“How Many Birds Do Wind Farms Kill?” (pro-wind concern)
By Robert Bradley Jr. -- May 31, 2024
“[Hannah] Ritchie ends with suggestions for better results for wind’s avian mortality problem, including ‘Turn off wind turbines at very low speeds when bats are around … Don’t put wind farms in high-risk areas for birds and bats … Paint the turbines Black … Play alert noises to bats and birds to deter them.’ But … these things limit wind siting, increase costs, and/or annoy local neighbors.”
A social media post by Hannah Ritchie (sustainability researcher, University of Oxford) on industrial wind power is worth revisiting. She works within the climate alarm/forced energy transformation narrative (“Bird species are under threat from climate change”) but considers the question:
It would be worrying, then, if a move to low-carbon energy increased pressures on bird populations. That’s a common concern as countries move to wind power.
After noting that “cats, buildings, and cars kill far more birds than wind power,” and windows kill more birds than wind turbines, she gets to the real question:
https://www.masterresource.org/cuisinarts-of-the-air/wind-bird-kill-ritchie/