Under Clear Skies

One of conservationists biggest objections to wind farms is the possible damage that they might inflict upon migrating birds, bats etc in the form of ‘tower strikes’. To me personally it has always been a case of weighing up the greater good; with a few dead birds unfortunately probably outweighed by the benefits that renewable energy brings. Lets face it if the planet temperatures do rise significantly then the damage to bird populations is going to be much more stark than the relatively small numbers of birds that end up hitting these wind turbines. However it seems that a Spanish power company in Texas is at least making some inroads into managing the problem by using radar technology to predict when birds will most be in danger of striking turbines (during inclement weather) and using this radar to predict when to shut turbines down to minimise bird strikes. More about the isues and possible solutions in this article here.