These are really low figures. In England, coal produced around 180 billion kWhrs in 2011, resulting in about 3,000 deaths. In England, nuclear energy produced nearly 90 billion kWhrs with no deaths. In the same year, America generated over 800 billion kWhrs from nuclear power with no fatalities.
Can we just forget about it because so many more people die from other causes? Do you like eagles?
Is there any energy source that kills a large number of people?
We examined human mortality by energy source in a piece from last year (How Deadly Is Your Kilowatt? ), and how coal is the deadliest energy source in the US, with 15,000 deaths per trillion kWhrs produced, while nuclear is the safest, with zero. Wind energy kills about 100 people per trillion kWhrs, with the bulk of deaths resulting from falls during maintenance (Toldedo Blade).
Because we worry more about this in the United States than most other countries, our statistics are the lowest in the world. Global energy-related death rates are substantially greater than in the United States, with coal accounting for 100,000 deaths per trillion kWhrs (China is the worst), natural gas for 4,000, biomass for 24,000, solar for 440, and wind for 150. Using the worst-case scenarios from Chernobyl and Fukushima, nuclear power now has the highest death rate of any energy source at 90 deaths per trillion kWhrs produced.
How many wind turbines have been involved in accidents?
According to a T&D research, 30 to 50 workers per 100,000 are killed on the job each year, while many more suffer from mechanical damage and limb loss due to electrical burns. These results are more than twice as high as the fatality rate among police officers and firefighters.
While wind energy is gaining popularity as a low-carbon, low-cost technology, the height of turbines (a typical GE 1.5MW model has 116ft blades atop a 212ft base) makes it a potentially hazardous industry to work in.
Turbine-related mishaps were generally unknown until a 2011 turbine fire in the Netherlands killed two mechanics, raising awareness of previous such instances. In June, the Caithness Windfarm Information Forum compiled a list of wind turbine incidents, pointing out that the tendency is (unsurprisingly) increasing as more turbines are constructed.
This is reflected in the number of registered accidents, which averaged 33 per year from 1998 to 2002, 81 per year from 2003 to 2007, 144 per year from 2008 to 2012, and 167 per year from 2013 to 2017, inclusive.
Solar is a rapidly expanding green energy sector, with more projects planned in the future years. Workers in the manufacturing, installation, and maintenance of solar energy confront a variety of potential hazards due to the positioning of panels on roofs and in remote places. Arc flashes (including arc flash burn and blast hazards), electric shocks, falls, and thermal burn hazards are all potential hazards.
According to the Asian Correspondent, solar is three times more harmful than wind power and over ten times more dangerous than nuclear power in terms of the amount of power produced, due to the large number of solar installations springing up.
Each year, according to the Next Big Future, 100-150 people die in the solar roofing sector around the world.
Between 2003 and 2009, 716 oil and gas extraction employees were murdered on the job in the United States alone, putting the yearly fatality rate at 27.5 deaths per 100,000 workers, according to the Center for Disease Control.
Employees struck by tools or equipment accounted for the majority of these deaths (20%), followed by explosions (8%), workers caught or compressed in moving machinery or tools (7%), and falls to lower levels (7%). (6 percent ).
Workers in an American oil and gas facility are seven times more likely than the ordinary worker to be killed on the job, according to the same survey. Because the sector in the United States is more heavily controlled than in other nations, global data are difficult to come by, but they are almost certainly much higher.
The major threat posed by the nuclear sector is the possibility for radioactive contamination of the minerals extracted. Aside from the occasional catastrophic mishaps, such as those at Fukushima in 2011 and Chernobyl in 1986, there are the health hazards associated with prolonged exposure to uranium’s radon decay products.
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health looked at 3,238 uranium miners who worked underground for at least one month and found 371 lung cancer fatalities, which was six times more than expected. Similarly, 41 pneumoconiosis deaths were reported, which was 24 times greater than expected, and 13 tuberculosis deaths, which was four times higher than expected.
Overall, the research discovered that 1,595 miners died as a result of mining-related illnesses.
While nuclear waste is much smaller than that generated by other energy sources, it is still a toxic material that is extremely difficult to dispose of. The waste also has a very long half-life, which means it can remain volatile for thousands of years after being stored. As a result, anyone involved in the material’s storage, transportation, and disposal face significant hazards.
Radiation’s effects on the human body are difficult to quantify because of the sluggish and ‘invisible’ manner it alters cells. Aside from acute radiation symptoms like seizures and hair loss, radioactive compounds can cause chronic cardiovascular and gastrointestinal problems, as well as nervous system disorders, diabetes, and a variety of cancers include lung, skin, breast, and stomach cancers.
The list of the seven most dangerous jobs in the energy sector concludes with nuclear waste disposal.
How many wind turbines are involved in accidents each year?
Let’s take the average of the results from these research rather than going down the proverbial rabbit hole to figure out which study is the most accurate. This puts the number of birds killed by wind turbines in the United States in 2012 at at 366,000.
It’s worth noting that wind energy capacity has increased dramatically since then. According to the Loss and others study, there were 44,577 turbines in operation in 2012, however the U.S. Wind Turbine Database shows that there are now 65,548 turbines in operation, a 47 percent increase. After accounting for the industry’s expansion, we estimate that about 538,000 birds die each year in the United States as a result of wind turbines.
However, because it takes into account the size of turbines as well as their number, mortality projections based on energy produced are more commonly utilized. According to the American Wind Energy Association, wind energy capacity in the United States increased by 86 percent from 60,067 megawatts (MW) in 2012 to 111,808 megawatts (MW) as of this writing in 2021. Taking this shift into account, it is estimated that 681,000 birds are killed by wind turbines in the United States each year.
Because many bird deaths go unnoticed by humans, these estimates are likely to underestimate the full scope of the problem.
Consider that little songbirds are the most common birds in the United States, and they are also the most commonly killed by turbines. At two wind sites in California, canines identified 1.6 and 2.7 times as many small bird mortality as human monitors, according to a research published in March 2020. Even after attempting to adjust for searcher detection error, which is normal practice in such investigations, this remained true.
Small birds accounted for 62.5 percent of the birds in the Erickson study’s data set. Taking 62.5 percent of the 681,000 annual mortality estimate and multiplying it by the 1.6- and 2.7-fold multipliers from the dog search study (along with the other 37.5 percent of birds), the total number of birds would be 936,000 and 1.4 million, respectively, based on the numbers from the two sites. By averaging the two, it’s estimated that 1.17 million birds are killed each year in the United States by wind turbines.
Wind generating projects have substantial secondary effects that must be considered in addition to the bird deaths mentioned above.
Many wind farms, for example, are positioned far from the current power infrastructure, necessitating the building of new powerlines, which adds to bird death.
Researchers estimated that 25.5 million birds are killed each year by accidents with powerlines, with another 5.6 million killed by electrocutions, according to a 2014 study. As a result, powerlines installed solely to connect new wind facilities to the existing energy grid result in extra bird deaths, which should be added into the total number of birds killed as a result of wind energy development.
Wind farms also necessitate a sizable amount of land. Facility development can fragment or otherwise alter habitat, making it unsuitable for species that have previously thrived there. For example, after one year, a study at wind farms in the Dakotas discovered displacement impacts for seven of nine grassland bird species. While these effects have been shown in a number of research, they have yet to be quantified at a large scale.
When the foregoing facts are reviewed, it becomes evident that current estimates of the toll of wind energy development on birds are limited and do not take into account the industry’s complete impact.
The estimations above are imperfect since they are based on research that were produced from an incomplete data collection.
While most wind farms are required to undertake bird surveys in order to influence project planning and post-construction bird fatality studies, they are not always required to share their findings, and many businesses keep their data confidential. Bird mortality could be better understood if this statistics were made publicly available, and conservation prescriptions could be adapted accordingly.
On a similar point, the species that are harmed by wind turbines must be taken into account. Others species are more vulnerable to accidents with wind turbines than others, and some have slower rates of reproduction, thus losses may have a greater impact on their populations. California Condors and Marbled Murrelets, two of our rarest and most iconic species, fall into this category and are at risk of colliding with wind turbines. Others, such as Whooping Cranes, are losing their habitat due to wind energy development.
As previously stated, our estimates indicate that the annual toll of birds killed by wind turbines in the United States is at least half a million, and an equally conservative estimate puts the figure at almost 700,000 birds. There’s an argument to be made that the figure could be higher than one million. These are all likely to be underestimates for the reasons indicated above.
Regardless of the details, this is much too many when one considers the numerous other risks to birds on the landscape, as well as the significant declines in bird populations that have already occurred.
What is the answer to this puzzle? How can we continue to build wind turbines to combat climate change while also killing birds? Bird-Smart Wind Energy is our solution. To avoid high-risk locations for birds, smart wind energy production begins with effective data collecting and suitable siting. The available mitigation measures can then be implemented to further reduce risks, and the effects should always be mitigated by strong on-the-ground mitigation measures.
Has anyone ever been thrown off a wind turbine?
HOT SPRINGS IN THE DESERT (CNS)
A 52-year-old Calexico resident was identified Monday as the victim of a 100-foot fall while working inside a wind turbine in Desert Hot Springs.
According to Riverside County coroner’s authorities, Mario Contreras Jr. fell while working at a wind production facility west of Highway 62 and Painted Hills Road around 11:15 a.m. Wednesday.
According to California Division of Occupational Safety and Health spokesman Luke Brown, a representative of Site Constructors Inc. alerted the agency that an employee had been injured “Inside the tower of a wind turbine, he fell more than 100 feet.
A request for more information from Site Constructors was not immediately returned.
HOT SPRINGS IN THE DESERT (CNS)
Authorities say a person died in a 100-foot fall in Desert Hot Springs on Wednesday.
The individual was thrown from an unnamed structure that was only described as a “According to the Riverside County Fire Department, the tower collapsed around 11:10 a.m. in a rural desert region near Oleander Drive and Painted Hills Road.
Wind turbines harm birds, right?
According to estimates, turbines kill up to a million or more birds per year in the United States, but collisions with communications towers (6.5 million); power lines (25 million); windows (up to 1 billion); and cats (1.3 to 4.0 billion), as well as those lost due to habitat loss, pollution, and climate change, kill far more (American Bird Conservancy, Nature). Even if there were twenty times as many wind turbines as there are now, enough to power the entire United States, the number of birds killed would be around 10 million, significantly less than most other causes of bird death.
While turbines are not a huge source of bird mortality, they are a significant factor that will continue to grow as more wind turbines are installed, therefore the American Bird Conservancy and wind energy experts are striving to lower the rate (e.g. see No-blade wind turbines).
Visit the American Bird Conservancy’s website for information on preventing bird mortality.
When something better comes along, wind turbines can be removed. Habitat devastation and pollution caused by coal, oil, and gas extraction and burning, pipeline construction, and other infrastructure, as well as negligence and accidents, are extremely difficult, if not impossible, to reverse.
Wind and solar power are far superior to coal, oil, and nuclear energy for the sake of birds, the environment, and the beauty of nature.
How many birds are killed each year by windmills?
Wind turbines pose a constant threat to eagles and other birds of prey, as well as any migratory bird passing through locations where wind turbine farms have been built.
According to a 2013 study published in The Wildlife Society Bulletin, wind turbines kill an estimated 573,000 birds in the United States each year. And it was almost seven years ago. According to U.S. Wind Energy State Facts (October 2016), over 52,000 wind turbines have been built in 40 states, as well as Puerto Rico and Guam.
The majority of people are unaware of how little electricity is actually generated by wind turbines. According to Wikipedia, wind power accounted for only 5.55 percent of total electrical energy generated in the United States in 2016. By 2030, the goal is for these turbines to generate 20% of all electrical energy generated in the United States, and one can only think how many more turbines would have to be installed, posing an immeasurable harm to birds.
The fact that the statistics on the number of deaths is acquired by paid consultants for the wind business is even more frightening. The fox is defending the chicken coop. More than 2,000 Golden Eagles have been killed by wind turbines in the controversial Altamont Wind Resource Area alone.
Because Bald Eagles eat largely fish, the mortality rate for Bald Eagles will rise if wind turbine companies build wind farms along our shores or near lakes or rivers. This cannot be allowed to happen.
Each conventionally constructed industrial wind turbine is enormous in size. The normal tower height is 212 feet (but it can be much higher), and the arms are 116 feet long, covering a huge area as the blades rotate.
Roads are sometimes extended or built from scratch during the construction of a wind turbine, and mountain tops are occasionally blasted away to create a flat area of at least 3 acres so that the platform can withstand the massive weight of each turbine assembly.
“Wind turbines may now be one of the nation’s fastest-growing human-caused dangers to birds.” Attempts to regulate the wind sector using voluntary rather than mandatory permission criteria have plainly failed. According to Dr. Michael Hutchins (now deceased), former National Coordinator of the American Bird Conservancy’s Bird Smart Wind Energy Campaign, “wind developers are siting turbines in areas of vital importance to birds and other wildlife,” and “this new data shows that the current voluntary system needs radical improvement.”
The American Eagle Foundation joins the American Bird Conservancy in supporting Bird Smart wind energy development, which includes careful risk assessment leading to appropriate siting; independent, standardized post-construction monitoring of bird fatalities; mitigation using effective, tested methods; and compensation if federally protected birds and bats are accidentally killed. If current wind energy development policies remain unchanged, the number of birds killed annually by wind energy installations (excluding associated power lines and towers) is expected to approach 1.4 million by 2030.
Fish & Wildlife Service’s Eagle Management Plan Presents Grave Risk
A new eagle-management plan announced a final rule by the federal government in December 2016 that would give wind energy developers 30-year permits to “take or incidentally kill protected Bald and Golden Eagles,” without requiring the industry to share mortality data with the public or consider critical factors like proper siting. The Eagle Take Rule, which was just finalized by the US Fish & Wildlife Service, puts many thousands of the country’s protected Bald and Golden Eagles in jeopardy.
The American Bird Conservancy, along with a number of other environmental groups, has asked the US Department of the Interior to create a National Programmatic Wind Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to identify areas where wind energy development is appropriate, as well as areas where development should be avoided entirely in order to protect federally protected birds and especially sensitive habitats.
ABC was later informed that the Department of the Interior and the Fish and Wildlife Service did not have adequate finances to carry out such a project.
Supporting the development of clean, renewable energy sources like wind and solar power to combat climate change is commendable, but such development must be done wisely and with minimal damage on our public trust resources, particularly federally protected species like Bald and Golden Eagles. If wind farms are to be built, we must ensure that they are located in places where eagles and other species will have the least negative influence.
What is the frequency of wind turbine fires?
Imagine being present when a wind turbine catches fire. The sight of a 450-foot turbine engulfed in flames would be shocking to most people. Wind turbine fires are reported in the press a few times a year. But how frequently do wind turbines catch fire? And what is the repercussion? Take a look at some of the numbers.
Fires in wind turbines account for 10-30% of all fatal wind turbine incidents.
In both 2011 and 2012, the Caithness Windfarm Information Forum (CWIF) documented 20 wind turbine fires worldwide. Out of a total of 160 wind turbine accidents, this is the most recent. As a result, fires accounted for 12.5% of all events in both years.
Between 1995 and 2012, the CWIF detected 200 documented fire occurrences, an average of 11.7 fires per year. As a result, fire is the second most common cause of documented wind turbine accidents. According to the report, the top three causes of wind turbine accidents are:
- Failure of the blade (19 percent )
- Failure of the structure (9.7 percent )
The Telegraph and Renewable UK both estimate a total of 1,500 wind turbine incidents between 2006 and 2010, according to an analysis by the International Association for Fire Safety Science (IAFSS). This applies to both reported and unreported events.
CWIF’s investigation, on the other hand, found only 142 documented instances over the same time span. As a result, we can conclude that 91% of occurrences get unreported.
In 2011, an estimated 200,000 wind turbines were operational around the world. We can estimate that there were 117 fires that year based on data from the IAFSS report (both reported and unreported). In 2011, one out of every 1,710 turbines caught fire.
Another set of data from DNV GL, an internationally authorized registration and classification agency, forecasts that 1 in 2,000 wind turbines may catch fire each year. The DNV GL investigation looked into all wind turbine fires, regardless of whether the turbine was completely destroyed.
According to a 2020 article in Wind Power Engineering Magazine, one out of every 2,000 wind turbines catches fire every year.
When a fire breaks out, the usual course of action is to wait for it to burn out. In nearly all circumstances, if the fire is not put out, major structural damage and total loss will occur (90 percent ).
Overall, the data indicates that wind turbine fires are uncommon. A single wind turbine fire, on the other hand, can be quite costly for a wind farm. Each turbine costs over $1 million and generates between $1,500 and $2,000 a day in revenue. Offshore turbines, which are larger and more sophisticated, can cost up to three times as much as onshore turbines and generate three times as much money.
The expense of replacing a turbine is substantial, and downtime can quickly build up. Fortunately, low-cost fire suppression devices can assist in reducing dangers. Firetrace systems detect and control flames at their source automatically. The devices are self-contained and function without the use of energy or water, making them a viable option for wind turbine fire defense.
