The Power of Harvesting Wind

Harvesting wind to generate electricity is one of the best ways of reducing greenhouse gas emissions on a massive scale. Unfortunately, there is often great opposition to wind farms as a means of harvesting this endless, clean energy. Many people are concerned with the impact that they have on wildlife, in particular high-flying birds, while others just find them an eyesore.

Bird collisions with wind turbines are rare events, with usually no more than 2 collisions per turbine per year. However, fatalities vary according to species, bird abundances, different seasons, and the positioning of wind turbines in a landscape. In total, the number of birds killed by wind turbines represent about 0.01% - 0.02% of all birds killed by human-made structures. To put this into perspective, buildings and windows are estimated to be responsible for up to 980 million bird collisions each year in the United States alone, infinitely greater than the 10,000 - 40,000 estimated to be killed by wind turbines.

Wind has the potential to power the world. In theory, there is enough wind blowing to power all of earth's electricity needs five times over each year. However, the exploitation of wind is limited to economic and environmental factors. To power earth's current electricity needs, it has been estimated that 45,000,000 (45 million) wind turbines would be needed, at a cost of 460 trillion dollars...

Last year, 80 countries around the world were using wind power on a commercial basis, and new wind farms are being planned in many more. Do you have a wind farm in your area? Let us know what you think of it if you do. We believe wind farms are one of the best ways of ensuring a sustainable future, and a key to reducing the impact of climate change, and therefore the mass extinction of many, many species, not just a few individuals!