2007/07/31 by Thomas Kunz, Edward B. Arnett, Wallace P. Erickson +6 · 4 citations
Agricultural and Biological Sciences · Environmental Science · #Avian ecology and behavior #Bat Biology and Ecology Studies #Biology #Business #Ecology #Economics #Energy development #Environmental planning #Environmental protection #Environmental resource management #Environmental science #Fossil fuel #Geography #Government (linguistics) #Marine animal studies overview #Natural resource economics #Scale (ratio) #Subsidy #Wind power
paper · doi:10.1890/1540-9295(2007)5[315:eiowed]2.0.co;2
openalex publication_date 2007/07/31 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01
At a time of growing concern over the rising costs and long-term environmental impacts of the use of fossil fuels and nuclear energy, wind energy has become an increasingly important sector of the electrical power industry, largely because it has been promoted as being emission-free and is supported by government subsidies and tax credits. However, large numbers of bats are killed at utility-scale wind energy facilities, especially along forested ridgetops in the eastern United States. These fatalities raise important concerns about cumulative impacts of proposed wind energy development on bat populations. This paper summarizes evidence of bat fatalities at wind energy facilities in the US, makes projections of cumulative fatalities of bats in the Mid-Atlantic Highlands, identifies research needs, and proposes hypotheses to better inform researchers, developers, decision makers, and other stakeholders, and to help minimize adverse effects of wind energy development.