Transcript Renewables and the Environment

Clean Energy in New Jersey is Important to meet
Environmental Needs
Fossil Fuel derived energy
contributes to:
• Global Warming / Air
Pollution
• Local Air Quality
Problems
• External Effects
Focus: Pollution and Birds
• "Neotropical migratory birds are
important for our ecosystems. They work
as nature's pest controllers and
pollinators and provide many hours of
enjoyment for birdwatchers and outdoor
enthusiasts. " (Secretary Gail Norton;
6/9/04 USFW press release)
•
•
•
•
Importance of Birds
Insect control and pollination
Seed dispersal
Enjoyment- in 2001 wildlife
watchers spent $1.23 Billion in New
Jersey (USFWS).
Changes in weather mark the
initiation of migration.
Global warming threatens to create shifts in vegetative
communities and regional climatic patterns.
•
•
These changes could greatly disrupt
migratory birds if the plants they
depend on for food become absent in a
region, flower or fruit earlier or later
due to climatic changes.
A study of 35 North American warblers
found that the range of seven species
have shifted northward an average of >
65 miles over the past 24 years, while
none of the 35 species shifted
southward (Price and Root, unpubl.
data in Price and Glick 2002).
• Scientists have discovered behavioral changes in
birds that correspond with warming spring
temperatures, resulting in earlier migration.
• Changes in migration chronology could have
devastating consequences for some birds.
• Birds that are associated with very specialized
habitat types are very vulnerable to climatic
shifts because such shifts may eliminate their
habitats. (Both and Visser 2000). These include
Black-throated Blue Warbler, Golden-winged
Warbler, Chestnut-sided Warbler, Blackburnian
Warbler, and Rose-breasted Grosbeak (Price
2002).
Pollution can have other effects on ecological communities
•
•
•
Concentrations of air pollutants
common in many areas of the
United States can alter
vegetational communities.
Leaching of calcium from the soil
by acid rain may be having a
negative impact on the nesting
success of species dependent on
environmental calcium for egg
laying (Hames et al. 2002).
Changing of ecosystem structure
will likely cause an impact on
avian, and other wildlife,
populations.
POINT: Green Matters!
Increased use of clean energy is needed to protect
the ecological health of our environment.
• Potential Solution
The effects of global warming
will need to be ameliorated
through changes to rules
governing emissions, and
incentives for increased fuel
efficiency, energy conservation,
and renewable energy.
Wind Energy is Compatible with Ecology –
Sticking with birds:
• A major
environmental concern
with the locating and
development of wind
turbines or wind
power farms is the
impact the facilities
may have on bird (and
bat) populations.
Is avian species mortality really an issue? - Yes:
•
•
•
Wind derived electricity now represents only small
component of the total electric produced in the U.S. (0.3%?),
but growing rapidly.
Today's utility-scale wind turbines can be quite large – blades
130' in length, total heights of 400'. See the web site for the
American Wind Energy Association for background data on
wind plant operations: http://www.awea.org.
Any structure has the potential to harm birds. It has been
estimated that communication towers kill up to 50 million
birds a year, 90% of which are neotropical migratory birds.
Tall-building collisions (office buildings) kill millions of
birds each year.
• Wind turbines impact birds
through:
i) collisions with the turbine
blades, towers, power lines, or
with other related
structures;
ii) Turbulence / wind shear
iii) habitat impacts (the
infrastructure)
• Recent information from U.S.
projects indicates that bird
mortality at wind turbine projects
varies from less than one
bird/turbine/year to as high as 7.5
birds/per turbine/year.
The numbers of fatalities add up quickly.
•
The Mountaineer Wind Energy Project in West Virginia, a wind farm of 44
large turbines and related structures, is believed to have caused an estimated
mortality of 4.80 birds per turbine in 2003 (211 birds).
•
The National Wind Coordinating Committee reported that the annual estimate
of all avian mortality from the 15,000 operational wind turbines in the U.S. in
2001 was 10,000 to 40,000 birds. See the National Wind Coordinating
Council’s web site at www.nationalwind.org.
Poor planning could conspire to cause significant mortality. One calculation
for a proposed 180 turbine facility calculates a potential for 15,000 bird/bat
kills per year at that site alone.
Add to this the cumulative effect on migrating populations as they move across
multiple wind farms, and population impacts become an issue.
•
•
POINT:
• Development and
implementation of
wind-power facilities
have the potential to
cause significant
harm to avian
species, and so to
ecological systems in
general …
POINT CONTINUED: BUT IT DOES NOT HAVE TOO.
We need wind energy
WHY?
Can we develop ecologically friendly wind power?
Very Likely YES
• Prior to constructing wind
power projects, the potential
risks to birds and bats can be
evaluated.
• Pre-construction, a proper siting
analysis can be done for each
new wind turbine farm.
• Sites known to be used by rare
birds could be avoided, as could
known heavy migration
pathways, or landscape features
known to attract large numbers
of birds.
• Lighting could be minimized.
What Are We Doing About All This?
Power industry, wind
industry, private parties,
NGO's and government
agencies are collaborating
to design policies and
guidelines to implement
wind power in an
ecologically friendly way.
Bottom Line:
We believe that by engaging in
open dialogue with commercial
interests and regulators, and by
carrying out research on
potential impacts and impact
avoidance in the mid-Atlantic
flyway, we will likely be able to
implement much needed,
commercially viable,
technologically feasible, and
ecologically friendly wind
energy in New Jersey.
Clean Energy Is Environmentally
Necessary and Ecologically Viable –
Help It Happen