Kincir Angin Pembunuh

salam.

Penjana tenaga daripada angin seringkali dikaitkan dengan kebersihan, sumber tenaga hijau yang boleh mengurangkan penggantungan terhadap penggunaan minyak.  Tetapi sebagaimana semua sumber tenaga, tenaga angin juga datang dengan kos yang tinggi -  sesuatu yang mengaitkan dengan burung-burung seperti helang, burung hantu dan sebagainya.

Wind energy is frequently touted as a clean, green source of energy that can reduce our dependence on fossil fuels.  But like all sources of energy, wind power comes at a cost — one that's too often borne by eagles, hawks, falcons, owls and other birds.

Kincir angin telah membunuh lebih  573,000 ekor burung setiap tahun di United States menurut The Associated Press, termasuk beberapa species di bawah perlindungan persekutuan seperti helang botak dan helang emas.

Wind turbines kill more than 573,000 birds each year in the United States, according to The Associated Press, including federally protected species like bald eagles and golden eagles. [In Photos: Birds of Prey]

Kelawar juga turut menjadi mangsa bilah kincir angin. Pihak Pennsylvania Game Commission menganggarkan lebih daripada 10,000 ekor kelawar telah mati di negeri itu setiap tahun disebabkan oleh kincir angin menurut laporan Wall Street Journal.

Even bats are falling victim to wind-turbine blades: The Pennsylvania Game Commission estimates that more than 10,000 bats are killed in the state each year by wind turbines, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Burung mati disebabkan oleh pelbagai faktor lain juga seperti dinding kaca bangunan dan menara utiliti, di makan haiwan lain dan pelbagai lagi di mana ia membunuh burung lebih banyak lagi berbanding dengan kincir angin.

Of course, birds die from other causes, too: Structures like glass-walled office buildings and utility towers, vehicular collisions and carnivorous animals (including domestic cats) kill far more birds each year than wind turbines do.

Pada satu-satu ketika kipas kincir angin kelihatan perpusing agak perlahan dan kadang-kadang seakan bergerak dengan kadar yang sangat perlahan tetapi sebenarnya ia bergerak tanpa henti.  Kelajuan kipas kincir kedang-kadang mencecah hingga 179 mph (288 kilometer sejam) oleh itu tentunya dengan mudah sahaja memotong sayap burung.

Though it can appear as though they’re turning at a slow, almost relaxed pace, wind-turbine blades actually move very rapidly: The outer tips of some turbines' blades can reach speeds of 179 mph (288 kilometers per hour) and can easily slice off an eagle's wing.

Semasa mencari mangsa, burung biasa memberi fokus kepada mangsa di bawah bukanya kepada memandag ke atas ke arah bilah kipas yang tajam dan membunuh burung tanpa disedari.

And when hawks, falcons and eagles are flying, they're usually looking down at the ground for prey, not glancing up to watch for a knifelike blade whipping down on them from above.

Dalam evolusi burung, spesis ini tidak dapat menyesuaikan diri dengan ancaman baru yang wujud dari pembinaan kincir angin.

"There is nothing in the evolution of eagles that would come near to describing a wind turbine," Grainger Hunt, a raptor specialist with the Peregrine Fund, told the AP. "There has never been an opportunity to adapt to that sort of threat."

Mencari penyelesaian bagi rekabentuk bilah kincir angin, didapati model lama menarik minat burung pemangsa di mana ia telah menjadi perangkap maut bagi burung.

Compounding the problem is the design of some wind turbines: The lattice work found on older models makes an ideal perch for larger birds of prey, so they're attracted to the same spires that are also a death trap.

Kedudukan pusat penjana tenaga ini juga menjadi faktor seperti di Altamont Pass Wind Farm di utara California, ia di bina di tengah-tengah jalan utama penghijrahan burung dan sekelilingi dengan habitat hidupan liar yang utama.

Wind-farm siting is another factor. Many wind farms, like the Altamont Pass Wind Farm in northern California, were constructed in the middle of important migratory routes and are surrounded by prime raptor habitat.

Kajian menunjukkan lebih 10,000 burung telah mati setiap tahun terkena bilah kipas kincir angin di Altamont dan kebanyakkannya terdiri dari binatang liar yang dilindungi.

Altamont Pass has come under fire for being one of the deadliest wind farms in the world. One study found almost 10,000 birds die each year beneath the wind-turbine blades at Altamont, and most of them are federally protected raptors or are protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, the Journal reports.

Beberapa jalan penyelesaian telah di cadangkan bagi mengatasi masalah ini, antaranya dengan meletakkan kincir angin pada kedudukan yang lebih rendah.

As the number of maimed and dead birds grows, several solutions have been proposed to stem the grisly mutilations of birds and bats occurring at wind farms. Siting wind turbines in areas with lower bird populations is one option.

Bilah kipas kincir yang baru di rekabentuk dengan pelbagai cara agar ia dapat mengurangkan kesan kematian kepada populasi hidupan liar di seluruh dunia.

And newer turbine designs, such as those without lattice frames and with vertical-axis rotors, can reduce the deadly impact that wind turbines have on bird populations worldwide.

Rekabentuk baru ini berjaya menrunkan kematian spesis burung sebanyak 50% di Altamont di mana kincir angin lama telah digantikan dengan rekabentuk kincir angin yang lebih moden dan di tempatkkan di kawasan yang jauh dari laluan utama hidupan liar menurut laporan KCET.

It's working at Altamont: Modernizing older turbines and placing them away from certain corridors has reduced the death rate for some bird species by 50 percent, according to KCET.