MOU'ers
There was a recent Tribune article about this problem. It is linked here. The July 2014 issue of the American Bird Conservancy "Bird Calls" newsletter has a more extensive article. (see Page 11 below). The Ivanpah Solar facility is sited on 3,200 acres of desert and uses 300,000 car-sized mirrors to reflect heat onto boilers on 450 foot towers. (This is not photovoltaic solar energy.) Electricity generation, sufficient for 140,000 homes, began in February of this year. The USFWS has issued a report on the bats, insects, and birds burned flying thru the superheated layer of air. FWS staff estimated one bird killed every two minutes. "Bird species [most] affected by solar flux include both insectivores [such as swallows, swifts, and flycatchers] and raptors that prey on insect-eating birds." The annual bird kill is forecasted to be up to 10's of 1000's of birds, unless preventive measures are identified and implemented. There are plans for another mirror field near Joshua Tree NP. http://www.startribune.com/nation/271624061.html http://www.abcbirds.org/newsandreports/birdcalls_pdf/bc14jul.pdf gordon andersson st paul ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
