Could LED\'s save the lives of Bald Eagles?
[ QUOTE ]
"With 5,000 windmills in a 50-square-mile area, the Altamont Pass is the world's largest wind farm, producing enough electricity to power 200,000 households annually. But it is also the worst in the country for <font color="red"> slaughtering birds. </font>
<font color="red">"Unable to see the whirling blades, </font> the birds fly into the turbines and get chopped up -- nearly a third of them golden eagles, red-tailed hawks, American kestrels, burrowing owls and other raptors, according to a new study released by the California Energy Commission. About 70 golden eagles a year die."
"We call it 'motion smear,' " Smallwood said. "Humans can't see the blades in a propeller-driven aircraft once they get to a certain speed. Birds experience this phenomenon at a slower speed." Link to source
[/ QUOTE ]
<font color="green"> Soooo... How about putting LED's on the blades of the windmills so the birds could see them? </font>
/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon23.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif
???
[ QUOTE ]
"With 5,000 windmills in a 50-square-mile area, the Altamont Pass is the world's largest wind farm, producing enough electricity to power 200,000 households annually. But it is also the worst in the country for <font color="red"> slaughtering birds. </font>
<font color="red">"Unable to see the whirling blades, </font> the birds fly into the turbines and get chopped up -- nearly a third of them golden eagles, red-tailed hawks, American kestrels, burrowing owls and other raptors, according to a new study released by the California Energy Commission. About 70 golden eagles a year die."
"We call it 'motion smear,' " Smallwood said. "Humans can't see the blades in a propeller-driven aircraft once they get to a certain speed. Birds experience this phenomenon at a slower speed." Link to source
[/ QUOTE ]
<font color="green"> Soooo... How about putting LED's on the blades of the windmills so the birds could see them? </font>
/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon23.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif
???