600,000 bats killed at wind energy facilities in 2012, study says

Los Angeles Times ^ | November 8, 2013 | by Monte Moron

[Oldeconomybuyer]

Over 600,000 bats were killed by wind energy turbines across the United States last year, with the highest concentration of kills in the Appalachian Mountains, according to new research.

"Dead bats are being found underneath wind turbines across North America," Hayes wrote. "This estimate of bat fatalities is probably conservative."

[Oldeconomybuyer]

600,000 is a good start.

[DoughtyOne]

I know you’re kidding, but bats do a great job of keeping the insect count lower than it would otherwise be. They’re very useful.

What I don’t understand is this. Those blades see to move so slowly. What self-respecting bird or bat can’t avoid them?

[IronJack]

Invest in guano futures.

[West Texas Chuck]

You mean to tell me, a bat, a critter that can locate a mosquito in the dark using sonar, gets whacked by a wind turbine?

They can’t hear that blade coming? That is just weird.

[TheZMan]

When you look up at the sky, the clouds seem to move slowly too.

[rfp1234]

Article by Monte Moron?

[DoughtyOne]

That’s why I try not to look up. :^)

Even better, so do the aircraft.

[DoughtyOne]

Man, Louisville must be in mourning constantly...

[Jack Hydrazine]

They must have piles of bats under each one!

[HiTech RedNeck]

The bat eaters ate all the bats.

[IronJack]

Those blades see to move so slowly.

The rotational velocity at the tip of those blades is phenomenal.

Think about it for a second ... the tip of the blade rotates through a circle of what diameter? 300? 400 feet? ... in a matter of a few seconds. Lay that circumference out on a line and it's moving pretty fast.

[HiTech RedNeck]

Oh, groan!!

[dsrtsage]

“What I don’t understand is this. Those blades see to move so slowly. What self-respecting bird or bat can’t avoid them?”

They may look slow, but the speed at the edge of those blades is like 60 mph

[Oldeconomybuyer]

Typo ... /g

[Bender2]

Re: Over 600,000 bats were killed by wind energy turbines

NOW... they tell me!

[HiTech RedNeck]

I’ve sometimes wondered why not screen type guards. But that could add so much undesired weight that it would make the windmills impractical.

[MadMax, the Grinning Reaper]

I hope they find the guano-dropping Moonbats named Pelosi, Boxer, Wasserman-Shultz, Clinton and Mooscelle. We have got to get something good out the loss of 600,000 productive, mosquito eating bats.

[TheZMan]

From Wikipedia: To reduce noise. As a rule of thumb, the noise from a wind turbine increases with the fifth power of the relative wind speed (as seen from the moving tip of the blades). In noise-sensitive environments, the tip speed can be limited to approximately 60 m/s (200 ft/s).

So that's on the low-end.

[DoughtyOne]

Poor little things look so innocent too...

Yeah, no sympathy around here. Just crickets...

[DoughtyOne]

I agree with that. You tend to think about the slow looking blade nearer the hub, but you’re right.