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> Reflector based solar plants and wind plants are causing so much ecological damage that their initial designers and proponents are now advocating against thei
by Panino 8y ago
> Reflector based solar plants and wind plants are causing so much ecological damage that their initial designers and proponents are now advocating against their use. At the same time these plants are consuming huge amounts of land that must be cleared of native flora and fauna. The guys building the Ivanpah solar plant have been walking off their jobs because of the wildlife destruction they were causing[1].
I've lived in places with massive wind farms and the turbines don't take up very much space. Each one displaces a small amount of corn or soybeans, perhaps enough to feed a family of 4 when considering the small perimeter and dirt driving paths (stupid trade wars notwithstanding). And each turbine creates enough energy to power 200 homes or so, which to me is a great tradeoff.
I encourage everyone to watch the 3 minute, 11 second video linked that presumably supports the claim that wind energy is causing massive ecological damage. You'll find that wind energy isn't even discussed in the video, which is about a solar reflection plant that boils water to power a turbine. The project designers moved, according to the video, roughly 173 tortoises, to another location. And quoting the video, they found "no significant difference in the survival or mortality" of those tortoises.
The strongest statement against this clean energy plant was a claim that in the 1940s or 1950s, there were lots of tortoises in that area. Was the plant created in the 1950s? Did the plant cause the tortoises to die or go somewhere else? I don't know when the plant was created but I'm guessing it was recent, and if so, it would be dishonest to blame it for a change that sounds like it started in the 1950s.
I started supporting wind energy in 1992, and am a bigger supporter today.
I'm not against nuclear energy; I think we need more of it. That said, nuclear proponents will probably have better luck comparing nuclear to coal than by attacking clean renewable energy like wind and solar. Wind and solar are here, they're good, and they're part of the future.
- kuzehanka 8y agoThe linked video is about Ivanpah which in addition to the wildlife displacement, kills around 6000 birds each year by incinerating them mid light. At no point was that video purported to be related to wind energy. If you want to read up on the impact of wind energy, let me google it for you. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_impact_of_wind_power#Impact_on_wildlife https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_impact_of_wind_p... https://www.wind-watch.org/pix/displayimage.php?pid=26&fullsize=1 https://www.wind-watch.org/pix/displayimage.php?pid=26&fulls... http://batsandwind.org/research/post-construction-fatality-surveys/ http://batsandwind.org/research/post-construction-fatality-s... https://www.nbcnews.com/mach/science/wind-energy-takes-toll-birds-now-there-s-help-ncna866336 https://www.nbcnews.com/mach/science/wind-energy-takes-toll-... Each turbine requires the clearing of 5 acres of land around it. Each turbine 'powers 200 homes or so'. There are 128 million homes in the US. That's 640k turbines. That's 3.2m acres of land cleared of vegetation and wildlife just for turbines, nevermind access roads, energy storage, etc. Wind turbines currently supply 8% of US demand and at this scale they kill around 200k birds, 600k bats and ~10 people in maintenance accidents each year. Multiply those numbers by 12.5 to power all of US. Multiply those numbers again by 10 to power china. By 100 to power the world. Starting to get the sense of how absurd this idea is outside of small-scale feel-good wind farms that look past the ecological damage? France is what the future of sustainable and renewable power looks like. It's mostly nuclear. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electricity_sector_in_France#/media/File:Electricity_production_by_sources_in_France.png https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electricity_sector_in_France#/... Wind and solar are simply inadequate to be compared to fossil fuels or nuclear for base load supply.
- imtringued 8y agoPretty much any tall structure kills birds. Even a skyscraper can wipe out an entire swarm of birds. https://www.theverge.com/2017/5/13/15635240/texas-songbirds-skyscraper-save-migrating-birds-audubon-society https://www.theverge.com/2017/5/13/15635240/texas-songbirds-...