It’s also one of the most promising—some calculations suggest that strategically placed wind turbines could conceivably power the entire planet.
Each year, turbine blades kill hundreds of thousands of birds and bats.
As wind power becomes more prevalent, this number may rise into the millions—although it’s important to remember that other power generation methods likely kill far more birds than wind farms do.
This concern has led to a number of proposed interventions, from turning off wind farms during migrations to installing special whistles only bats can hear.
A new study presents a relatively low-cost, set-it-and-forget-it option: just paint one of the turbine blades black.
For three and a half years, they counted how many birds were killed by each turbine.
But a method like painting a single blade—something “practical and functional,” as the authors write, that doesn’t appreciably increase the cost or reduce the viability of wind farms overall—is exciting. »
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