What about Wind Turbine with Blade Guards to protect poor birds?

[Bobby TDCS]

I was wondering why noone ever installed some kind of blade guards to protect poor birds? is this because of any amount of wind blockage? or high cost? whatever it is but small compromises are better to save birds life .........
I searched the web there are designs in discussion for so called "Birds friendly wind turbine" but what about already installed turbines???
Therefore my confusion/question is why can't we install such blade guards on domestic or industrial turbines?

http://i01.i.aliimg.com/img/pb/911/627/380/380627911_059.jpg
http://www.ecofriend.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/wind_turbines_have_little_impact_on_bird_populatio ns_hg9op.jpg
http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01596/red-kite_1596489a.jpg

[Hans Sinkovec]

Hello,

I believe the only response to this inquiry must be a pragmatic one. If the questioner has made the effort to check on bird killings she must know that the greatest death rate is caused by two or three things: Tall glass buildings and towers, Cats and cars.

Depending on whose statistics you believe, and there are many credible ones out there,
anywhere between 50 and 80 million birds get killed by cats alone every year. Feral cats constitute a miniscule part of that. These numbers are as true as they are shocking.

Turbines of all sizes contribute less than 1% to the annual death rate of birds. To say
that this is not surprising because there are only so very few turbines and so many more tall buildings, communication towers, power lines, cars and cats out there doesn't change the numbers one iota. They are small, whatever the reason.

Remember, there is a well funded propaganda machine in place, supported by the fossil
fuel industry, to stem the tide and the proliferation of wind power turbines. The photo
you have supplied, perhaps unwittingly, comes from one of those sources. I know this
because that very photo has been circulating for a while.

35,000 people die every year from the flu. Anywhere between 40 and 46,000 people
die every year in car accidents of which 9,000 died in 2003 from texting. These are
numbers that boggle the mind. Yet, we as a society have learned to accept them.

Of course not all these numbers necessarily need to be this high but that is another issue
for another day, having to do with how much regulation will society tolerate to create how much common good? Just look at gun laws and motorcycle helmet laws and you'll get the
picture.

Taking more protective measures in wind turbine design than are already on the books
quickly reaches the point of diminishing return. When over 99% of bird killings are not the
result of the operation of wind turbines in this country, would it be wiser to concentrate
our limited resources on finding solutions where the impact it greater? Architects are still
building tall reflective structures. Why? We can't take cars off the road to save birds, dismantle the power grid by taking down all power lines, knock down transmission towers to take out television and then cover all tall glass buildings with bed sheets, or can we? Of course we can't.

But what about cats?

In my rural area, which is by no means atypical, just about every home owner averages one cat. Some have two, some have none. Those who keep track of such things, and not least of all veterinary societies, will tell you that about 200 birds are killed on average in one year by a single cat. Some are great hunters and exceed their statistical quota, others may hardly ever leave the house. Still, the average cannot be argued with.

Now, when my turbine goes on line in a forested area without any known migratory flight paths anywhere around, my turbine might kill less than one bird in a quarter year.
That would be average for my environment and turbine size according to AWEA statistics.

There are no rare birds and raptors around my turbine because I am in a forest and those hunt above the grassy valley way below. Tabby next door on the other hand is expected to kill 200 bird this year. I

f you really want to put the icing on this argument you might add that hundreds of thousands of more precious birds are killed by otherwise decent people, deliberately, for fun, like Quail, Pheasant, Wild Turkey, Geese, Ducks. It's called hunting.

What is there to say?

Hans