A house cat kills 10,000 times more birds than a wind turbine!

probe

Bad pussycat!

http://knowledge.allianz.com/en/globalissues/energy_co2/renewable_energy/small_wind_turbines_stimmel/article549.html

.probe

maniac101

I note that the statistic is quoted by the AWEA, the american equivalent of our IWEA, hardly the most impartial organisation when it comes to providing public information about wind farms. If it's true, then it's more of an argument for not keeping a cat as a pet than a justification for the development of a wind farm.

In the interests of balance, the bird's point of view is given in the link below:
http://www.abcbirds.org/conservationissues/threats/energyproduction/wind.html

Environmental Impact Assessments must now consider the impact on local flora and fauna before the development of a wind farm in Ireland. This was not always the case. Some wind farms were built without any EIA being conducted at all. Wind farms should be sited away from the known migratory paths of birds, to minimise the impact on the environment, regardless of what cats do!

bonkey

In general, I tend to find the whole "bird killing" argumuent a bit like suggesting that all nuclear stations are comparable with Chernobyl, in that it ultimately revolves around cherry-picking some disastrous choice(s) of wind farm.

Having said that, the comment linked to is suspiciously worded:

A study by the National Academy of Sciences last year found that large wind turbines in big wind farms account for less than 0.003 percent of all human-caused bird and bat deaths. And for a small turbine, you can infer that they account for even less.

Yes, you can indeed infer that a small turbine will account for less than all large turbines in big wind farms. You can't necessarily infer that a small turbine will account for less then one large turbine, nor that the total impact of an unknown quantity of small turbines must remain lower than the figure given.

Carlow52

maniac101 wrote: »

I note that the statistic is quoted by the AWEA, the american equivalent of our IWEA, hardly the most impartial organisation when it comes to providing public information about wind farms. If it's true, then it's more of an argument for not keeping a cat as a pet than a justification for the development of a wind farm.

In the interests of balance, the bird's point of view is given in the link below:
http://www.abcbirds.org/conservationissues/threats/energyproduction/wind.html

Environmental Impact Assessments must now consider the impact on local flora and fauna before the development of a wind farm in Ireland. This was not always the case. Some wind farms were built without any EIA being conducted at all. Wind farms should be sited away from the known migratory paths of birds, to minimise the impact on the environment, regardless of what cats do!

Now if we could find a known migratory path for the 164 chaps in Dail Eireann, that would be very good for the environment and your pocket:)

mumhaabu

I wonder if we removed all the cats wouldn;t the enviornemental damage caused by the multitudes of mice, rats and rabbits killed be much worse. The greenies are now trying to crack down on moggies.

Worse than Hitler, far worse I tell you.

blackbox

mumhaabu wrote: »

I wonder if we removed all the cats wouldn;t the enviornemental damage caused by the multitudes of mice, rats and rabbits killed be much worse. The greenies are now trying to crack down on moggies.

...not to mention the damage that would have been caused by those birds!