Bat Kill and Wind Turbines Considered - Wind Turbines Kill Bats,but Not What You Think

By Lance Winslow

Many birds each year are killed by wind turbines, and it happens all over America each and every day. Over ten-thousand birds per year in fact are estimated to perish. Of course, as we build more wind generators we will kill more and more birds. Some say so what because there are 5-times as many birds on the planet as people; some believe it is even much more than that.

Environmentalists are looking the other way, which is somewhat interesting as they are so adamant about saving fish, polar bears, and other creatures like insects and rats. If there is an oil spill environmentalists go and film all the dead birds and animals and stand in protest, but when it comes to wind-energy generation, suddenly all the wildlife deaths are acceptable. Some call this hypocritical, some folks like me.

Apparently the birds have not adapted or evolved to dodge the wind turbine blades. But did you know that bats are being killed even in larger numbers by wind turbines, something you do not hear about much. I guess no one likes bats, but they should, as they are a very important part of the eco-system as they eat pests and insects that attack crops. If bats do not eat the insects more fertilizer is needed, and the environmentalists are against that.

Wind Turbines kill bats, but it is not because the blades hit them, as you might expect. Birds that are found dead near wind turbines generally have broken wings, the bats do not have any blunt trauma, rather they are killed by a much different cause, one which science has now explained.

Cite: [ http://www.sciencentral.com/video/2008/08/25/wind-turbines-causing-dark-nights-for-bats/ [1] ].

By Lance Winslow

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Thu, 12/18/2008 - 6:50am

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Lance Winslow

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http://www.energyblogs.com/LanceWinslow3ThinkTank4Energy/index.cfm/2008/12/18/Bat-Kill-and-Wind-Turbines-Considered--Wind-Turbines-Kill-Batsbut-Not-What-You-Think [2]

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Links:
[1] http://www.sciencentral.com/video/2008/08/25/wind-turbines-causing-dark-nights-for-bats/
[2] http://www.energyblogs.com/LanceWinslow3ThinkTank4Energy/index.cfm/2008/12/18/Bat-Kill-and-Wind-Turbines-Considered--Wind-Turbines-Kill-Batsbut-Not-What-You-Think
[3] http://www.energyblogs.com/LanceWinslow3ThinkTank4Energy/bio.cfm
[4] http://www.energyblogs.com/site/comment_by_id.cfm?id=4A656EB7-1372-574A-8CFCA6A96E7B7496&link=http://ec.ec.webenabled.net/print/14607#new_comment

Bat Kill and Wind Turbines Considered - Wind Turbines Kill Bats,but Not What You Think

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