Is green energy green enough?
Investigating the threat posed to bats by wind turbines.
Bats are in trouble. As well as struggling to cope with deforestation, pesticides and building developments, estimates suggest that as many as 130,000 bats may be dying annually as a result of wind turbines, either in direct collisions or through barotrauma.
This matters, not just because bats are a protected species, but because their health is a key indicator of environmental health. As major predators of moths, butterflies and other insects they help to control the spread of infectious diseases and are also vital to agriculture as seed dispersers and pollinators.
Clearly something needs to be done but researchers and environmentalists are hampered by insufficient and often inaccurate data on both the extent of the problem and the precise way in which the behaviour of bats interacts negatively with the turbines.
To understand what is happening, it is vital to get better data. Zeke designed and built a solution – a Bat Activity Logging System.
Zeke’s logger, the neat bit of kit above left, can be positioned near wind turbines and records the vocalisations of echolocating bats, data which can then ascertain with a high degree of certainty when, where, why and in what numbers bats are being killed. Not only that, it logs time, wind speed, air pressure, ambient temperature and can be configured in a variety of operational modes, according to circumstances. It is exceptionally robust and its batteries allow up to one hundred hours in the field. Because it can be remotely operated and controlled, the amount of work it can do compared to current equipment – the field workers’ eyes and ears - is staggering.
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Zeke who is in his final year of the MEng in Electronic and Electrical Engineering, was selected to represent the university at the EMESP Masters’ Award. He did us all proud! Here he collects his £250 cheque and tankard from Ian Treacy, E.M.E.S.P. Chairman and Council member of the Institution of Engineering Designers |
Footnote
The logger system development was undertaken entirely in-house using the Department’s workshop facilities, and encompassed the design, fabrication and verification of the system’s electrical, mechanical and software elements. The Department also provided access to a semi-anechoic chamber for conducting acoustic experiments.
Related story:
Can things be as bad as they are painted? - The fatal attraction of wind turbines
