ALTERNATIVE ENERGY KILLS MILLIONS OF BIRDS

All kinds of birds, including eagles, are being killed by solar installations and by wind turbines

The environmentalists want to have it both ways. They insist that the world must stop using fossil fuels to produce energy while at the same time insisting on the preservation of the ecosystem conservation of wildlife. Unfortunately, especially for the birds, they cannot have it both ways. Solar installations and wind turbines are killing millions of birds, including our majestic eagles.

A number of solar energy plants have sprung up in the California desert. These have proved deadly for migratory birds. Reports indicate that the glimmering sheer of solar mirrors might tricks birds into thinking they are actually part of a body of water. The birds, especially waterfowl, dive towards the mirror panels, looking for moisture and food, only to end up dying with bones broken in the California desert sands. Just as bad if not worse, the sunlight reflected off the solar mirrors has been burning the fragile wings of birds, sending them falling out of the sky to a certain death.

The Ivanpah Solar Energy Generating System plant has just begun operating in the Mojave Desert near California’s border with Nevada. It is the largest solar power project of its kind. I wonder how many birds will be singed and killed by its 350,000 gigantic mirrors which generate temperatures of 1,000 degrees?

And now a few words about those wind turbines that seem to be sprouting up everywhere. According to Smithsonian.com, up to 328,000 birds are killed every year by wind turbines. The taller the turbines, the more birds they kill. Because tall turbines provide more efficient energy generation, some really tall ones are being built that will result in an even greater number of bird deaths.

The wind turbines not only kill birds, but they also destroy the surrounding landscape. There was a time when one could drive west on I-10 and, while descending from the California high desert into the San Gorgonio Pass near Palm Springs, be awed by a spectacular view of the desert floor edging up to San Jacinto Peak. Now all you can see is the 4,000 turbines of the San Gorgonio Pass wind farm that have sprouted up on the desert floor. A beautiful landscape has been destroyed forever.

Granted, the windows of homes and city buildings cause far more bird deaths than the solar energy plants and wind turbines. But that is little consolation to our feathered friends when they suffer a premature death at the hands of alternative energy.