Wind turbine and renewable energy

The debate continues about the value of wind turbines in the creation of renewable energy. The news article below from January, 2005, points out that the wind turbines near Tracy, California, have been steadily turning out clean energy for twenty years but also that the "massive fiberglass blades on the more than 4,000 windmills have been chopping up tens of thousands of birds that fly into them, including golden eagles, red-tailed hawks, burrowing owls and other raptors."

Clearly there is a collateral cost to using alternative sources of energy and not everyone realizes this when they hear how much the projects contribute to regional energy needs. The segment below from the USA Today report provides some insight into what has been done to resolve issues in the California project.

USA Today
January 5, 2005
John Ritter

ALTAMONT PASS, Calif. — The big turbines that stretch for miles along these rolling, grassy hills have churned out clean, renewable electricity for two decades in one of the nation's first big wind-power projects.

But for just as long, massive fiberglass blades on the more than 4,000 windmills have been chopping up tens of thousands of birds that fly into them, including golden eagles, red-tailed hawks, burrowing owls and other raptors.

After years of study but little progress reducing bird kills, environmentalists have sued to force turbine owners to take tough corrective measures. The companies, at risk of federal prosecution, say they see the need to protect birds. "Once we finally realized that this issue was really serious, that we had to solve it to move forward, we got religion," says George Hardie, president of G3 Energy. Read more...