Small Wind Turbines Towers [RE-wrenches]

[David Blecker]

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Avian mortality is one of the biggest red-herring issues thrown up as an 
obstacle to siting small wind systems!!!  Do birds die from running into 
turbine blades and towers and guy wires?  Yes.  But let's consider the fact 
that birds die all the time.  To wit....

Communication towers (TV, radio and cell) kill as many as 40-50 million 
birds per year
Windows - not the operating system: 100 million to 1 billion per year
Electric power lines:  150 million per year
Cars:  60-80 million per year
Muffy the house cat:  > 100 million per year

Furthermore, I recall reading several years ago that it would take 867 
years of wind turbine operations at Altamont Pass in order to equal the 
number of birds murdered by the 11 million gallons of oil spilled by the 
Exxon Valdez.

Residential size turbines and towers do not pose a significant risk to 
birds. Period. The towers are too short to interfere with normal avian 
activity.  Migratory flight altitudes are much higher than the towers we 
put up.  Song birds and most raptors don't fly at night.  Fog and storms do 
increase the risk factors but again, the numbers are so small as to be 
laughable were it not for the hysteria of "bird-lovers" who we typically 
find are the cranky neighbors of a proposed wind system.

Utility-scale wind farms are another story.  For those of you who haven't 
seen it, the National Wind Coordination Council has prepare several good 
documents on wind farm siting and bird issues.  See 
http://www.nationalwind.org/

David


At 12:00 PM 12/6/2002, you wrote:
>My long-term info from "a major windfarm" indicates very few actual blade
>strikes. Most hits are involving guy wires on anemometer towers and the old,
>guyed turbine towers. Like it or not, guy wires, because they are virtually
>invisible at dusk and in fog, contribute greatly to the problem. Birds do
>not hit monopole towers.
>
>Matt
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Michael Welch, Home Power" <michael.welch at homepower.com>
>To: <RE-wrenches at topica.com>
>Sent: Friday, December 06, 2002 9:50 AM
>Subject: Re: Small Wind Turbines Towers [RE-wrenches]
>
>
> > matthew tritt wrote at 09:05 AM 12/06/2002 -0800:
> >
> > >1. Bird kills. Guy wires are responsible for at least as many bird kills
>as
> > >rotor blades, most probably many more. The wires become invisible to most
> > >birds in heavy fog.
> >
> > I did some looking at this issue awhile back and discovered it is the
>towers that birds run into. And it did not matter what the tower was doing,
>whether it was for a wind machine or antenna.
> >
> > We in the industry need to be careful not to perpetuate the bird in the
>blender myth.
> >
> > Michael Welch
> >
> > ------------------------
> > "The California crunch really is the result of not enough power-generating
>plants and then not enough power to power the power of generating plants."
> > Resident George "Dubya" Bush
> >
> > Michael Welch, michael.welch at homepower.com
> >      Home Power magazine
> >      www.homepower.com
> >      To reach me: 707-822-7884
> >      To reach Home Power: 800-707-6585
> >
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>
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>

----------------------------------------------------------
David Blecker, P.E., Director
Seventh Generation Energy Systems
608-424-1870 (ph)  424-1810 (fax)
--
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