Murphy’s Law in Action – Which to choose? Save the bats or save the planet? This presents an environmental quandary. – Anthony
Wind Turbines Give Bats the “Bends,” Study Finds
August 25, 2008
Wind turbines can kill bats without touching them by causing a bends-like condition due to rapidly dropping air pressure, new research suggests. Scientists aren’t sure why, but bats are attracted to the turbines, which often stand 300 feet (90 meters) high and sport 200-foot (60-meter) blades.
The mammals’ curiosity can result in lethal blows by the rotors, which spin at a rate of about 160 miles (260 kilometers) per hour.
But scientist Erin Baerwald and colleagues report that only about half of the bat corpses they found near Alberta, Canada, turbine bases showed any physical evidence of being hit by a blade.
A surprising 90 percent showed signs of internal hemorrhaging—evidence of a drop in air pressure near the blades that causes fatal damage to the bats’ lungs.
In humans, the condition is called the bends and can affect divers and airplane passengers during ascents and descents.
(Related story: “Military Sonar May Give Whales the Bends, Study Says” [October 1, 2003])
The “Bends”
“As a turbine blade goes around, it creates lift—like an airplane’s wings—and there is a small zone of [dropping] pressure, maybe a meter or so in diameter, on the tips of the blades,” explained Baerwald, a doctoral candidate at the University of Calgary, in Alberta.
“Bats fly through this area, and their lungs expand, and the fine capillaries around the edges of the lungs burst.”
The bats’ lungs subsequently fill with fluid, and the animals essentially drown.
“We compare it to divers—they are pretty much dying of the bends,” Baerwald said.
Bats have no natural defense against the unnaturally dramatic pressure changes.
“Bats can actually detect pressure changes, but we’re talking large-scale, relatively slow changes, like the coming of a storm front,” said Baerwald. “This is something entirely different.”
Most bats that fall victim to turbines are migrating species, such as hoary bats, eastern red bats, and silver-haired bats.
There are not enough data to determine how wind turbine fatalities might be affecting populations of these slow-reproducing mammals.
Birds are also killed by blows from wind turbine rotors (see a related story), but their rigid, tubelike lungs can better withstand air pressure changes.
The study appears this week in the journal Current Biology.
Curiosity Killed the Bat
“They are the first to have done a large scale look at this [damage to the bat lungs],” Bat Conservation International (BCI) biologist Ed Arnett said of the researchers.
“It’s fascinating information,” said Arnett, who is not involved with the study.
“But ultimately it might not matter so much how [the bats] die but what is attracting them to the turbines in the first place.”
Preventing the bat deaths has challenged experts for years.
“We’ve partnered with industry and federal agencies to raise and spend about two million dollars looking for a solution,” said BCI founder and president Merlin Tuttle.
Laurie Jodziewicz, of the American Wind Energy Association in Washington, D.C., said where the turbines are placed may be the key.
“Bats are not being [killed] at all the wind projects all over the country—it is happening in some places and not others,” she said.
“We’re trying to determine before construction what areas might be risky.”
Turbines create drops in pressure drop during normal operations, so the problem could possibly be addressed by changing when the turbines run, according to BCI’s Tuttle.
“A large portion of the kills occur at the lowest wind speeds,” he said, “and at those low speeds [the turbines] are not generating appreciable electricity anyway.”
Bats also are at particular risk during migration periods in late summer and early fall, when many turbine related fatalities occur.
Arnett, Baerwald, and others are currently conducting tests to see if raising the “cut-in” wind speed at which rotors begin to turn will save bats—particularly during peak migration periods.
“It won’t eliminate the problem, but it’s a good step in the right direction,” Tuttle said.
In the 1950 we used to put a weight on fishing line pole, with a patch of cloth on the end. We would whirl it around, and the bats would follow, the weighted line and cloth target. Once we put a hook on the line. What do you do with a bat on the end of a fishing line, you hope he gets off on his own.
Life is full of unintended consequences, and this is just one of them. Thinking people do the analysis where as the feelers just plunge forward because it feels good. And, then we deal with the consequences.
Require all the windmill operators to have bat grave yard at the base of each tower. The Democrats have set us on the road to 20 percent wind power and millions of dead bats, we are going to need place to put them, so make it part of the program. Dead bat vaults at the base of each tower.
He is describing a pulmonary embolism, not so much the “bends”…
It would be more analogous with a diver holding their breath whilst ascending rapidly…… The gas expands in their lungs as the outside pressure drops, thus rupturing the lungs and capillaries …. The same seems to be happening to the bats as per the description.
While the “bends”, is the formation of bubbles in the bloodstream as excess dissolved nitrogen disassociates out of solution, due to a rapid decompression. It is not always the case, in this instance that a pulmonary embolism occurs… The bubbles can accumulate in many areas.
…. and after all this….. Windpower is a waste of time. Whether it kills bats or not.
Here’s another danger of wind farms too few people are aware of.
From the National Weather Service
“…A wind farm near a WSR-88D [weather radar] site typically causes ground clutter that cannot be. suppressed with current clutter suppression techniques. …”
A massive increase in wind power generation, such as Pickens is pushing, will lead to extensive interference with doppler weather radar operations.
If there are as many wind farms as T. Boone wants, severe storms can and will be “lost in the clutter,” leading to a failure of weather warnings, leading to damage, injury and loss of life.
Wind Turbines should be a huge problem for conservationists and environmentalists, but T. Boone is neither which is why he is trying to build a pipeline to drain the Ogallala to water lawns in Dallas.
T. Boone is old, very old and very rich so its not like he needs the money. From what I understand he intends to ive his money away after he dies rather than leave it to his kids who are kinda screwed up as I understand it. So, how is anyone supposed to guess old T. Boone’s angle on this deal?
Forgetting about the wind farm part of T. Boone’s plan, the idea of turning natural gas into transport fuel is solid. What I cannot figure is how he thinks that building windfarms is going to do anything to reduce our need for natural gas since wind farms cannot replace natural gas generators which work instantaneously on demand. Even if Wind Farms can offset a small amount of instantaneous demand, is it really worth the cost? Considering that we could be using LNG in our cars right now without the wind farms?
Try as I have, I just don’t get the environmentalists fascination with electricity, when it’s gasoline and diesel that are of the most immediate concerns. We are 100% domestic on our electricity production, but the oil we have to import. Forget about electricity! We can always build a nuke plant or even your goofy Solar and Wind projects if you insist, but neither solar, wind or nuke plants are ever going to put fuel in our tanks, power our jets or 18-wheelers.
Seems to me, that if the greens, politicians or uber-rich, were really serious about cutting “greenhouse” gases, or achieving energy independence, these guys might be pushing policies that would end our dependence on cars and jets, just to start. Whether Global Warming is real or a hoax, something like a high speed rail would be sweet for short hauls under 400 miles. I would much rather jump on a fast train and enjoy cold beer, rather than drive myself or deal with Southwest Airlines (or any other for that matter). I’m not sure, but I think that would do more for CO2 than any wind farm would.
I predict a shortage of crow.
McGrats, Steve Miloy has done some research on T. Boone and his intended Boone-Doggle and lays it out in three articles in JunkScience: The Wind Cries “Bailout!,” 10 July 2008; Is T. Boone Pickens “Swiftboating” America?, 24 July 2008; and Pickens Gives New Meaning To “Self-Government,” 31 July 2008.
The Eminent Domain decision by the SCOTUS plays large in the T. Boone scheme.
T. Boone wins on water, turbines and methane powered vehicles – pure altruism and/or philanthropy.
Craig Moore–
I will probably get in trouble for this, but Craig reminded me of this: clicky
BusinessWeek magazine also had an article about Pickens water project.
But as things unfolded, this shrewd manipulator has shown us once again that the public can be be “had” through scares and innuendo.
And don’t forget government subsidies.
Nuclear power was supposed to make electricity too cheap to meter. When was it exactly, that Americans lost their nerve with regard to progress?
March 1979.
Boone-doggle!
#B^1
They’ve taken our dams.
And I didn’t say anything because i didn’t give a damn . . .
Not only are the windmills killing birds
I am the Gorax, I speak for the birds.
The bids don’t have words, that’s the trouble with birds.
Here’s another danger of wind farms too few people are aware of.
Sowing the wind and reaping the whirlwind?
Thanks to all who have given my further leads into additional Pickens and Water stories.
Jack Koenig, Editor
The Mysterious Climate Project
http://www.climateclinic.com
Bats are for more negatively impacted from long, cold winters, then turbines. They mate in the fall and hold onto the sperm till Spring and insect arrival. If Spring is late, they delay fertilization which results in their one pup per year being born late. Many of the young babies are then abandoned as the adult female bats stop nursing to gain weight for their migration to warmer territory. The bat population in Northeast Oregon (Wallowa County), where there are no wind turbines, is way down. The rookeries, which my attic is a major rookery for Wallowa County, are WAY down in population.
If researchers and greenies want to point out real bat devastation, look at cold weather, not wind turbines.
There is a wind farm on the north shore of Oahu, just up from Turtle Bay, which has been there since before about 1993, when I first took note of it. Local inquiries indicated the several turbines have never been reliable or regularly fed into the grid, nor economically productive. This is an interesting situation for a location where the wind (almost) always blows, and there is no indigenous source of fossil power. Anyone have further details?
I agree with retired engineer. My computer model predicts that the number of turbines required to produce the 4,000 to 5,000 megawatts now generated by natural gas powered power plants will enhance the rotatinal velocity of planet Earth, due to wind, such that, in 100 years, days will be 23 hours in length and the Coriolis Acceleration will be severely affected, with possible meteorological implications. Additionally, I predict that this will disrupt transportation schedules world-wide. Unintended consequences indeed.
The good news is that according to the Theory of Relativity and the shorter days and years, our life-spans will be increased.
George M.
You’re talking about the Kahuku Wind Farm.
http://hawaii.gov/dbedt/ert/wwg/history.html
March 1979 (Three Mile Island)
Evan,
You are right on so much but here you err if you are against fission power plants. But I suppose you have no objections to fusion power plants? But they are 40 – 50 years away. I tell you what, allow fission plants to only be built below the Mason-Dixon line. Then we will be glad to sell you Yankees power (if you behave).
Fusion power has been 40-50 years away since I was born–50 years ago.
Not that I think it’s impossible, but until there’s a breakthrough there is no timeline.
REPLY: We’ll get fusion power about the same time the Popular Science flying cars come out for sale. – Anthony
REPLY 2: I’ve got an idea. Next time you come to town Anthony, I’ll take to you a Fusion restaurant.~charles the moderator aka jeez
jeez,
Artificial Intelligence is always 50 years away too. I do love the movie “AI” even with the phony global warming sub theme.
Don’t forget teleportation, time travel, and climate tipping points.
By the way, wind turbines are not a new thing. Most of Wallowa County is still peppered with them. Some work, some don’t. Wind has been harnessed for centuries. Why all of a sudden is it some whacked out idea?
I think it is hilarious! Maybe the enviro-wacko’s will allow the wind turbines to be run only from dawn until right before dusk..then shut them off as to not disturb the bats!
Talk about giving me a headache!…then, instead of giving us enough electricity to use my doorbell, they can give us just enough electricity to flick on one of those nutty lightbulbs that are dim……
I’m sure enjoying this website!! 🙂
Sincerely,
Michael
http://www.cookevilleweatherguy.com
“Why all of a sudden is it some whacked out idea?” Pamela
1. Low energy density.
2. Erratic power.
3. Kills bats
4. Will be national embarrassment one day.
[…] story on Watts Up With That? …with a comment by JB: “Your subtitle says this is an environmental quandary, but for a […]
Some points on natural gas usage.
I have been driving around for decades with a tank of explosive liquid behind me.
I can’t quite see spending extra money so I can drive around with a PRESSURIZED tank of explosive liquid/gas behind me.
I heat my house with natural gas. The price began climbing when I had to compete with power plants for it. What will the price be when I have to compete with power plants and all the cars in the country?
My car runs fine on gasoline. It is plentiful and simple to use. When supplies start to run low, we should consider other options like electricity and natural gas. Until then, if it ain’t broke, etc.
Wind power is great for connecting to a gear box which turns a big stone wheel and grind grains into flour. For a grind stone precision does not matter, neither does time. Same thing with a water pump filling a stock tank or watering a field. The wind could blow in the middle of the night and the grain would still get ground into flour, and water would still be pumped. In the modern world, electricity has set demand which modulates regularly thoroughout the day. Certainly, you would not want to wake up in the middle of the night to play on the computer or watch television anymore than you would want to go into work in the middle of the night because that is when there is the best wind.
Darn thing is, the best wind usually occurs during the middle of the night when demand for regulation is the lowest. It’s this regulation power that T. Boone intends to replace with wind energy, which simply will not work, because regulation electricity has to operate precisely and on demand to balance the load on the electric grid. Wind can never, and regardless of technological advances, will never be able to operate precisely or on demand because, it’s wind and blows when it wants to, not when we want it to.
Wind compliments hydro-power very well, because hydro power can be turned on and off very effectively. All you have to do with hydro is open a flood gate and a turbine starts spinning, and joila you have electricity. To the best of my knowledge there is no such thing as a hydro-plant in the State of Texas. I am a Texan, and a Pahandler, and can state as a matter of fact that we have no hydro-plants in the area where T. Boone is planning on building his giant wind farm. Our local power plant is coal fired, and down State, there are a few nuke plants, but mostly coal fired power stations. Coal and Nuke plants both work on thermal energy in the form of stream (currently in the State of Texasm since we do not have any gas turbine reactors, yet).
Thermal Stations are very different than a hydro station. You cannot simply turn a knob or flip a switch and turn on a thermal power plant, you have to either stoke a fire, or start a fission reaction to heat water to a critical mass until is has enough energy to turn a turbine. This takes several hours to be able to do, so when you have large quantities of wind power on the grid, what power companies are forced to do, since they have to buy all wind energy produced, is keep their thermal plants burning on a sort of stand-by mode, where if the wind cuts out, they will be able to ramp up base load power to prevent a black out. Consider a power plant’s expenses, they have to pay for a crew at their plants, they have to buy fuel, and pay interest on their loans for property, plant and equipment, plus taxes. If they have to sit there and run a spinning reserve, its still costing them money, but they are not allowed to sell their product. Of course, this added expense get’s passed down to the rate payer, while in the mean time very little if any carbon is being “offset”.
In addition to fluctuating on a daily basis, wind also fluctuates on a very short term basis, as its power varies by the hour. This requires your local power company to buy more regulation power than it would if it had a steady base load, because varying voltage changes the frequency of the current coming into your home. In America, our electronics require that our electricity is 60 hertz, and to insure this frequency regulators purchase electricity from private generators to increase the power to match the load. This power is generated from diesel and natural gas, this same stuff that T. Boone is claiming to be saving for transport fuel, while in reality, wind power increases the need for regulation, thus increasing the demand for diesel and natural gas, not the other way around.
The long and short of it is, Wind Power makes no sense, unless you have access to a large hydro plant, and even then you are not off setting any CO2 or preventing nuclear waste. All you are doing is preventing your reservoir from becoming depleted as quickly, which might not even be an issue.
In Texas, where the base load providers are 100% thermal power plants running off either coal or nuclear, wind really does not make sense, even though we are the “Saudi Arabia of Wind”. The wind blows like hell out here on the High Plains, but the more wind power that we add to the system, the worse the problem with wind power becomes. What T-Boone is proposing would amount to a nuclear plant, which turns on and off entirely at random, regardless of demand, but normally operating at around 20% of its capacity, but sometimes at 100% and sometimes at 0%, not only does this require more expensive regulation electricity, but it also requires powerlines to be built from Amarillo to Dallas which have been designed to carry 5 times the average load, which is going to increase the expense of the line. (Which Texas Taxpayers are paying for, thanks Rick Perry!)
Don’t feel too bad for us Texans though, because we are only getting part of the hosing. This scam is global in nature and they want to fleece a little off of everyone. The US government, guarntees wind power providers a market through PURPA laws, and they guarantee them about a 10% return on their investment. So you non-Texans are paying for this junk too! Not an American? Maybe a European? Guess how your countries are meeting Kyoto? Many of the wind companies in Texas are European oil companies who must meet their carbon targets, when a european company is falling behind on their carbon goals, they by carbon offsets from a Texas Wind Power Company, which increases you prices so you guys are getting fleeced too.
There are powerful reasons why Wind Power was not chosen in a free market. Back in the early days (1920-1960) before power lines ran out to farms and ranches, many farmers and ranchers had invested in windpower for their homes (on the range). As soon as they were about to get juice from a power company, they all scrapped their wind power rigs even though they were bought and paid for. Why? After all the wind is free, right?
T. Boone Pickens has started his own surface station temperature reading organization. Its called Pickens Institute for Space Studies. The guy is looking for a hand out and is jumping on this “renewable” band wagon to line his pockets.