Watts Happening?

by Don Pettit for Peace Energy Cooperative

Busting Renewable Energy Myths: are turbines bad for birds?

m starting out this new renewable energy column Watts Happening? by busting a few common myths around the cleanest energy sources ever invented: wind and solar. Lets jump right into a hotly debated wind turbine controversy: does wind power harm or bene t birds? Thanks to the extensive environmental assessment and follow-up studies required of wind facilities in Canada, we know that the 34 turbines of Bear Mountain Wind Park near Dawson Creek killed about 160 bats and 85 birds in 2010. Not a nice thing

to know if you are both a supporter of clean energy and a bird lover, as I am. But can these numbers be put into perspective so that we can honestly evaluate the impact of wind power on birds and bats, and not just blurt out Oh! How terrible!?

I love cats, but . . .

I love birds, but I also love cats. Now theres a serious contradiction indeed! I know from my personal experience that each cat kills at least 2-3 birds per

Bear Mountain Wind Park powers BCs rst windpowered city, Dawson Creek, plus most of the South Peace region year-around, combining pollutionfree energy with an eight-kilometer hiking trail and

beautiful nature park. Maps of the park and how to get there are available at the Peace Energy Cooperative o ce and Tourism Dawson Creek.
(Don Pettit photo)

year (probably closer to 10!) no matter how many bells I attach to them or how carefully I try to keep them inside. Lets be conservative and say 2 birds per cat per year. My local veterinarian friend estimates that there are about 5000 cats in Dawson Creek. That means cats kill at least 10,000 birds per year in this city. Add in window-kill and road-kill, and the number of needless bird deaths in and around Dawson Creek comes to about 20,000 per year. Surprising, isnt it? A recent study by the University of Georgia and National Geographic peg the bird deaths by cats in North America at 500 million per year. Then add in collisions with buildings (especially glass o ce towers): one billion (yes billion) per year in North America alone. Habitat loss, though harder to quantify, is probably even more of a killer than cats and glass o ce towers. Birds and bats are de nitely in trouble on this planet, but its not because of wind power.

Climate Disruption the Biggest Threat

For bat decline, the spread of a deadly virus is now suspected, encouraged by a warming climate, much as the Mountain Pine Beetle epidemic was spread by warmer winters in northern latitudes. Unanticipated cascade e ects are now being seen on all plant and animal species around the world, and things are just getting started. If we want to protect birds and bats, in fact all wildlife, we must slow down and eventually Renewably yours, Don Pettit stop climate change. One of our best bets is a rapid shift to

renewable energy sources like wind and solar. Once set up and operating they are essentially carbonfree. A complete shift to renewables (and yes, that IS possible: the subject of a future Watts Happening column) will eventually slow and then stop climate change. Wind power has a carbon footprint, certainly. Manufacturing and installation cost carbon. But once up and running, a steady stream of carbon-free electricity quickly compensates for this carbon cost. Remember, were not burning anything because WIND is the fuel! Compare that to coal, diesel or gasred generators, which never work o their carbon footprints but only add to them. Averaged over the year, Bear Mountain Wind Park powers most of the South Peace region, and yes it has an environmental impact, but a tiny one. Every megawatt of wind power put in place is one more megawatt of polluting, carbon-belching power we do not need. No energy source is perfect. They all come with a price attached. Wind power has the smallest carbon and environmental price per watt of any readily available energy source, and wind power helps birds and bats by slowing climate change. Period. If you want to take personal, direct action that really will save and protect the precious lives of our winged friends support wind power, and by all means have your cat neutered!

Watts Happening? Quick

Fact:

China leads again. China has now outstripped all other nations in both manufacturing

and installing wind and solar power facilities, surging ahead of Denmark, Germany and the US. Predictably, their aggressive entry into the renewable energy market has caused prices for solar and wind equipment to fall dramatically worldwide.