[BCNnet] Sun-Times article: Bird Watchers Comfortable (with 10 new wind turbines in Chicago)

[antlitz at aol.com]

 I wonder what the risk of wind turbines might be for Henslow's sparrows and other grassland nesting birds who don't necessarily appreciate lots of tall objects looming in their habitat. 
 
-----Original Message-----
From: Randi Doeker - Chicago <rbdoeker at yahoo.com>
To: BCNnet at ece.iit.edu
Sent: Tue, 24 Jan 2006 07:57:55 -0600
Subject: [BCNnet] Sun-Times article: Bird Watchers Comfortable (with 10 new wind turbines in Chicago)


Interestingly, the reporter apparently doesn't know about the 5+ wind turbines planned for the middle of Lincoln Park (by the South Pond).
 
Also - FYI - In recent weeks I have sat through two very serious presentations that explained that Illinois will become the wind farm capital of the country.  The financial incentives for farmers statewide to allow big-blade turbines on their land are huge; the local governments are even more financially excited.  We already know from too much experience that once the financial investment has been made to install  the turbine and the locals start receiving their free-money, there is no way to take down a turbine.  (They only took action in California because of the dead eagles.  I'm guessing our turbines will wipe out the whooping cranes that migrate on their own.)
 
Per the environmental-community turbine proponents: IL is NOT on a migratory bird flyway.  Thus, there are no birds that fly over Illinois that could fly into the turbines. (I have been told this so many times I want to puke.)  
 
 
Randi Doeker
Chicago
 
PS:  For those who may be confused - "migratory bird flyway" is a term that references the geographic dividing lines of the relevant wildlife management agencies.  It does not reference specific flight paths that the FAA has designated for avian flight.  
 
.................
 
 
City planners to give wind machines a whirl 
January 24, 2006 
BY GARY WISBY Environment Reporter - Sun-Times
 
Wind power is coming soon to the Windy City. 
 
But don't look for propellers mounted on poles. Chicago's wind machines will be thrust up into the breeze on the shoulders of its buildings. 
This spring, planners said Monday, two wind turbines will be mounted on the Daley Center, and eight more on a Helmut Jahn-designed building on the Near North Side. 
Plans to place turbines on the Museum of Contemporary Art for its "Massive Change" exhibit, opening in September, are in the discussion stage.
 
Bird watchers comfortable 
The projects will provide answers about how practical and affordable wind power can be here, said Sadhu Johnston, the city's environment commissioner. Some day, turbines could be on top of commercial and residential buildings all over Chicago, he said. 
His department is putting together an "urban wind map" to see what areas of the city have the most potential. 
The two turbines on the Daley Center will supply only a small portion of the building's energy needs. Together they will produce enough power for four households. 
"We're monitoring the equipment," Johnston said. "As soon as that's done and the weather breaks, we'll be up there." 
Renewable power sources such as wind and solar are pollution-free alternatives to fossil fuels and nuclear energy, he noted. 
Ground has been broken for Jahn's Near North SRO, a single room occupancy building near Cabrini-Green. Bil Becker, the turbine's designer and manufacturer, said he's been told "the roof will be ready in April or May." 
Becker, a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago and CEO of Aerotecture Ltd., calls his device an "aeroturbine." It's a 20-foot-long, 5-foot-wide horizontal cylinder containing a helical plastic sheet that catches the wind. "It's almost like a DNA structure, or like a twisted sail," he said. 
Although wind turbines with propellers kill birds, Chicago birder groups are comfortable with the aeroturbine. 
Recent studies show that a conventional turbine kills up to 7.5 birds a year. But Donnie Dann, president of the Chicago-area Bird Conservation Network, said, "This design is as close to zero as they can get."
 
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