Daily Skeptics
Chris Morrison
Solar farms are about to reach a field near you, an ecological disaster that transforms productivity land into natural death zones. Birds often fly into panels, mistake them for water, and electrochemical and incineration are common. Once opened to large areas of sunlight, large coverage can lead to huge habitat damage and reduced insect populations. Just like the ground below the mileage of panels made in China, all of which are overshadowed by mainstream media and directorial courses that are desperate to keep net zero kite flying.
“Bird mortality has become an unexpected result of renewable energy development,” noted Hannah Vander Zanden, assistant professor of biology at the University of Florida. “There are few jobs on bird mortality on solar farms.” , although it is well known that the giant wind turbines and their associated high-power lines kill millions of bats and large birds every year. In recent work in California, Vander Zanden found that birds killed on solar farms were usually non-local, and during the migration in April and September, peaks were killed. Of course, Britain is a paradise for many migratory birds, of different sizes.
In 2023, the American Association of Veterinary Medicine published a “protection notes” called “Loss of Solar Production to Wild Birds.” It reports estimates for fish and wildlife services in the United States, i.e., the average annual bird death toll is 5.6 million, and about 8 to 50 million bird deaths may occur after collision with electrical wires. The authors observed that the construction of solar farms could lead to habitat destruction and alter plant composition and insect abundance, leading to changes in insect and bird diets.
The earliest scientific research on bird mortality in large-scale utility solar power plants was conducted in 2016 by a group of scientists working for the U.S. government-funded Argonne National Laboratory. It is estimated that casualties at solar farms are similar to those at wind turbine sites. Inferred from three large Southern California actions, scientists suggest that between 37,800 and 138,600 birds die every year in solar parks in the United States each year. These numbers have certainly been around for nearly a decade and are on the low end. Whether it is the true total, there is evidence that between 2013 and 2022, solar power in the United States rose to 12 times.
If there is any benefit to solar farms, it may be OK to accept some wildlife damage. They are not. In 2020, the World Bank published a detailed study examining solar energy potential around the world. The UK ranks second in 230 countries, leading only in nearby Ireland. In the UK winter, the sun rarely wears a hat and has disappeared before it seems to be peaking power time by 5pm. Despite the intermittent drawbacks of life-threatening, the UK government has announced plans to cover a large number of rural areas with solar panels to desperately try to get triple solar when needed most. Regarding the move, the BBC has published a really stupid offer, “You don’t even really see it when it’s in the fields, hidden behind the bushes.”
What is invisible in my mind is probably the conclusion drawn from the attitude of the Zero Zero campaigner, the Royal Conservation Birds Society (RSPB). Consider the following two quotes and try to find the difference between the first quote from the Solar Trade Association and the second quote posted by RSPB.
“Solar farms can be a safe haven for biodiversity and play an important role in natural recovery across the country.”
“Solar farms provide opportunities for the long-term existence of land where wildlife can thrive, which may help slow down the decline of farmland birds.”
On one hand, RSPB is all involved in the political climate crisis of invention and hopes to eliminate hydrocarbon use in modern industrial society within 20 years. As it becomes increasingly clear, this will lead to social collapse, and food shortages can be partially alleviated by massacre of all available wildlife! On the fantasy land of RSPB, it requires increased solar energy, onshore and offshore winds. It seems to just ignore the dilemma of millions of bats and large raptors such as eagles and eagles. They cannot escape the huge skyscrapers' tall leaves, which is also clearing the insects. Recently, it has been estimated that 1,200 tons of insects will be removed every year during the factory growing season in Germany alone. The RSPB also seems to be unaware of the disturbing rise of whales, dolphins and dolphin bunches on the British coast, which seem to track the growth of offshore wind energy. The death toll of these cetaceans has doubled since the turn of the century and now exceeds 1,000 per year.
Narratively driven commentators are ignored in the wrong ecological disaster when promoting political change in collectivism.
Chris Morrison is Daily suspicion' Environment editing.
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