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As research and development of wind farms surges forward, we hear the encouraging news that birds tend to fly around the spinning blades of turbines, rather than trying to fly through them “even in conditions of low visibility.” Mostly. The article I read stated that “potential avian impacts can be minimized by siting turbines away from high-traffic flight paths and adjusting operations during seasonal migrations. “ www.ucsusa.org/windpower
Still, not all birds and bats will be smart enough to avoid running into the shredders, so here are some suggestions for the Citizen Corporation who is investing in wind farms:
- Coat one blade on each turbine with sunlight-reflecting iridescent material (like the sparkly owl I hang on the glass door to keep birds from flying into the glass.)
- Add a blinking light to the top of each turbine (actually, if the blades are turning, a steady light might appear to blink – and the light can be powered by the turbine.)
- Add super-sonic chirps powered by the turning blades, something that warns off the bats and keen-eared birds on a collision course with the blades, but isn’t so loud that it disturbs the ground-dwellers.
These measures might run up the production cost of turbines a little, but Citizen Corporation should also think of the PR value! “Our Turbines Are Wildlife Friendly!” “Safe-Guarding the Flyways As We Clean Up the Air!” (We’ll let Citizen Corporation’s slogan people work on that.)
And what are the Translight themes touched on here? Clean energy, lowering impact on nature, being concerned about something besides profits…
Related Articles
- The Ideal Wind Farm: Tweaking Turbine Spacing to Improve Output (spectrum.ieee.org)
- Purple wind turbines may splatter fewer birds (weinterrupt.com)
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