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Small
Wind Factsheets
Do
Small Wind Systems Kill Birds?
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Birds
can and do collide with a wide variety of man-made structures, from
cars to lighted television or cellular phone towers to windows.
Structures such as smokestacks, power lines, and radio and television
towers have been associated with far larger numbers of bird kills
than have wind farms. Other sources of bird fatalities, such as
motor vehicles and pollution, are responsible for a much higher
proportion of total bird deaths. Even cats (domestic and feral)
account for an estimated 100 million bird deaths per year.¹
Most of the reports of birds being killed or injured by wind turbines
come from the Altamont Pass in California, one of the largest developed
wind resource areas in the world. Altamont Pass has thousands of
large, industrial-scale wind turbines, and is also habitat for Golden
Eagles and other protected species.
By contrast, reports of residential-scale wind turbines killing
birds are very rare. Statistically, a sliding glass door is a greater
threat to birds than a small, unlighted wind turbine. (The Federal
Aviation Administration does not require lighting on towers less
than 200 feet tall.)
References
1. National Wind Coordinating Committee (NWCC),
Permitting of Wind Energy Facilities: A Handbook, 2nd ed., scheduled
for publication in 2002.
Other
Fact Sheets Available on Small Wind Energy:
What is Small Wind?
How Much Noise Do Small Wind Turbines Make?
What About Visual Impact?
Small Wind Systems and Public Safety
How Do Small Wind Systems Affect Property
Values?
The Economics
of Small Wind
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