue in perspective:Every source of energy has some environmental consequences. Most of today's rapidly growing demand for energy is now being met by natural gas and expanded coal-burning power plants, which are this country's single greatest source of the greenhouse-gas emissions that cause global warming. If we don't find ways to reduce these emissions, far more birds - and people - will be threatened by global warming than by wind turbines. Our challenge is thus to help design and locate wind-power projects that minimize the negative impacts on birds.
It turns out that wind turbines can kill shockingly large numbers of birds, with the worst example being the old wind farm at Altamont Pass. However, the majority are quite safe - it's all a matter of location (Altamont Pass is on a major migration route), turbine type (modern turbines have larger, slower-moving blades, which birds see more easily), and tower design (modern towers are taller, which takes the blades out of most birds' flightpaths, and they tend to be poured concrete rather than a metal framework that attracts birds with its plethora of perches). So some wind turbines really are as dreadful as opponents suggest, but the majority aren't and we have the knowledge to make all future installations perfectly safe.
The Audubon Society has the best statement I've seen on this issue. There's one paragraph in particular that gets the issue in perspective:Every source of energy has some environmental consequences. Most of today's rapidly growing demand for energy is now being met by natural gas and expanded coal-burning power plants, which are this country's single greatest source of the greenhouse-gas emissions that cause global warming. If we don't find ways to reduce these emissions, far more birds - and people - will be threatened by global warming than by wind turbines. Our challenge is thus to help design and locate wind-power projects that minimize the negative impacts on birds.