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It seems that when bats fly too close to windmills they enter an area of reduced air pressure and that causes their lungs to explode. Needless to say, that is not good for the bat. In a nation that spends billions to save all types of creatures n even toads n that does not bode well for windmills. And once again, I am not making this up. There is even a name for what happens when bats fly too close to windmills and blow up. Barotrauma. But there is good news. There is a solution. Scientists believe that if we simply turn the windmills off during low winds then bats will be safe. Alright. I get it. Everyone is wondering what we would do without scientists/Dan Hammes, St. Maries Gazette-Record. More here.
Question: What priority should the Obama administration put on the discovery and implementation of alternative forms on energy?
D.F. Oliveria is a columnist and blogger for The Spokesman-Review. Huckleberries Online was judged the best 2008 Idaho newspaper blog by the Idaho Press Club. And the best 2007 news blog in the Pacific Northwest by the Society for Professional Journalist. Print Huckleberries is a past winner of the Herb Caen Memorial Column contest by the National Association of Newspaper Columnists. The Readership Institute of Northwestern University cited this blog as a good example of online community journalism.
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Cabbage Boy on May 06 at 10:34 a.m.
Obama needs to save the bats.
Bent on May 06 at 10:58 a.m.
Wow, I wonder if there are any youtube videos of “Barotrauma.” I am going to check that out…
idawa on May 06 at 11:03 a.m.
just a point of clarification, barotrauma isn’t a specific term pertaining to bats - but a general condition that any mammal can experience given a quick pressure change. When you learn to SCUBA you learn all about barorauma. (ie, this term was not coined to describe this specific instance of bat trauma).
Cis on May 06 at 11:04 a.m.
OH, PLEASE, ….give me a break!
So we give up cheaper electric for bats, now?
Give me a break…
Cabbage Boy on May 06 at 11:12 a.m.
Think of the consequences! No bats = more bugs. More bugs makes it hard to drive through Montana in the summer. Driving through Montana in the summer is already hell.
Save the bats.
spokelooneh on May 06 at 12:14 p.m.
Not sure I’ve a more ignorant screed in a long time. The bat problem has been known about for YEARS. The bat conservation organization is working with the wind energy associate to mitigate the problem.
The author writes that the renewable energy industry is going bankrupt, and implies that huge sums have been lost by investors in the sector. Patently false. While there were some big loses in the 80’s, and while there will ALWAYS be some outfits going out of business in a CAPITALIST economy, the renewable energy business as a whole has been growing profitably at an astonishing rate, enriching shareholders, VCs, and other investors.
Historically, $150B in constant dollars have been spent subsidizing wind, solar, other renewable, and nuclear. $140B of that went to nuclear.
Florida Power and Light’s proposed nuclear plants have recently released projected construction budgets that are THREE TIMES more expensive than they originally estimated just a year ago, a staggering $17B for one power plant.
Reacting to these costs: “”Completely mind-boggling,” says Charlie Beck, who represents ratepayers for Florida’s Office of Public Counsel. “A real wake-up call,” says Dale Klein, President Bush’s chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). “I’ll admit, the costs are daunting,” says Richard Myers, NEI’s vice president for policy development.
The math gets ugly in a hurry. McCain called for 45 new plants by 2030; given the nuclear industry’s history of 250% cost overruns, that could rise to well over $1 trillion. Ratepayers would take the main hit, but taxpayers could be on the hook for billions in loan guarantees, tax breaks, insurance benefits and direct subsidies—not to mention the problem of storing radioactive waste, if Congress can ever figure out where to put it.”
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1869203,00.html
Back to the bats, the far more serious problem is white nose fungus that’s killing off ENTIRE colonies of bats, dwarfing the wind turbine problem, which is minuscule in comparison. The problem started out in the Northeast, but is migrating to the very large colonies of bats that live in the middle south.
“”If this continues to spread, we are talking about extinctions,” said Thomas Kunz, an ecologist and bat expert at Boston University. “I’ve studied bats for 44 years. This is unprecedented in my lifetime. It’s not alarmist. These are just the facts.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/10/AR2009041003631.html
I’m sure the rubes in Benewah County reading this schlock are saying “Yuk yuk yuk, see Myrtle, I’s told you dem wind turbines were a commie plot to steal our tax dollars and kill the bats. Yuk yuk.”