OCT 26

While wind turbines are, for the most part, highly beneficial to the environment, they do pose a danger to creatures who spend time in the air, namely bugs, birds and bats.  A new study published in the European Journal of Wildlife Research concludes that this danger could be solved with a little paint.

White seems like an appropriately benign color for something that will hopefully soon be dotting horizons across the country and the world, but the study states that white and light gray turbine blades (the most common colors) attract bugs, which often leads the birds and bats that eat them to their doom. While white, light gray and yellow were most attractive, the least attractive color was purple.

The researchers were surprised by just how profoundly the insects reacted to the different colors, both during day and night.  While this doesn't mean that all turbines should now be painted a bright shade of purple, it does indicate that something as simple as a change in color could have a large impact on the amount of birds and bats that fly into wind turbines.

With that said, the researchers also suspect that the heat from the turbines could be attracting the bugs and that bats may not be able to detect them with echolocation, both of which could contribute to the problem.

via BBC

Comments (14)

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written by Chuck, October 26, 2010

bugs are afraid that Barney is coming to get them.....I have the same fear.

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Painting wind turbines
written by Kristy Fifelski, October 26, 2010

The City of Reno tied in public art and painted the base of a wind turbine. Here is a video showing the work: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCzPYKyl8Vs

I wonder if applying this type of paint to the actual rotating components would be doable.

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Yes
written by Sander, October 26, 2010

Its my favourite colour

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..., Low-rated comment [Show]

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written by Frank, October 27, 2010

NO!!
It's just a stupid thought. Skyscrapers kills almost 10.000 x more birds and animals that Wind Turbines, should they with this logic then be painted purple?! Or course not!

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What about Hummingbirds?
written by Carolyn McBride, October 27, 2010

Hummingbirds are attracted to not only red, but any color close to it, like purple. Did anyone do a study, or even guess at, how the color purple would affect the hummingbirds?

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written by Gaberax, October 27, 2010

Why can't the blades be designed to make the noise of some sort of predator, such as a hawk or eagle?

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Alternative
written by Alteredstory, October 27, 2010

An alternative which would, in my opinion, be better in general, is the large cylindrical turbines that have a vertical axis. They don't rely on wind direction, and they don't really have a maximum operating speed, and most importantly (to this topic) they don't have propeller blades. The problem with bats is the low pressure directly after the blade, which bursts their lungs when they fly into it.

Switching to a different style of turbine, however might be hard, since the people making the current big white ones don't seem to want that to be thought of as an alternative.

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Purple ftw
written by Madhu, November 02, 2010

I will personally volunteer to paint both wind turbines and skyscrapers purple. However, I will not hurt the hummingbirds, so we should probably make sure we won't be committing mass hummingbird murder first.

The cylinder turbine sounds like an excellent idea. However, we should paint those purple too, just in case. Because purple is awesome.

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written by Julian, November 02, 2010

Do hummingbirds even fly at the height of turbine blades, and are hummingbirds abundant in moderately high wind areas where wind turbines are more likely to be installed?

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written by Sarah, November 02, 2010

I, one, think wind turbines are ugly in general, but, two, I think they would be more ugly in purple. Maybe just a wash of purple light at night? Or perhaps lighting them up in general would deter bats...and we also need to deal with the vast tracks of land turbines consume, they destroy some of the most pristine land in our country, I guess that is the appeal of off shore...oh compromise.

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Birds
written by Matt, November 04, 2010

Why do we agonize over birds and bats when domestic cats, let loose, kill thousands of times as many birds, rabbits, and squirrels? (and probably not as many bats)

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purple
written by sarah, November 05, 2010

i hope purple can be the color of the dems and republicans both agreeing that wind power is one way to infuse the us and have one thing they agree on.. so why not purple? If trees were purple we would just accept it or enjoy their purple beauty.

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Not sure about the hummingbirds
written by Asaf Shalgi, November 06, 2010

Yet if it doesn't hurt them, why not paint the turbines purple? It's a great color.

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