[ RadSafe ] World's Biggest Wind Park -Capacity Factor vs. Nuclear

[Syd H. Levine]

I know this is horribly off topic, but perhaps you can explain how natural 
selection will take care of the wind turbine bird problem.  Incidentally, 
radio towers also kill thousands of birds each year (the worst known single 
incident involved the death of several thousand birds in one night at a TV 
tower), but natural selection has not helped much over the last nearly 100 
years in that regard.  Not flying into the guy wires is a pretty simple 
behavior, but one they still have not figured out.  James, your head in the 
clouds...or someplace a bit darker.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "James Salsman" <james at bovik.org>
To: "Stewart Farber" <farbersa at optonline.net>
Cc: <radsafe at radlab.nl>
Sent: Friday, February 24, 2006 2:05 AM
Subject: Re: [ RadSafe ] World's Biggest Wind Park -Capacity Factor vs. 
Nuclear


> The tip velocity may be higher, but the overall risk of collision
> is much lower now.  Those of us who understand natural selection
> are convinced that birds will learn to avoid the turbines; it's
> not a particularly difficult behavior.  Starlings migrate, too.
>
> Wind as well as hydro and solar are all fusion power available
> today, with the reactor reasonably sited eight light-minutes away.
>
> Sincerely,
> James Salsman
>
>
> Stewart Farber wrote:
>
>> RE: Lies, damned lies, and statistics
>>
>> Hello all,
>>
>> A modern 1 MW wind turbine typically has a blade diameter of 62 meters or 
>> greater and turns up to 23 rpm. Thus these 3 bladed 1 MW wind generators 
>> have a tip velocity of about 245 feet/second, a much higher tip speed 
>> than the older 1970s vintage wind turbines.  Smaller turbines  had higher 
>> rpm but much lower blade velocity along the outer blade elements vs. 
>> today's 1 MW or larger turbines.  In part,  the high tip speed of modern 
>> wind turbines is what led me to author a satire about the serious hazard 
>> of a "Loss of Blade Accident" [LOBA] in wind power generation back in 
>> 1981. This satire was based on an actual LOBA at a windmill in California 
>> when the President of the company which supplied a turbine to a windfarm 
>> was inspecting the tower, and fell to his death when the windmill threw a 
>> blade.
>>
>> The main point is that  modern large wind turbines have proven very 
>> damaging to birds and especially raptors and migrating birds,  which are 
>> totally fooled by the 203 foot diameter blades with their extremely high 
>> tip element velocity, which is almost 25% the speed of sound.
>>
>> Comparing what is claimed by Mr. Salsman about what house cats may or may 
>> not do in an urban setting to starlings and grackles vs.the  large 
>> numbers of raptors and migrating birds killed near wind farms covering 
>> huge areas is a completly inappropriate and meaningless comparison.
>>
>> Stewart Farber, MS Public Health
>> Air Pollution Control
>>
>>
>>
>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "James Salsman" <james at bovik.org>
>>
>>> Otto Raabe wrote:
>>>
>>>> Wind farms are dangerous to birds, they can kill flocks of birds.
>>>
>>>
>>> That was also true in the 1970s, when the fast 25 kW turbines killed
>>> many raptors.  The new multi-megawatt turbines spin much more slowly,
>>> and kill fewer birds per acre of wind farm usage than house cats over
>>> the same suburban area.
>>>
>>> Sincerely,
>>> James Salsman
>>
>>
>>
>>
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