Saw where George Will (that fount of Reich-Wing knowledge) said that wind farms kill more birds every year than can possibly be killed by the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. So I decided to look on-line to see how many birds are killed by wind turbines. Below is a chart I found at HowStuffWorks. Found a couple of other sites and seems like more birds are killed by power lines, towers, and windows than turbines. The bird deaths those against wind power cite are usually from before 2000. Since then the speed of the blades have slowed way down thru gearing and the blades are much easier for birds to avoid.
Man-made structure/technology_______ Associated bird deaths per year (U.S.)
Feral and domestic cats__________ ___Hundreds of millions [source: AWEA]
Power lines__________________ ____130 million -- 174 million [source: AWEA]
Windows (residential and commercial)__ _100 million -- 1 billion [source: TreeHugger]
Pesticides_______________________70 million [source: AWEA]
Automobiles _____________________60 million -- 80 million [source: AWEA]
Lighted communication towers ________40 million -- 50 million [source: AWEA]
Wind turbines ____________________10,000 -- 40,000 [source: ABC]
A while back I saw where someone had said that wind turbines kill bats. Found an article about bats and wind turbines at Advice from an Expert that basically says the bats that are killed by turbine blades are migrating bats. It is theorized that migrant bats, since they are not searching for insects or feeding, turn off their echolocation in order to conserve their energy resources.
Then again, talking head pundits especially those on the Far-Right don't care about the accuracy of their talking points, only whether or not it sounds good!!
when has truth ever been important with them folks
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