The Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Project in Nevada is set to come online in March. Once completed, it will use thousands of mirrors to focus sunlight on a tower, melting millions of pounds of salt contained inside. The molten salt will heat water into steam, which then turns turbines and generates electricity without any carbon byproducts. There’s just one little problem: During a test run on January 14, the intense heat from the mirrors reportedly incinerated and/or vaporized more than 100 birds.
Rewire reports that during the test, operators fired up a third of the 110-megawatt facility’s mirrors, concentrating sunlight on a spot 1,200 feet off the ground. Over a six-hour period, biologists counted 130 "streamers," or trails of smoke and water left behind as birds ignited and plummeted to their deaths. Rewire’s anonymous source said that at least one of the birds "turned white hot and vaporized completely."
Another solar power plant, Ivanpah, reportedly scorches one bird every two minutes. Both companies are trying to devise measures to keep birds out of the concentrated solar energy.
It’s certainly a gruesome way to die. But solar power plants may not be that much worse for birds than other sources of electricity. This graph from a U.S. News & World Report in 2014 shows that overall, fossil fuels cause a lot more feathered fatalities.
However, the chart is not a perfect data source. The estimates weren’t taken in any standardized way, and some of the studies were outdated. It’s also not an apples-to-apples comparison, since fossil fuels supply way more power to U.S. homes than renewable sources. So we combined the chart with data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration to calculate how many birds each type of power kills for every 1,000 megawatt-hours of power that’s generated. It's just a back-of-the-envelope calculation, but here’s what we found:
Coal still stands out as the big bad bird killer, but solar and wind power aren’t so angelic either. If you accept the higher estimate for solar power, the impact on our feathered friends is higher than for oil and natural gas. Does that mean we should stick to fossil fuels? Of course not. (A world scorched by climate change is good for nobody.) But it does underline the fact that clean energy needs to clean up its act.
I think that this is a good idea but also a bad one. The good part is that there finding new ways of electricity of everything. But the bad thing is that it kills off many birds and that could be a problem for their population and everything.
ReplyDeletethis is a good idea that SOLAR POWER MAKE electricity
ReplyDeletefor everything but it also harms the birds. in January 14,heat from the mirrors vaporized more than 100 birds. if they keep on doing that the birds population will be in danger
I think this is a cool idea other than the fact that it kills off birds. I think it's good that people are figuring out how to make electricity, but what's the point if it kills off hundreds of birds? Overall I think this is a cool idea.
ReplyDeleteI think the solar power part is pretty awesome, but the killing birds is not so awesome. Solar power is something we should get in to but we need to figure out how to stop killing birds. Because imagine if we have a lot of the solar panels. A lot of birds would end up dying because there is so many. So I think we need to work on the solar panels so they don't kill. But the idea of solar panels is pretty cool.
ReplyDeleteI think the solar power idea is crazy yet amazing. I believe solar panels are cool, but if they wouldn't kill birds it would be better. It's good that people like to make electricity because our technology is getting better each day.
ReplyDeleteI'm surprised that a solar panel can cause birds to vaporize. The amazing thing about this is that the solar panel is collecting that much energy. It's sad that birds are dying from the solar panel and if its that dangerous it should be shut down.
ReplyDeleteI have mixed emotions on this idea. On the good side, they are finding new ways to create electricity. But on the bad side, it's killing off birds. To be honest it sounds pretty dangerous & is messing w the environment.
ReplyDeleteThis coukd benefit us, but endanger the birds. If they could find a way to keep the birds from getting harmed it could also do thus to other animals. If they could find a way to keep this from happening it would be good without messing with the animals around it.
ReplyDeleteI'm kind of iffy on this. It's great that there is a way to save electricity but it's killing our birds. If they could find another way or method it would be great
ReplyDeletei think that this is a good process but bad. Because i mean its good that we are making good progress with new electricity. But it's also bad because they are harming the birds and that is very bad for the environment.
ReplyDeleteIt's a great way that the solar energy could make electricity but It needs to be a different way to test it instead of killing many birds
ReplyDeleteI don't really know about this situation. it's a great way to save electricity though. it' also bad because its killing our birds. I think its messing up our environment.
ReplyDeletethis is a great way to save electricity. But it's killing our birds. it's amazing how the solar panels could collect so much energy. I'm still kind of surprised that a solar panel can cause birds to vaporize.
ReplyDelete