Note: This text is AI generated from the video transcript. Light editing was done by Dillon Jones (“human”) for accuracy of stats, proper sourcing of material, and minor sentence restructuring.
Did you know that every year, seven hundred thousand birds are killed by collisions with wind turbines? It’s a significant problem that researchers have been trying to solve for years. However, a new solution might finally be the answer.
In a recent study called “Paint It Black: Efficacy of Increased Wind Turbine Rotor Blade Visibility to Reduce Avian Fatalities,” researchers from the Norwegian Institute for Nature Research explored the effectiveness of increasing the visibility of wind turbine rotor blades to reduce avian fatalities.
While wind turbines produce clean and renewable energy, their blades can be challenging for birds to detect, resulting in unintended side effects. The concept of motion smear, refers to the difficulty birds face in perceiving moving objects such as wind turbine blades. This results in 300,000 to 700,000 bird fatalities every year according to scientists.
However, it is important to note the impact of fossil fuels which have significant negative impacts on the environment, including air and water pollution, habitat destruction, and climate change. Globally, the fossil fuel industry kills ~14 million years birds, with coal specifically causing ~7.9 million deaths. While certainly wind turbine collisions are a major issue, using it as an argument against building wind turbines ignores that the other option is significantly worse. And, luckily, the authors of this study have found a trick to massively reduce avian fatalities from wind turbines.
This study offers a simple and effective solution to a long-standing problem. By painting wind turbine blades black, we can reduce the number of bird fatalities caused by collisions with wind turbines. The authors found up to a 70% reduction in wind turbine collisions. It’s a small but significant step towards creating a more sustainable future.
If you’re interested in learning more about this study, you can find more about it here: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ece3.6592