Wind farms act as a top “predator” in some ecosystems, harming birds at the top of the food chain and triggering a knock-on effect overlooked by green energy advocates, scientists said Monday.
Wind is the fastest-growing renewable energy sector, supplying around 4% of global electricity demand.
Close to 17 million hectares — an area roughly the size of Tunisia — is currently used for generating wind energy worldwide, and researchers warned that developers had “greatly underestimated” the impact the technology has on wildlife.
An international team of scientists studied the effects of wind turbine use in the Western Ghats, a UNESCOlisted range of mountains and forest spanning India’s west coast region and a global “hotspot” of biodiversity.
They found that predatory raptor birds were four times rarer in areas of plateau where wind turbines were present, a disruption that cascaded down the food chain and radically altered the density and of the birds’ prey.
Wind is the fastest-growing renewable energy sector, supplying around 4% of global electricity demand.
Close to 17 million hectares — an area roughly the size of Tunisia — is currently used for generating wind energy worldwide, and researchers warned that developers had “greatly underestimated” the impact the technology has on wildlife.
An international team of scientists studied the effects of wind turbine use in the Western Ghats, a UNESCOlisted range of mountains and forest spanning India’s west coast region and a global “hotspot” of biodiversity.
They found that predatory raptor birds were four times rarer in areas of plateau where wind turbines were present, a disruption that cascaded down the food chain and radically altered the density and of the birds’ prey.
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