Washington Post Article on Bats/Wind Turbines

[Phil Winkler]

Today's Post has an article about a caver in WV starting a law suit to ban the building of wind mill turbines in Greenbrier Co because they may kill Indiana Bats. He cites the Endangered Species Act. Fellow's name is Cowan and he is an NSS member living down there now.

[Ernie Coffman]

And, is Dave ever going to be POd, what with that second guy's message, below the article about his being "an old fool." Whewee! Dave has been working for the bat population for years and years, and many of you will remember him from various conventions over the years, what with selling FART t-shirts to gather up funds to study foul air in California; his carbide cannon in W. Virginia to raise funds, etc., etc. Dave's a great caver! Owns property with two caves on it and has been pushing for saving caves and bats over the years; thus, get in there and support the message that he's sending out.
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryla ... 3969.story

[wyandottecaver]

pretty compelling evidence from numerous studies that very large turbines impact bats and especially birds, though some mitigation measures such as location and time of operation may help. BCI has been heavily involved in research. The reality is that wind power is going to explode in areas suitable for it. Its clean, cheap, and cars driving along bottomland roads at night near water probably kill far more bats overall...

[tncaver]

There are also hopes that new technology involving radar or a high pitched signal to direct bats away from the blades, may be
effetive. Also, a method of slowing blades down to a less hazardous speed has been mentioned. I'm all for GREEN energy, especially if it can be done with minimum or no impact on species, endangered or not. Solar would be ideal if the price can
be reduced. Biodiesel is also a good alternative until something better comes along.

[Cheryl Jones]

Here's some interesting information I read a couple of weeks ago.

"....For example, the John Amos [coal fired] plant [Winfield, WV] has a nameplate capacity of 2,933 megawatts; assuming 90 percent efficiency, it has an effective capacity of 2,640 megawatts and occupies less than one square mile. Using the calculations of T. Boone Pickens, to obtain the same nameplate capacity in windy North Texas, a wind farm requires an area of 396 square miles. But wind power is only about 25 percent efficient, so the same effective capacity requires 1,584 square miles. "

Would trees need to be cleared from that 1584 sq miles? That's an area about 40 miles x 40 miles. Or if laid out along the higher elevations, for WV that's a heck of a lot of ridgetop real estate. How can wildlife habitats not be eliminated/changed? And if we rush now to put up thousands of inefficient, bird and bat killing turbines, then money sure isn't going to be spent in a few years to tear them down and install improved versions that are more efficient and don't kill bats. Spend the money now on R&D instead.

I'm not promoting coal-fired plants, but sensibility and research when considering to use what are sold as green alternatives.

Cheryl, kind of

[tncaver]

IMHO, I think we need a variety of alternative energy solutions as opposed to a mass of any one particular type.
Too much of anything can be too much (in this case, the area that a huge wind farm might require). There are other energy alternatives that are almost being ignored. Ocean wave generation of electricity, and large scale production of bio diesel from
non food plant sources and used oils. One green energy saver that is currently beginning to bloom is geothermal heating and
cooling (ie. installing cooling coils underground for the constant temperature setting). Solar is probably one of the cleanest
solutions and produces no heat or pollutants to generate electricity. There are solutions available, but they all cost money
or have some other drawback. Hopefully, the US will adopt a variety of solutions that will gradually ween us off imported oil.

[wyandottecaver]

yes but the COAL that eeds that plant comes from mines covering much more than that....Ky and WV are several mountains short now after mountaintop removal mines

[tncaver]

Coal can be mined without mountain top removal. It was done the old fashioned way, with tunnels for years. I'm surprised
the coal companies just haven't eliminated humans by using robotic tunneling machines, sleds and whatnot. I've yet to see
any clean coal though.