The Threat of Electricity Production Plants to Birds
25 May 2009
Are Wind Farms Actually the Most Dangerous? Several studies have been published so far about wind farms causing the death of birds and bats. However, not as much data have been collected about the impacts of other energy power plants, like nuclear and fossil-fuelled power plants, as professor Benjamin K. Sovacool from the National University of Singapore points out in his recent study “Contextualizing avian mortality: A preliminary appraisal of bird and bat fatalities from wind, fossil-fuel, and nuclear electricity”, which will be published on the upcoming issue of Energy Policy. No research has been done to calculate the number of avian deaths per kWh from each type of energy source, that would allow more meaningful comparisons between different forms of electricity supply.

Professor Sovacool’s preliminary study highlights the fact that avian wildlife can not only perish by striking wind turbine but also starve to death in forests ravaged by acid rain, ingest hazardous and fatal doses of mercury, drink contaminated water at uranium mines and mills, or die in large numbers as climate change wreaks havoc on migration routes and degraded habitats.

According to this research, in terms of birds killed per unity of electricity produced, nuclear power is slightly worse but still comparable to wind energy, while fossil-fuelled facilities are much more dangerous to birds than wind farms on a per kWh basis. Average avian mortality for wind appears to be about 0.269 fatalities per GWh, while for fossil-fuelled power stations it appears to be about 5.18 fatalities per GWh.

Prof. Sovacool calls in short for a more comprehensive analysis of all the impacts that electricity sources have on wildlife, besides wind power, in order to properly balance and contextualize the issue.
Moreover it reminds us that what can sometimes be considered the most obvious consequence of a particular energy system may not always be the most meaningful or important."
 

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