New Solar Plants Scorch Animals In Mid-Air

[crp]

http://metro.co.uk/2014/08/19/birds-are-bursting-into-flames-over-the-mojave-desert-and-heres-why-4838795/

 

I know , sounds like an 'Onion' type satire, but apparently it is quite true. saw more than one sourced article. (see for example http://t.co/hYJLjdtQ4M which also has way more details.)

 

but wait - the story gets even better:

Turns out this is the same place that can't keep its own fluids warm, so they have to use fossil based fuels to keep them warm. And back in March they filed a petition

http://www.kcet.org/news/rewire/solar/concentrating-solar/ivanpah-solar-plant-owners-want-to-burn-a-lot-more-natural-gas.html

that would be equivalent to over 15,000 cars 'greenhouse gas' annual emissions.

 

So, don't get rid of your Honda gas generator too quickly

[V.T. Eric Layton]

Well, the good news is that can't blame all the bird deaths on feral cats anymore.

 

Experts say they dubbed the birds ‘streamers’ – because of the stream of smoke that emanates from the birds when they catch fire – and that in the middle of the day, they counted one bird being incinerated every two minutes.

That's a darn lotta' birds.

[V.T. Eric Layton]

1 every 2 minutes = 30 per hour = 300 per day (assuming 10 hours of active solar heating) = 109,500 per year.

 

Can those numbers be right? If so, birds in that area will be non-existent pretty soon. So much for "green" solar power.

Edited August 26, 2014 by V.T. Eric Layton

[crp]

I think 'middle of the day' in this context meant the hours around high noon, so only 3 hours a day or so - 90 birds a day. But then you have to take into account how many animals are getting killed by the additional use of dirty natural gas to power the warmers

 

and i read somewhere that the company was going to pay to get cats spayed to counterbalance the bird loss (oh i hope at least that was satire), so cats aren't getting off scot free.

[V.T. Eric Layton]

What a world we live in. Myeh... in 50 years or so, won't matter none to me.

[Pete!]

..........the only successful alternative energy method to date is dams and their water-powered generators........

Not so fast.

http://www.americanrivers.org/initiatives/dams/why-remove/

[Guest LilBambi]

I think 'middle of the day' in this context meant the hours around high noon, so only 3 hours a day or so - 90 birds a day. But then you have to take into account how many animals are getting killed by the additional use of dirty natural gas to power the warmers

 

and i read somewhere that the company was going to pay to get cats spayed to counterbalance the bird loss (oh i hope at least that was satire), so cats aren't getting off scot free.

 

And how many animals and eco systems were destroyed by oil tanker spills and Deep Horizon, etc.

 

And how many eco systems were destroyed by tearing down rainforests...

 

And how many birds are chopped to pieces by windmills apparently as well.

 

And how many dolphins used to be killed by tuna nets (I am hoping that was fully corrected by many of us boycotting tuna for so long years ago).

 

And how many whales were killed nearly to extinction by whaling.

 

And the list goes on and on and on ... and don't get me started about Kudzu...

[crp]

perfect! simply perfect!

the only other alternative energy method that even had a tiny tiny chance of working, and guess what!

it's bad for the environment and requires fossil fuels to run!

 

the only successful alternative energy method to date is dams and their water-powered generators.

 

there's nukes, of course, but the extremists hate 'em.

I hate the mega dams and I live in the pacific nw. The drastic and dramatic changes to the environment is too much for me ( ex: Columbia River in USA, Nile River in Egypt) and on a political level - why are people on the East Coast and mid-West subsidizing our water generated power costs?

 

The safest cleanest energy is one that the so called environmentalist complain about the most - because the environment is not their main cause. Well , maybe Ed Begley is sincere as he does consider cost-benefit in his actions.

 

I just want people to take away from these articles that solar energy farms are far , far , far from a panacea and are hardly 'environmentally friendly' and a costly boondoggle for citizens.

[V.T. Eric Layton]

This world needs a good apocalyptic event that would erase about 99% of humans without doing any physical damage to the planet. That 1% left wouldn't be able to destroy the environment so much for probably another 1000 years or so; a brief respite for mother earth.

[Capt.Crow]

Hard to take it all that seriously

when we are living on the Cosmic lunatic planet

Just look around you .

everyone on the planet is stark staring bonkers.

 

 

 

Major Tom is the culprit He has ten cats you know.

[crp]

Well, the good news is that can't blame all the bird deaths on feral cats anymore.

[...]

found it: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/emerging-solar-plants-scorch-birds-mid-air

BrightSource also is offering $1.8 million in compensation for anticipated bird deaths at Palen, Desmond said.

The company is proposing the money for programs such as those to spay and neuter domestic cats, which a government study found kill over 1.4 billion birds a year. Opponents say that would do nothing to help the desert birds at the proposed site.

[Guest LilBambi]

It is good to put it in perspective.