Excellent article that goes into detail on my main gripe against the AGW cult. These fanatics are perfectly willing to destroy our environment in the name of fighting their devil who goes by the name of C02. Earths environment is considered collateral damage in this war of theirs "If solar and wind farms are needed to protect the natural environment, why do they so often destroy it? Consider that: New offshore wind turbines in Germany could "lead to the extinction of individual species” including the rare, intelligent, and highly-threatened harbor porpoise, according to Friends of the Earth-Germany (BUND). Migratory bat populations, including the hoary bat, could could go extinct, say scientists, if the expansion of wind energy in North America continues. A single California solar farm, Ivanpah, required the killing of hundreds of desert tortoises, the state’s threatened reptile, and annually kills six thousand birdsby lighting them on fire. Wind turbines on California’s Altamont Pass killed an estimated 4,700 bird kills annually including Golden Eagles. “Some lose their wings,” says the Audubon Society, “others are decapitated, and still others are cut in half.” https://www.forbes.com/sites/michae...-why-do-they-keep-destroying-it/#ffd60583a1c8
It is nothing more than the law of unintended consequences at work. Just as attempting to manage wolf populations has resulted in an explosion of coyote populations and infestations.
It's beyond that. I have seen numerous posters in here say "so what" when it comes to environmental degradation so they are fully aware of the consequences but feel the manufactured crisis of C02 is so important that the environment is purposely thrown under the bus by them. They call themselves green but that is a misnomer. Green is not their focus and green gets trampled by the panic striken mob running from the Boogeyman called global warming.
Takes awhile to work out the kinks - like any new technology. Wind generators are now being designed with enclosed, verticle blades to reduce bird strikes. The vast majority of solar is small panels that do not generate the heat that lights birds on fire or destroys habitat. The Harbor Porpoise is found all over the world, so I'm having doubts about your article claiming that German wind farms will cause their extinction. In context, the single BP oil spill in the Gulf killed over 100,000 birds and sea mammals and countless smaller sea creatures and invertebrates. It's not about being perfect - it's about being better.
Wind farms in Scotland emitting more CO2 than they will save, because the sites were built on peatland, and when that peat is excavated, it begins breaking down and emitting CO2. Peat is a massive carbon sink. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ea...reate-more-carbon-dioxide-say-scientists.html https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2009/aug/13/wind-farm-peat-bog
The construction of Itaipu Dam did a little environmental damage. Today, Brazil gets 25% of it's electricity from the dam.
Funny, but this scientific article says the exact opposite about harbor porpoises. https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/6/2/025102/meta
No it's about one thing and one thing only and that's the obsession with C02. The environment comes in a distant second and is even thrown under the bus in the name of C02 reduction.
Not if the in the process do more harm than good and the only good is C02 reduction if you are convinced C02 is a problem.
Dams are not exactly new technology and there was a very long period when environmentalist not only wanted no more dams they wanted existing ones removed. That has been reversed now with the people calling themselves green taking over and focusing soley on C02. Thanks for proving my point.
I addressed the specific items you brought up and you sidestepped ... we know you have no interest in the environment. Your interest is purely political.
[ Actually you sidestepped my points. Thousands of acres of endangered desert tortoises habitat bulldozed for solar. Not only more birds but more important birds such as raptors endangered and otherwise chopped up by windmills and in a daily basis as an acceptable collateral damage not in very rare oil spills accidents. Greens have a long history of saying screw the environment all we care about is C02. If there's any mitigation at all of any of the environmental degradation being caused by C02 obsession it is only in response to people such as myself forcing the C02 cult to do so by exposing their carnage.
You're mad that it isn't perfect. You leave out the fact that fossil fuels kill hundreds of thousands of animals from spills each year. You leave out the fact that 20,000 children die each each year from respiratory disease exacerbated by pollution. You leave out the fact that wars fought over fossil fuels has killed hundreds of thousands of people, decimated the landscape, and costs trillions of dollars. We have never fought a single war over the wind, or over sunlight. No. Renewable energy sources are far from perfect - but when you compare them to the damage and carnage brought to us by fossil fuels - there is simply no comparison. And as I have said - and you ignored - researchers are changing the designs of wind turbines to address the bird kill. Most solar is the result of small household generation, and the plan is to make that the norm. A wind turbine fails, and it doesn't kill 100,000 sea creatures and mammals. It doesn't cost $2 billion to clean up the mess.
I'm not anti alternative energy in small scale application and in fact I've lived for over ten years now in an off grid solar home so you are way off base there. I am anti much of the industrial application of wind and solar but this threads not about me, it's about people with C02 obsession that have made and continue to make decisions on energy based solely in C02 with no regard for any resulting environmental damage and in fact they shrug their shoulders and say so what. Birds, desert tortoises, pollution from rare earth mines, harbor seals, nuclear waste disposal and risk associated with nuclear power, dams etc etc etc can all take a hike. Your only concern is C02, everything else is an also ran. If it reduces C02 it's good.
Threat of climate change pushes 2020 Democrats to embrace nuclear "The threat of climate change is leading some Democratic presidential candidates to favor nuclear energy. While Democrats and some Left environmental groups have traditionally been skeptical of nuclear energy on safety and cost grounds, a faction of candidates for president is embracing nuclear energy — which provides most of America’s zero-carbon power. “I don't think nuclear is tricky anymore with Democrats,” said Josh Freed, who runs the clean energy program at the center-left think tank Third Way. “What we have seen over last the several years is nuclear has emerged as an area where there’s growing acknowledgment across the climate debate that it needs to be an option." https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/...ange-pushes-2020-democrats-to-embrace-nuclear
Then lose that obsession. Your unhinged and totally irrational hatred of renewables is just bizarre. You're in love with a molecule. I'm sure your religion teaches you that, and commands you to spread that holy scripture across the globe, but don't be surprised when you don't make any converts. Look at your OP. Like so many of your posts, it was just dishonest cherry picking and cheap insults. Renewables as a whole are helping the environment. Anyone pretending otherwise looks delusional. You can now run now, crying about insults, after you started out with insults. It's what you do every time.