Don’t take my word for it: the science shows that wind turbines do not harm birdlife
One of the most common criticisms made against wind farms is their supposed impact on birds: there have been irrational calls for certain facilities to be dismantled as a result of pressure.
Now, an interesting study published in Environmental Science and Technology entitled “Quantifying the effects of energy infrastructure on bird populations and biodiversity” demonstrates conclusively that wind turbine blades do not pose a real threat to bird or bat populations, and that in practice, extracting or exploiting fossil fuels poses a quantifiable and much greater threat to the planet’s avian population. In fact, there is no evidence of declining bird populations in areas with large numbers of wind turbines, and instead it is in areas where fracking is being carried out, or close to thermal power plants.
It’s easy to sensationalize the corpses of a few dead birds collected at the foot of a wind turbine, but in reality the science shows that wind turbines, although they may indeed cause the death of some birds that fly into them, do not have a significant impact: climate change, loss of natural habitats and even cats are far more important threats to birds than wind turbines. In the US, it is tru that bird populations are declining… but it is definitely not due to wind turbines.
