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The Birds and The Breeze - Making Wind Power Safe for Wildlife
By Frances Cerra Whittelsey, from Sierra Magazine, published by the Sierra Club, January/February 2007 Efforts to make turbines safer for birds seem to be working. According to a 2003 study of 4,700 turbines located outside California, each killed 2.3 birds per year. That's a tiny number compared with the hundreds of millions of birds that fall prey to cats every year, or the 4 million, at minimum, that collide with communication towers. And it pales in comparison to the number of birds and other creatures that would be killed by catastrophic global warming. Read more >>>
CalWEA's Independent Review of 2004 California Energy Commission Report on Avian Issues
CalWEA commissioned three independent scientific reviews of the consultant report, "Developing Methods to Reduce Bird Mortality in the Altamont Pass Wind Resource Area," and numerous significant statistical and methodological errors were found. CalWEA and others in the wind industry have been highly critical of the quality of this report, whose estimates of avian fatalities in the Altamont are significantly higher than those found in previous studies, fueling anti-wind efforts around the globe. Read more >>>
California Energy Commission Releases Its Own Peer Review Study of Altamont Pass Avian Report
On behalf of the California Energy Commission (Energy Commission), the California Institute for Energy and Environment (CIEE) conducted three peer reviews - with a primary focus on statistics - of "Developing Methods to Reduce Bird Mortality in the Altamont Pass Wind Resource Area." These peer reviews show that the report did not provide a credible statistical evaluation of the data and is not suitable as a basis for policymaking or law enforcement. Read more >>>
Nature Writer Bill McKibben Puts Wind's Environmental Impacts in Perspective
"No More Mr. Nice Guy --Climate change is pushing this easygoing enviro over the edge" - from Grist, January 12, 2006. [W]hat we need to say is: every bird, and everything else that we know, is fundamentally at risk in the next few decades. In the name of birds, I want that windmill on my ridge. In the name of wild beauty, I want that windmill out my window…… Read more >>>
Wind vs. Coal: False Choices in the Battle to Resolve Our Energy Crisis
By Tara Lohan, from Alternet, February 15, 2007. When you cross the border into West Virginia along I-64 the welcome sign that used to say, "West Virginia: Wild and Wonderful," now says, "West Virginia: Open for Business." It is a sign of the times. According to a few area residents, the sign change coincidently occurred this fall around the same time that the state decided to approve an application for development of the largest wind farm east of the Mississippi. Read more >>>
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+ As a result of strong public policy, California was the first U.S. state in which large wind energy projects were developed, beginning in the early 1980's.
+ Wind energy projects totaling 3,141 MW of capacity are operating in California today, providing enough electricity to power about 829,000 California households. This represents a near-doubling of capacity since California's RPS law was adopted in 2002.
+ Wind energy projects comprise most of the development that has occurred under California's renewable energy law as of 2010.
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