The wind power advances by giant steps, and is already a key energy for reduce dependence on Russian gasand stop climate change. But she is also responsible for the death of hundreds of thousands of birds year. There is a solution, which you are not going to like: paint the turbines with black stripes alternate.
The wind turbinesthe classic windmills, already generate the 23% of electricity that is consumed in Spain. And the figure will increase in the coming years, with the aim of cutting dependence on polluting fuels.
But wind turbines have a problem: they are the cause of the death of thousands of birds, many in danger of extinction. Birds don’t see them and crash into their blades, or are sucked in by the suction they generate.
The companies responsible for the installations use different methods to try that animals do not approach the blades from the turbines, from speakers that emit sounds and noises, to the construction of the wind farm itself, avoiding migratory passages or nests.
Turbines with black stripes, is it viable?
Despite preventive measures, some studies have estimated that every year between 150,000 and 500,000 birds die worldwide, due to windmills. It is a terrible figure, although many more die from pollution and climate change.
The bad thing is that this figure is that it will increaseas more are installed wind turbines. What can you do about it?
As reported by NewScientist, a study carried out in Sweden a couple of years ago found that painting a single blade of the turbine of black color, reduces bird deaths by 70%. Now another investigation signed by Graham Martin, from the University of Birmingham, and Alex Banks, from Natural England, proposes paint the wind turbines with black stripes alternate.
They assure that this pattern is highly contrasted, so that the birds can see it even in almost the dark. When the blades rotategenerates an effect of “flicker” which will scare the birds away.
The solution seems pretty obvious: get the blades can be seen from afar for the ones birds dodge them. But it is just the opposite purpose for which they were designed.
The wind turbines are white, precisely, so that they go unnoticed and humans see them as little as possible. What is the same thing that happens to the birdsthat’s why they bump into themor they get too close and get sucked in.
There does not seem to be an intermediate solution: if they are white they kill thousands of birds, and if we paint the blades of the wind turbines with black stripesThey hurt the eyes. What solution are we left with?