There seems to be a strong tendency to downplay, ignore, or doubt any negatives associated with renewables because the alternative, fossil fuels, is worse. While true, ignoring or downplaying legitimate problems is a disservice to those impacted. These issues are being taken quite seriously within the ecological community and there are entire organizations dedicated to working on them (https://rewi.org/).
While house cats and oil spills have massive impacts, it is important to acknowledge birds and bats are not homogenous groups; while song birds are heavily predated by house cats* the same can't be said of raptors, which, in turn, are affected by turbines that overlap with their range. There is growing concern that turbines disproportionately affect migratory tree bats. One species, the hoary bat, seems to particularly impacted, and if careful considerations aren't made turbines could affect their population viability.
Is this to say that wind energy is unusable? Of course not. Things aren't so binary. It is to say though, that the siting of turbines should take wildlife into consideration, that we need to continue to research mitigation measures such as operational curtailment and deterrents (said measures need to actually be adopted), and that we should have diverse energy profile to meet our needs.
wildlifewyatt t1_j348mz1 wrote
Reply to Wind power is built at an increasing pace but its effect on nature and animals is poorly known. Researchers investigated the impact of wind turbines on bat presence and activity in Finnish boreal forests. The results indicate that wind power repels bats and drives them away from important habitats. by universityofturku
There seems to be a strong tendency to downplay, ignore, or doubt any negatives associated with renewables because the alternative, fossil fuels, is worse. While true, ignoring or downplaying legitimate problems is a disservice to those impacted. These issues are being taken quite seriously within the ecological community and there are entire organizations dedicated to working on them (https://rewi.org/).
While house cats and oil spills have massive impacts, it is important to acknowledge birds and bats are not homogenous groups; while song birds are heavily predated by house cats* the same can't be said of raptors, which, in turn, are affected by turbines that overlap with their range. There is growing concern that turbines disproportionately affect migratory tree bats. One species, the hoary bat, seems to particularly impacted, and if careful considerations aren't made turbines could affect their population viability.
Is this to say that wind energy is unusable? Of course not. Things aren't so binary. It is to say though, that the siting of turbines should take wildlife into consideration, that we need to continue to research mitigation measures such as operational curtailment and deterrents (said measures need to actually be adopted), and that we should have diverse energy profile to meet our needs.
Some relevant information on the topic:
https://wildlife.org/rapid-declines-raise-concerns-about-hoary-bats-future/#:~:text=Hoary%20bats%20occur%20throughout%20North,have%20proliferated%20in%20recent%20decades.
https://cdnsciencepub.com/doi/abs/10.1139/Z07-011
https://wildlife.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jwmg.22244