{"id":303717,"date":"2024-02-21T16:25:08","date_gmt":"2024-02-21T15:25:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=303717"},"modified":"2024-02-21T16:25:11","modified_gmt":"2024-02-21T15:25:11","slug":"fears-over-massive-expansion-in-electric-cables-due-to-renewables-as-great-indian-bustard-heads-for-electrocution-extinction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=303717","title":{"rendered":"Fears Over Massive Expansion in Electric Cables Due to Renewables as Great Indian Bustard Heads for Electrocution Extinction"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By\u00a0CHRIS MORRISON<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

From The Daily Sceptic<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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There are growing fears that one of India\u2019s iconic large birds, the great Indian bustard, is about to go extinct due to the growth of electric transmission lines in its home area of the Thar desert. Prioritising wind and solar power has led to a growth of transmission lines with the effect that the numbers of birds could have dropped to 150. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is just the latest evidence that industrialising large areas of wildlife habitat is causing worrying losses to the population of large raptors and birds, bats and whales. Last October, the\u00a0Daily Sceptic<\/em>\u00a0reported<\/a>\u00a0that wind farms in Tasmania have reduced the population of the endangered local wedge-tailed eagle to around 1,000 individuals. Large numbers of whales have beached along the U.S. east coast in recent years as offshore wind farm industrialisation has disrupted the migration, mating and feeding habits of some of the most endangered whale species in the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2021, a paper produced<\/a> by the Wildlife Institute of India warned that the great Indian bustard was at \u201cimminent risk of extinction due to power line mortality\u201d. Mortality was said to be \u201cpositively related\u201d to the number of wires. Many other large birds were said to be at risk, and the researchers found that around 50 birds die annually per kilometre of power lines in the Thar desert due to collision and electrocution<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the Wildlife Institute of India, over 100,000 birds of diverse species are killed each year<\/a> as a result of electrocution from transmission lines connecting wind and solar to the grid. In 2022, two Spanish ecologists confirmed that electrocution on power pylons was a major cause of bird mortality worldwide, including for some severely endangered species. They noted that power lines were \u201cnot bio-diversity-friendly<\/a>\u201d. Prerna Singh Bindra, a wildlife conservationist and former member of the National Board for Wildlife, comments<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

In recent years, the death blow to the great Indian bustard has come from unexpected quarters \u2013 the expanse of wind farms and power transmission lines that criss-cross its last remaining habitats\u2026 The question that needs to be asked is, how green is renewable energy when it leads to the extinction of a critically endangered species?<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Of course that last question is the one question that will not be asked. Indeed on past evidence it will be studiously avoided and helpful messengers in the mainstream media will be easily persuaded that deaths are due to other factors such as \u2018climate change\u2019. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bird and bat protection societies around the world are invariably in favour of green \u2018sustainable\u2019 wind and solar power, and they turn an almost blind eye to the mass slaughter by making mealy-mouthed safety suggestions. But of course the fact is that large raptors such as eagles and bustards rely on wind currents, as do gigantic wind turbines, and the two meet far too often. Worldwide, bustards are at particular risk from power cables due to the birds\u2019 heavy weight, large wing span and limited manoeuvring ability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The New York Times<\/em> recently reported<\/a> that electrocution isn\u2019t the main thing killing birds along power lines. It was relaying the findings of a paper that said bullet fragments had been found in a number of dead birds lying under lines in four western states. Four hundred whales have been washed up on the eastern U.S. coastline since 2016, including nearly two dozen in the three months to February 2023.There is \u201cno evidence\u201d to support claims that industrial noise has impeded the whales ability to navigate and communicate, notes the New Scientist<\/em>. The bulk of the strandings may have been caused by \u201cchanging ocean currents related to climate change<\/a>\u201d. Deafening rock-concert-grade sonar noise bouncing around hundreds of miles of ocean, constant pile-driving, massive ocean building works and heavy shipping movements have, of course, nothing to do with it \u2013 move along please, nothing to see here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nothing it seems must get in the way of the green industrial revolution. In California, the Democrat state Government\u00a0recently relaxed<\/a>\u00a0controls on wildlife protections to allow permits to kill previously fully protected species for renewable energy and infrastructure projects. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nothing is sacred and protected from the slaughter \u2013 even America\u2019s national bird, the bald eagle. A typical green reaction came from the Audubon California Policy Director Mark Lynas who said we need renewable energy resources, and he did not want to see the eagle deaths \u201cbeing used to push against clean energy\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to the large bird kill, wind turbines are estimated to chomp millions of bats around the world every year. Any concern for the depredation of wildlife, whether on or offshore has tended to focus on these huge blots on the land- and seascapes. But according to the International Energy Authority, achieving Net Zero means building 80 million kilometres of new and refurbished power lines within 17 years, equivalent to wrapping the Earth\u00a02,000 times<\/a>\u00a0with new electricity grid capacity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

All these high voltage cables will be needed to benefit from the intermittent power produced by vast numbers of new wind turbines. To achieve Net Zero, the countryside will need to be blanketed with turbines and ubiquitous cables strung to bring the power to distant urban areas. Of course, as it becomes clearer by the day, Net Zero will not be achieved since the breezes and sunbeams are unreliable, so full stand-by gas turbines will have to be maintained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is possible that some other cheap and reliable back-up fuel will be discovered or invented in the next few years \u2013 and pigs might fly, although that would not be advisable across much of the future countryside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chris Morrison is the<\/em> Daily Sceptic\u2019s<\/em> Environment Editor.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There are growing fears that one of India\u2019s iconic large birds, the great Indian bustard, is about to go extinct due to the growth of electric transmission lines in its home area of the Thar desert. Prioritising wind and solar power has led to a growth of transmission lines with the effect that the numbers of birds could have dropped to 150. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":303721,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"There are growing fears that one of India\u2019s iconic large birds, the great Indian bustard, is about to go extinct due to the growth of electric transmission lines in its home area of the Thar desert. 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Erected to avert a faux climate crisis, the so-called renewable machines and their attendant transmission lines are helping to drive one\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Climate Alarmists\"","block_context":{"text":"Climate Alarmists","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=climate-alarmists"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/0Indian-bustard-grasslands-state-Rajasthan.webp?fit=1200%2C836&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/0Indian-bustard-grasslands-state-Rajasthan.webp?fit=1200%2C836&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/0Indian-bustard-grasslands-state-Rajasthan.webp?fit=1200%2C836&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/0Indian-bustard-grasslands-state-Rajasthan.webp?fit=1200%2C836&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/0Indian-bustard-grasslands-state-Rajasthan.webp?fit=1200%2C836&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":306615,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=306615","url_meta":{"origin":303717,"position":1},"title":"Germany Begins Felling 120,000 Trees From \u2018Fairy Tale\u2019 Forest to Make Way for Wind Turbines","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"09\/03\/2024","format":false,"excerpt":"The windmills are spinning golden subsidies in the central German \u2018fairy tale\u2019 forest of Reinhardswald, but the payment is the partial destruction of the 1,000 year-old ancient wood itself. 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Wind and solar energy technologies, which eco-religionists claim will save the planet from the ravages of capitalism and the destruction it supposedly causes, are culling endangered animals and wiping out their habitats.\u00a0Michael Shellenberger\u00a0pinpointed\u00a0the problem with renewable energy in a May 2018\u00a0Forbes\u00a0article: \u201cIf solar and wind farms are\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/0GettyImages-1166332945.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/0GettyImages-1166332945.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/0GettyImages-1166332945.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/0GettyImages-1166332945.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/0GettyImages-1166332945.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":201494,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=201494","url_meta":{"origin":303717,"position":5},"title":"Forgive Them Not: No Excuse for Wind Industry\u2019s Pointless Bird & Bat Slaughter","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"26\/05\/2022","format":false,"excerpt":"The utter pointlessness of the wind industry\u2019s annual bird and bat slaughter is well-known to followers of this site. Power that can\u2019t be delivered as and when it\u2019s needed has no commercial value and when that purportedly \u2018green\u2019 power source slices and dices apex predators like salad onions, it\u2019s hard\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/0Screenshot-2022-05-26-093747.png?fit=1050%2C863&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/0Screenshot-2022-05-26-093747.png?fit=1050%2C863&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/0Screenshot-2022-05-26-093747.png?fit=1050%2C863&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/0Screenshot-2022-05-26-093747.png?fit=1050%2C863&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/0Screenshot-2022-05-26-093747.png?fit=1050%2C863&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303717","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/121246920"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=303717"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303717\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":303723,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303717\/revisions\/303723"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/303721"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=303717"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=303717"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=303717"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}