Actually, there is no reason to think it won't be harmful to birds. Even for diurnal flight, realize that planes are also large and birds can see them, and yet birds are sucked into airplane engines all the time (and also strike other parts of the aircraft).
This is as likely to be a problem for birds as are traditional wind turbines. The problem isn't the size of traditional turbines. Most of the mortality seems to result from night-migrating birds (and many species are night-migrating). Specifically, the problem seems to stem from the required aviation safety lighting. Since these devices will be flying at an altitude of more than 199 feet (the FAA thresshold), they will almost certainly have to comply with the FAA lighting requirements.
There is something about lighting - not yet fully understood - that seems to cause birds to be attracted to these obstacles and to circle around them. There are decades of studies involving many colors and types of lights. The only strong conclusion that one can draw is that a period of darkness permits the birds to resume their original flight pattern.
How best to achieve that state - a period of darkness - is problematic. There is some limited evidence that strobe lights may not be as problematic as flashing incandescent lights, but this needs further investigation because the study involved white strobes. The FAA permits the removal of the red steady-burning side lights from towers lit with white strobes. Therefore, it is unclear if the observed effect was due to the absence of the steady burning lights as opposed to the characteristics of the white strobes themselves. As you might imagine, white strobes can be problematic in populated areas because residents in the area usually find them objectionable (that's why most white strobe towers change to red strobes at night).
Bottom line - there is no free lunch. This may be a great advancement in wind energy technology, but that doesn't mean it won't hurt birds or have some other environmental downside.
12:42 PM
[Image] Tethered to the ground by its own energy-transmission system, the M.A.R.S. Wind Power Anywhere generator (Not to be confused with 1980s recording act M.A.R.R.S.) is a helium-lofted wind turbine able to produce 4 kw of energy by virtue of the high altitudes so accessed. Future models will provide enough to power a small city. I admit that this is one of those fluffy phrases that tends to get plopped into stories about power generation, and submit that it's high time the IEEE, who whoever is responsible, got its act together made ETPASC ("enough to power a small city") Units the official international measure of generative capacity. The creator, Magenn, know its competition, too, describing standard wind turbines as "large fast-moving blades slicing through the air," chopping birds to pieces in a phantasmagorical feast of blood. Product Page [Magenn via ]
1 Comment
Close this window Jump to comment formActually, there is no reason to think it won't be harmful to birds. Even for diurnal flight, realize that planes are also large and birds can see them, and yet birds are sucked into airplane engines all the time (and also strike other parts of the aircraft).
This is as likely to be a problem for birds as are traditional wind turbines. The problem isn't the size of traditional turbines. Most of the mortality seems to result from night-migrating birds (and many species are night-migrating). Specifically, the problem seems to stem from the required aviation safety lighting. Since these devices will be flying at an altitude of more than 199 feet (the FAA thresshold), they will almost certainly have to comply with the FAA lighting requirements.
There is something about lighting - not yet fully understood - that seems to cause birds to be attracted to these obstacles and to circle around them. There are decades of studies involving many colors and types of lights. The only strong conclusion that one can draw is that a period of darkness permits the birds to resume their original flight pattern.
How best to achieve that state - a period of darkness - is problematic. There is some limited evidence that strobe lights may not be as problematic as flashing incandescent lights, but this needs further investigation because the study involved white strobes. The FAA permits the removal of the red steady-burning side lights from towers lit with white strobes. Therefore, it is unclear if the observed effect was due to the absence of the steady burning lights as opposed to the characteristics of the white strobes themselves. As you might imagine, white strobes can be problematic in populated areas because residents in the area usually find them objectionable (that's why most white strobe towers change to red strobes at night).
Bottom line - there is no free lunch. This may be a great advancement in wind energy technology, but that doesn't mean it won't hurt birds or have some other environmental downside.
12:42 PM