Wind Turbine Power and Land Cover Effects on Bat Deaths
3 days ago Guest Blogger 21 Comments
In an effort to mitigate anthropogenic carbon emissions related to energy production, wind energy is promoted as a plausible alternative. However, installing wind power facilities is directly related to land take and habitat fragmentation, through roads and artificial surfaces needed for installing wind turbines. In addition, the operation of wind turbines is directly linked to biodiversity loss via avian species fatalities. Biodiversity through various ecosystem services moderates extreme climatic events, and soil erosion among others. We are thus facing a paradox of impacting biodiversity to modulate potential anthropogenic climatic impacts, as there are strong interaction effects between biodiversity, land use and climate.
Wind energy facilities are increasing worldwide. Bats are long-lived mammals with low reproductive potential and thus high levels of adult individuals survivorship is important for maintaining a viable population. All European bat species are strictly protected under the Habitats Directive and the national legislation of many countries. Nevertheless, in the absence of specific, mandatory regulations, the effect of wind farm installation and operation on bat populations is rarely examined to a sufficient extent in environmental impact assessments. Risk assessment is of particular importance for the estimation of bats killed under wind turbines which might be often underestimated due to the fact that carcasses are of small size, not easily detected, quickly consumed by scavengers or destroyed from collisions. Death counts are improved by the use of detection dogs, cameras and digital technologies, but these methods are costly and the scale and extent of their applications limited. Ultimately for detecting how ‘clean’ wind energy is there is a need for land use and wildlife deaths assessment.
Bat deaths depend upon characteristics of the environment around wind turbines such as cover of natural, agricultural, or artificial surface areas. It is often assumed that the interaction scale of wind turbines and the surrounding environment is a few hundred meters, but in general it rarely is quantified and thus not well known. Deaths depend on wind turbine characteristics such as rotor diameter, speed, tower height which are correlated. To that end there are arguments regarding several small or fewer large wind turbines that may be less harmful. However, a study in the USA indicated deaths are best explained by the energy produced by wind turbines.
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2023/07/06/wind-turbine-power-and-land-cover-effects-on-bat-deaths/
