Gumming Up the Works: Bugs and Turbines  E-mail
Written by Hank Green   
Wednesday, 16 May 2007

There's been a lot of bird mortality talk surrounding wind turbines. However, it turns out that's not so big of a deal compared with bug mortality. Just like a car flying down the highway, wind turbines slice through the air extremely quickly. And just like a car, they slowly get covered in a film of bug juice that, over time, can decrease the efficiency of the turbines by up to 25%.

Now, as you might imagine that cleaning a turbine blade is no gas-station squeegee operation. Shutting down the turbines and getting crews to pressure clean the massive turbine blades only compromises efficiency further. If only mother nature would recognize when we were trying to help!

Via Celsias

Comments (3)add
...
written by Ben K , May 16, 2007
Teflon blades as a solution?? smilies/grin.gif
Show me the bird studies
written by Sam D , May 17, 2007
I've heard claims of birds being harmed by wind turbines, but no one has been able to produce a single study showing that turbines kill as many or more birds than a typical building with glass windows.
Bugs I can believe, birds I'm still highly suspect...
Roomba to the rescue
written by Hudson Pridham , May 20, 2007
Just mod a Roomba to cling onto the blades with a magnetic field and your good to go. smilies/grin.gif
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Hank Green
About the author:

Hank Green is the founder and chief geek at EcoGeek.org. Aside from being obsessed with saving the planet with technology, he loves to write and make videos. If you want to find out more about him, visit hankgreen.com

 
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