Enhanced audio-visual warnings for reducing bird fatalities at wind turbines

Abstract

Bird and bat fatalities by wind turbines has slowed the installation of new turbines, and even prompted the dismantling of existing turbines. Other animals can coexist in artificially created dangerous environments, like dogs maneuvering among cars in busy streets. Based on this concept, a previous paper has proposed that bird and bat mortality can be reduced by audio visual warnings in the proximity of wind turbines. This paper proposes further details of audio visual warnings, including directional lights, which will enhance the learning process and act as warnings. The leading edges and the peripheral regions of the blades are most likely to strike birds and bats, which may be trained to keep away by the colors, lighting and sounds of leading edges. Lights and sounds need only have a range of a few tens of meters and directionality towards the danger zone, meaning the lights and sounds will be imperceptible to humans in the vicinity. So that the globally mobile birds do not have to relearn the warning signals, countries can converge towards common standards for the warning colors, lights and sounds on wind turbines.