Before you build a turbine, you should look into buying one of the small-scale commercially available units. They are getting more efficient and cheaper all the time. They are not cost effective in Georgia, but they make good sense in upstate New York.
Chopping up birds is not an issue with wind turbines. Birds are evolved to avoid such things. They are not evolved to deal with mirrored glass. Millions of birds whack into windows and kill themselves every year. They are also not evolved to deal with jet aircraft, as the world learned the other day in New York City. My book discussed birdstrikes on airplanes. This is a subject I have long known about, for some strange reason. My mind is crammed full of similar useless information, and it is forever picking up new and isolated ideas, like a magpie collecting bright objects, such as name of the police officer who greeted Theodore Roosevelt soon after McKinley was shot (Anthony Gavin). - Jed
