This book discusses the increase in number and capacity of wind farms in Germany and how this is affecting birds of prey. Several methods are used to study the behaviour of birds of prey in relation to wind farms, including telemetry data, field observations, and comparisons of turbine base areas. Special attention is given to the effects on different bird species and the impact wind farms may have on population growth and breeding success of birds of prey. Chapter 6 discusses the collision risks at wind turbines and provides an analysis of the fatalities. In the concluding chapter, ideas are put forward to help minimize conflicts, estimate risks, and offer practical recommendations for future research. This book will be of interest to wind farm developers, researchers, applied ecologists and landscape planners.

This book provides advice for the planning, construction, and operation of land-based wind power projects in ways that can (i) avoid harm to birds, bats, and natural habitats; (ii) manage visual and other local impacts in ways acceptable to most stakeholders; and (iii) address compensation, benefits-sharing, and socio-cultural concerns.

The generation of electricity by wind energy has the potential to reduce environmental impacts caused by the use of fossil fuels. Although the use of wind energy to generate electricity is increasing rapidly in the United States, government guidance to help communities and developers evaluate and plan proposed wind-energy projects is lacking. Environmental Impacts of Wind-Energy Projects offers an analysis of the environmental benefits and drawbacks of wind energy, along with an evaluation guide to aid decision-making about projects. It includes a case study of the mid-Atlantic highlands, a mountainous area that spans parts of West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. This book will inform policy makers at the federal, state, and local levels.

This book provides a detailed roadmap of technical, economic, and institutional actions by the wind industry, the wind research community, and others to optimize wind's potential contribution to a cleaner, more reliable, low-carbon, domestic energy generation portfolio, utilizing U.S. manu-facturing and a U.S. workforce. The roadmap is intended to be the beginning of an evolving, collaborative, and necessarily dynamic process. It thus suggests an approach of continual updates at least every two years, informed by its analysis activities. Roadmap actions are identified in nine topical areas, introduced below.

This book presents a selection of new insights in understanding and mitigating impacts on wildlife and their habitats. Topics such as, species behaviour and responses; collision risk and fatality estimation; landscape features and gradients, are considered. Other chapters in the book cover the results of current research on mitigation; compensation; effectiveness of measures; monitoring and long-term effects; planning and siting. Examples are given of current research on shutdown on demand and curtailment algorithms. By identifying what we have learned so far, and which predominate uncertainties and gaps remain for future research, this book contributes to the most up to date knowledge on research and management options. This book includes presentations from the Conference on Wind Energy and Wildlife impacts (CWW15), March 2015, hosted by the Berlin Institute of Technology, which offered a platform to national and international participants to showcase the current state of knowledge in wind energy’s wildlife implications.

This book presents a review of the state-of-the-art knowledge on the interactions between biodiversity and wind energy development, focused on the Portuguese reality. The volume addresses the particularities of the impact assessment procedures in Portugal, contrasting it with the international practices and presenting its main findings by covering the following broader themes: i) evaluation of spatial and temporal dynamics of wildlife affected by wind farms, including birds, bats and terrestrial mammals (in particularly Portuguese wolf population); ii) the methodologies used to assess impacts caused by this type of developments in biodiversity; iii) the best practice methodologies to implement an adaptive management approach to reconcile biodiversity and wind farms. The knowledge presented in this book was gathered through the research and development activities developed by Bioinsight company (former Bio3 company) during the last 13 years and partially funded by a R&D project designated as “Integrated solutions for biodiversity management at wind farms: reduce and compensate bird and bat mortality” (acronym: Wind & Biodiversity), co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund (FEDER), under the Regional Operational Programme of Centre (Mais Centro). This volume fills a void in the literature as a book giving insights on the best practices to install and manage a wind farm from a biodiversity management point of view, while establishing a commitment between economic sustainability and biodiversity conservation.