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Resource Documents: Impacts (129 items)
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Unless indicated otherwise, documents presented here are not the product of nor are they necessarily endorsed by National Wind Watch. These resource documents are shared here to assist anyone wishing to research the issue of industrial wind power and the impacts of its development. The information should be evaluated by each reader to come to their own conclusions about the many areas of debate. • The copyrights reside with the sources indicated. As part of its noncommercial educational effort to present the environmental, social, scientific, and economic issues of large-scale wind power development to a global audience seeking such information, National Wind Watch endeavors to observe “fair use” as provided for in section 107 of U.S. Copyright Law and similar “fair dealing” provisions of the copyright laws of other nations.
An analysis of displacement from wind turbines in a wintering grassland bird community
Author: Stevens, T.K.; Hale, A.M.; Karsten, K.B.; and Bennett, V.J.
Abstract – Wind energy development is rapidly increasing within breeding and wintering ranges of many grassland birds in North America. Despite recognized environmental benefits of such development, wind farms have the potential to negatively impact bird communities. Using an area-search method, we surveyed grassland birds within a matrix of pastures, hay fields, and agricultural lands at a wind facility in north-central Texas during the winters of 2009/10 and 2010/11. We used binary logistic regression to examine the effect of distance from . . .
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Bat Mortality at Wind Turbines in Northwestern Europe
Author: Rydell, Jens; et al.
Abstract – We reviewed published and unpublished written reports on bat mortality at wind farms in northwestern Europe. The estimated number of bats killed per turbine annually was relatively low (0–3) on flat, open farmland away from the coast, higher (2–5) in more complex agricultural landscapes, and highest (5–20) at the coast and on forested hills and ridges. The species killed almost exclusively (98%) belonged to a group (Nyctalus, Pipistrellus, Vespertilio and Eptesicus spp.) adapted for open-air foraging. The bats were . . .
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Vibrational noise from wind energy turbines negatively impacts earthworm abundance
Author: Velilla, Estefania; Collinson, Eleanor; Bellato, Laura; Berg, Matty; and Halfwerk, Wouter
[abstract] Human activities often impact the sensory environment of organisms. Wind energy turbines are a fast-growing potential source of anthropogenic vibrational noise that can affect soil animals sensitive to vibrations and thereby alter soil community functioning. Larger soil animals, such as earthworms (macrofauna, > 1 cm in size), are particularly likely to be impacted by the low-frequency turbine waves that can travel through soils over large distances. Here we examine the effect of wind turbine-induced vibrational noise on the abundance of soil . . .
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Debunking the claim that “solar and wind are cheaper than fossil fuels”
Author: Epstein, Alex
If a company has a TV set that’s as good as others, but cheaper, they win by selling their cheaper TVs on the market. They don’t ask government to ban other TVs, to mandate their TV, or to give them hundreds of billions of dollars.
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