Bats are facing a new invisible threat from wind turbines.<\/p>\n
We know that the energy industry can affect the world of animal life on Earth. But a study found that bats were facing an invisible threat<\/strong> that emerges when they fly near wind turbines around the world.<\/p>\n What is this hidden threat that has led to thousands of bats dying?<\/p>\n Over the past few decades, the world has been embroiled in the green energy transition.<\/p>\n And as this transition accelerates, some bats are facing a new invisible threat from the renewable energy sector.<\/strong> How can wind turbines cause such high fatalities among these iconic creatures?<\/p>\n Bats are just one of many animals that are essential to the global ecosystem.<\/p>\n And the fact that they have a new issue to deal with when flying near wind turbines has created an uproar among conservationists.<\/strong> Wind farms can devastate the natural habitats of many species of animals around the world.<\/p>\n This habitat fragmentation and loss lead to some species facing increasing peril of simply vanishing alongside their natural habitat.<\/p>\n Large-scale energy projects have become more and more prevalent as the global population grows.<\/p>\n While we obviously need energy to continue our progression as a civilization, the responsibility to protect the planet falls solely on our collective shoulders. As such, many nations have turned their attention to adopting the renewable energy subsector.<\/strong><\/p>\n Sectors like wind power can avert emissions from reaching our atmosphere, but can ultimately save countries from sky-high energy demand.<\/p>\n But even the clear benefits of wind power have not stopped a large number of bats from dying<\/strong> when flying near wind turbines. Even the wind power sector has not been spared from Mother Nature’s wrath.<\/a><\/p>\n Bats are remarkable creatures that serve an important purpose in maintaining the perpetual balance between humans and nature.<\/p>\n Most of us understand the potential diseases that bats can spread like wildfire<\/a>, but even Batman would face peril from this development that has emerged from wind turbines around the world.<\/strong><\/p>\n The study, “Barotrauma is a significant cause of bat fatalities at wind turbines,” published in ScienceDaily<\/em><\/a>, has explained how bats are facing fatal risks when flying near a wind turbine.<\/p>\n The wind power subsector has become a major driver of the renewable energy transition. <\/p>\n Wind turbines have undergone an evolution of sorts as new technology and materials are used in interesting ways<\/a> to create a new era of wind energy generation that puts the environment at the forefront of concerns.<\/strong><\/p>\n When wind turbines spin, they create measurable changes to the air pressure around them.<\/p>\n Researchers have found that bats, and even some birds, are hitting turbine blades around the world. But as fatalities increase, a study has found that bats colliding with wind turbine blades are not the only fatal consequence for the animals.<\/strong><\/p>\n Researchers have found that rapid changes in air pressure around wind turbine blades have caused significant increases in bat mortality rates.<\/p>\n They found that of the bat specimens that they examined, over 90% suffered internal hemorrhaging due to barotrauma.<\/strong> This led to substantial calls from conservationists for mitigation strategies to be developed by wind farm operators to avert a disaster.<\/p>\n The most proven method that was developed involved raising cut-in speeds.<\/p>\n This is the wind speed at which turbines start to generate energy. By implementing this method, wind farms have seen bat fatalities reduced by as much as 93%,<\/strong> potentially saving millions of bats in the process.<\/p>\n This development has proven that not every renewable energy project is a success<\/a>, and we actually need to keep a close eye on how we advance the sector.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Bats are facing a new invisible threat from wind turbines. We know that the energy industry can affect the world of animal life on Earth. But a study found that bats were facing an invisible threat that emerges when they fly near wind turbines around the world. What is this hidden threat that has led … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":20065,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_focus_keyword":"bats,wind turbines","rank_math_title":"","rank_math_description":"A study has found that bats have an increased risk of dying when flying near wind turbines. A new threat has emerged that has raised alarm bells for bats.","footnotes":""},"categories":[83],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20026","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-earth"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20026","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20026"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20026\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20065"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20026"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20026"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20026"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}How powering the world has adversely affected animal life on Earth<\/h2>\n
With great power generation comes great responsibility<\/h2>\n
Study reveals how bats are facing fatal issues near wind turbines<\/h2>\n
Barotrauma is the cause of increased bat mortality<\/h3>\n