California solar power plants ignite birds mid-flight
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2. thundersnow commented 7 years ago
No one wants wildlife killed while producing energy, yet solar is still the way to go, and so is wind, simply because it's renewable, and in the long run has less of an impact on the environment than traditional sources of energy. There are other things that kill birds, should we get rid of those?
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/windows-may-kill-988-million-birds-year-united-states
I hope that some day a company will come up with a solution to protect wildlife from those risks, but still it's no reason to stop solar energy production. By the way, this video is three years old, so not very current!
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/windows-may-kill-988-million-birds-year-united-states
I hope that some day a company will come up with a solution to protect wildlife from those risks, but still it's no reason to stop solar energy production. By the way, this video is three years old, so not very current!
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4. Judge-Jake commented 7 years ago
They should have an exclusion zone using a big wire circular frame higher than the birds can fly, going all the way around the panels with thousands of strings hanging down with little corks tied to them attached to another frame on the ground. I think we should all start drinking lots more wine cos it's gonna require a fecking lot of corks hick.
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5. captain_obvious commented 7 years ago
how many birds are there in the desert?! 2?
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6. kirkelicious commented 7 years ago
#5 Apparently quite a lot more. According to statements by the operators of the site, they accidentally kill about 1000 birds anually, one for every 140 households it powers. Environmentalists name much higher figures.
Would be interesting to compare that to the number of victims from oil spills.
Would be interesting to compare that to the number of victims from oil spills.
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7. sux2bu commented 7 years ago
#5 2? Try upwards of 6000 per year , and that is just at this one facility in California. This solar farm is right in the flyway for migrating birds
which makes it even more deadly. Workers there call the burning birds "streamers" because of the smoke trails they make as they fall.
This is a very real and current problem that probably has no cure in sight. Solar and wind energy costs wildlife dearly.
http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-solar-bird-deaths-20160831-snap-story.html
which makes it even more deadly. Workers there call the burning birds "streamers" because of the smoke trails they make as they fall.
This is a very real and current problem that probably has no cure in sight. Solar and wind energy costs wildlife dearly.
http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-solar-bird-deaths-20160831-snap-story.html
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10. Hellie112 commented 7 years ago
They should use an army of Drone falcons to scare the birds away.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-4496824/Drone-falcon-used-Canadian-airport-scare-birds.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-4496824/Drone-falcon-used-Canadian-airport-scare-birds.html
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11. Urmensch commented 7 years ago
#9 You're wrong about nuclear. It is one of the cleanest energies, even taking in to account when things go wrong.
Spent nuclear fuel can now be recycled into mixed oxides that will continue to provide electricity. Solar could be good if they can minimise effects like this and improve efficiency.
#2 When people talk about Green energy they rarely mention that most of this is electricity and that only makes up about one fifth of total energy needs.
"Even put together, wind and photovoltaic solar are supplying less than 1 per cent of global energy demand. From the International Energy Agency’s 2016 Key Renewables Trends, we can see that wind provided 0.46 per cent of global energy consumption in 2014, and solar and tide combined provided 0.35 per cent. Remember this is total energy, not just electricity, which is less than a fifth of all final energy, the rest being the solid, gaseous, and liquid fuels that do the heavy lifting for heat, transport and industry."
https://www.spectator.co.uk/2017/05/wind-turbines-are-neither-clean-nor-green-and-they-provide-zero-global-energy/
I'm all for renewables, but we are far away from realising that goal, no matter how the figures are fudged to make it seem already almost achieved.
Spent nuclear fuel can now be recycled into mixed oxides that will continue to provide electricity. Solar could be good if they can minimise effects like this and improve efficiency.
#2 When people talk about Green energy they rarely mention that most of this is electricity and that only makes up about one fifth of total energy needs.
"Even put together, wind and photovoltaic solar are supplying less than 1 per cent of global energy demand. From the International Energy Agency’s 2016 Key Renewables Trends, we can see that wind provided 0.46 per cent of global energy consumption in 2014, and solar and tide combined provided 0.35 per cent. Remember this is total energy, not just electricity, which is less than a fifth of all final energy, the rest being the solid, gaseous, and liquid fuels that do the heavy lifting for heat, transport and industry."
https://www.spectator.co.uk/2017/05/wind-turbines-are-neither-clean-nor-green-and-they-provide-zero-global-energy/
I'm all for renewables, but we are far away from realising that goal, no matter how the figures are fudged to make it seem already almost achieved.
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12. thundersnow commented 7 years ago
#11 One percent is very little, and I agree, we are not even close to the goal of all renewable energy. I agree with opinions like yours, who are clearly for developing renewables, even though being aware that we still need traditional energy sources at the same time. Just don't like some of the opinions out there, that are completely rejecting renewable energy and refuse to admit that in the long run it is the better kind, too many of those are coal industry supporters.
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13. Judge-Jake commented 7 years ago
Of course another option is to find out exactly which bird species fly over this area and fireproof them. Or get a guy on a really tall ladder shouting shoo!!
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14. snotraddict commented 7 years ago
You couldn't build an outhouse for hikers enjoying he environment in that "protected" region, yet we're willing to trample the area with thousands of solar panels and burn birds out of the air.
That's one of the many, problems I have with the Left and environmentalists, whatever their favor, they're willing to make concessions, but if it's not their favor, watch out.
Ironic?
That's one of the many, problems I have with the Left and environmentalists, whatever their favor, they're willing to make concessions, but if it's not their favor, watch out.
Ironic?
+5 1. cameramaster commented 7 years ago