Shhh!! No one tell the Joker.

UniComp

Oddly enough, just last week a bat got into my office and my lungs nearly burst from screaming for help.

Curves

Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-daaah... BATFAN!

Stem_Sell

I've spent a lot of money studying bats and wind turbines, as well as just about every kind of bird as well. Some of our winged friends are going to get killed because of wind turbines. But plenty of birds get killed by flying into the sides of glass office buildings and car windshields, and no one is trying to stop them from being built. We are studying ways to "repel" bats with sound technology, but it's still in the preliminary stages.

Bat species in the US aren't endangered or threatened, even remotely. They just happen to be mammals, and that's enough to get some people into an uproar. Millions of bats that live just in one hernaculum live far better lives than the poultry we raise for food.

I know I'm switching species here, but I attended a wind energy conference last year, and one of the speakers was the National President of The Audubon Society. He stated that his organization's position going forward was to not oppose wind energy facilities, because the threat of global warming far outweighs the incidental number of birds killed annually by wind turbines. At least that's some progress.

EBone

@ripfire: that way they won't evolve:-(

yogibimbi

well, for once, the bats will surely evolve. Problem is, will us human beings evolve quickly enough to leave burning oil behind, decrease our population to a more adequate size for the planet and, in general, not behave like we have a second Earth hidden away in storage. It is very interesting how those concrete-tech-freaks become green all of a sudden when they line up animals killed by green energy, just to give their fossile and nuclear options another ten years before they finally run out completely.

yogibimbi

@Xavoc: He was the first to go.

Sniperpackage

I have a solution: shoot the bats even before they come close to the turbine blades.

ripfire

And once again, ignorance of Bernoulli's equations owns the ignorant....High velocity fluids = Low pressure zones....Get wit' it or get lost daft creatures!

TheSonOfKrypton

@enchantedgoose: Yes, but you might have to chuck the little buggers in one at a time.

GadgetPlay

Damn tree huggers. Can't they just leave well enough alone?

bms

I think it's aliens. first it was cow mutilations, now this.

I mean, come on, barotrauma?

BiZarRroBALlmeR

@enchantedgoose: Not really.

takashimiike Ultimate

Where is batman? Why isn't he saving his friends from the evil villainous wind farms?

Xavoc

Bats' health is to wind turbine as fish health is to water turbine. SAT's here I go!

qbrad

Why can't we just put something on the blades that sounds like a bat-eater? Or would that cause problems during bat-eater mating season?

PastorDoodah

Nahnahnahnahnahnah.... Batman! *POP*

mruler360

so if i have a bat problem in my attic if i put huge fans up there theyll all die?

enchantedgoose

When at least he went out laughing. Gnarly!

takashimiike Ultimate

@johnnyabnormal: I have a feeling that recording of Riley would do the trick.

frigg

It's like finding out hydrogen-powered cars inadvertently kill rats.

frigg

Damn. I hope there's a sound that can repel them from the turbines. @Those looking to get rid of bats: Go ahead, just don't start bitching about your black fly, mosquito and horsefly problems once you've killed their predator. Bats and spiders are always welcome in my home. :)

johnnyabnormal

A propellor or wing creates a slight pressure differential, not a full on vacuum. Are they really that sensitive?

ShinySideUp

I'd like to see a video of this on youtube. POP

gamecrazychris

You have any idea how many field mice and other cute prairie fauna get minced by combines and harvesters whilst *ahem* harvesting?

Might as well heap it all on at once folks.

mildretard

Let's hope that they evolve before we're overrun by the mosquitoes those guys eat for dinner.

Arvin Bautista

Wind Turbines may kill birds and bats, but I wonder how many animals die due to the pollution caused by burning coal and oil?

markarian

There's nothing we can attach to the blades like those deer repellant thinger-ma-bobs that you put on your bumper?

Crazymonkey

@frigg: Very true. OR I could stand under the turbines with a P.A. system and read some long comment threads from Gizmodo out loud. The disemvoweled comments might be challenging, but I think I could get a few threads in before my own lungs pop.

johnnyabnormal

@EBone: Just to be picky - the threat of global warming isn't killing anything. In some courts a threat can warrant lesser degrees of assault charges, but you won't even have a chance of battery, let alone manslaughter or homicide (avicide?)

Hiphopopotamus

I dunno... But to me it's a bit morbid to joke around about dying animals. Nuts to posters with bad taste! Only joke at a person's bad fortune! Bats can't blog back and call you a c**t!

philbert

This can only be the dastardly deed of non other than Environmentally Friendly Man.

BiZarRroBALlmeR

@EBone:
Yeah, the "threat of global warming"... It's like that south park episode, the day after two days before tomorrow. "GLOBAL WARMING IS COMING!! RUN, GLOBAL WARMING IS GONNA GET YOU!!"

I have to agree with Johnnyabnormal, think about about the problems that come as a result of a decrease in the bat population.

Also, people are going to complain no matter what we do. There are certain types of people that will never be happy.

jrog

@doofusgumby: Another reason I live on the West coast. If I mountain bike in Maine, I get chased for miles by huge horse flies the size of quarters. If they land on you and start chewing, blood starts running down your arm.

johnnyabnormal

@Arvin Bautista: which of course carry avian bird flu, which of course is the latest "pathological threat" to the human race, and of course would be better controlled only by dumping huge amounts of pesticide into the wilds which of course would end up killing off some other species that we need further spiraling us into the death of mankind......

large propeller wind turbines are the most in-efficient way to harness wind energy in the first place. The only way to make them even somewhat payback is to make them as big as possible.

Instead, a rotary horizontal turbine, as used in hydro-electric power, can be built that is both more efficient for smaller size and smaller and could be installed on nearly every building instead.

of course, this would be counter to the desire of the "environmentalists" as they don't make for good "Vista-shots" of huge numbers of massive structures stretching across the landscape proving our dedication to alternative energy.

Buddha916

@UTnick: didn't they say this was in cananda? do they even have bugs in canada? that was the only reason i might move up there -- was for the lack of skeeters.

duuuude. go up there in summertime. you'll be eaten ALIVE. at least out where farming happens and trees grow, and the tundra. man they're agressive as hell.

doofusgumby

more nukes, damnit. and with cooling towers to prevent thermal shock die-offs.

doofusgumby

didn't they say this was in cananda? do they even have bugs in canada? that was the only reason i might move up there -- was for the lack of skeeters.

ps
coal burns a lot cleaner than folks might think.

UTnick

ARE YOU HAPPY NOW HIPPIES?!

roflwaffles

Burn the dead bats for fuel FTW!

Q

Again this is why we need more nuclear power.

ab3

@Mark 2000: That's a really good idea. There probably is a frequency that would mess with their echolocation and keep them from being attracted to the blades or any bugs in the area, thus making them leave to find food.

Lev_Astov

isnt there a sound frequency that will drive them away?

Mark 2000

@ab3: Screw nuclear for the long run, although it could get us over the hump to something like this:

+ Watch video

johnnyabnormal

@Mark 2000:
@Lev_Astov:
dog whistles. im sure there is a similar frequency for bats. just mount a few of those at the tips of the constantly rotating blades and the noise will be made as long as the blades force air through the whistle

damnElantra

France has had nuclear for 30 years without an accident. As for the bats, screw em, we'll figure out what frequency to blare a signal to keep them away, not like they are endangered. We can't weep over every freaking thing that happens in this life.

Hello_Newman

@johnnyabnormal:

You did not just put up Pravda piece vilifying tailing ponds did you? Come on man....

The funny thing about the bats, and it isn't funny at all, is that I was just thinking about how the Law of Unintended Consequences is going to come back and bite us all on the ass in a way that we never thought or conceived of in our attempts to deal with contrived junk science issues like global warming rather than combating real issues like population growth and the fact that the return of the sunspots (the real determining factor in global climate) are long, long overdue. For ever action there is a reaction, and nature doesn't care if our intentions were good or bad.

sharmanova

@Hello_Newman: I'm tellin' you...without bats eating bugs, we are screwed. Not just discomfort, but think of the diseases. Btw, some are endangered, but I'm not sure if any are up in Canada. It's easy to dismiss the little guys, but they all have a very important purpose most if the time, unless they are a non-native, invasive species.

johnnyabnormal

Green Gizmodo Sponsored by Chevy

lol

doobiebros2two

*Flap**Flap**Flap*... POP!

FinalValgas

waiting for someone to replace that speech bubble with "ROFLS"

kydrice

@FinalValgas: I laughed so hard at that, then felt so guilty at the same time.

johnnyabnormal

@sharmanova: No no no...tailing ponds? No way. EGS (enhanced geothermal systems). You should watch the vid.

Funny thing is, there's no proof behind your "junk science" claim on global climate change + the sunspot warming hypothesis is thoroughly debunked by not only climatologists, but astrophysicists as well.

BUT!!

I will give you enormous props for listing overpopulation. Before you get any ideas that I want to start knocking people off: I think population control is much more simple...have one kid. Even if everyone just had two, the population would go down. That would involve the rhythm method for those of us with good skills/timing or contraceptives...which we all know is pesky business with religion in tow.

Btw, when the hell do we get some beers? I thought doobie was buying...

johnnyabnormal

@doobiebros2two: Seriously, right!? Crazy.

johnnyabnormal

That's actually really surprising and sad. Maybe a deterrent echo frequency can be developed in wind farms, or the illusion of a bat predator to scare them away from the area. Less bats = more bugs. Elch.

PS GO UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY... it's about time we got some street cred.

pardyhardy

Do you have any idea how many bats die from flying into the side of Nuclear Reactors each year?

I don't either.

What the hell eats bats -giant apes or something?
Put some of those up there.

strider_mt2k

Perhaps the bats should start wearing hockey pads...

OMG! Ponies!

bats are sensitive to sound. Put some kind of speaker playing owl hoots or whatever it is that preys on bats on the turbine. Alternatively, Panic at the Disco... will repel anything with a pulse.

cheaper way: put a really annoying whistle at the tip of the turbine

Bats aren't bugs!

jtan

@jtan: That might actually work.

Kaiser-Machead's WALL-E fetish

Put sound devices that screw with their location methods on the turbines. They will probably just avoid the whole area. Assuming they don't use much power it would be worth a try.

hagrun

It's still free power. Plus they're just flying rats anyway.

DeanOfAllTrades

Has anyone tried the sonic repellers that you can buy at costco that repel rats, mice, roaches and other vermin when you plug them in? They work against bats too.

Seriously you people, just plug one of those things into each wind turbine. Wtf is with you trying to spend millions on a solution when one already exists. It's like trying to invent a pen that writes in space all over again.

tarrantm

Seems to me it'd be easy enough to come up with some kind of sound that annoys the bats and keeps them away from the blades.

To those saying they don't care about the bats - they're the biggest consumers of mosquitoes around, we should do all we can to help them. ;-)

Sean Robertson

I guess bats don't matter do they hippie

Nemesisesq

Awful lot of hate against the bats going on here, anything that EATS MOSQUITOES is ok in my book. I even go out of my way to feed spiders.

Granted, their guano can cause uncurable respiratory diseases, and I'm a chronic bronchitis kind of guy, but I still have lots of affection for bats.

Also: I highly doubt the lower pressure makes them literally go "POP", they probably just hemmorage.

The_Archon

There are already all sorts of noise issues related to wind turbine siting and adding anything to the turbine that is audible to the human ear will probably not fly unless the turbines are sited in remote locations far away from civilization (no farm houses, nobody living near them).

Ike_Skelton

And who is doing the siting on these wind farms anyway? Aren't they doing any sort of habitat assessments to see what the potential impacts to wildlife (bats) are before installing them? There are ways to mitigate the impacts to bats and other flying creatures if you look at a few different sites as options. Maybe this was the best option though, who's to say?

Ike_Skelton

@PastorDoodah: That was my first thought as well. Just add a noise scary to bats, and I would assume that it can even be sub or super sonic to human hearing.

zenpoet

Drill... Drill now dammit!.

aec007

@jrog: @Hiphopopotamus: I'm not actually a big believer in global warming. My point was that the wind energy industry finally caught a break from the bird huggers, and now we're being trashed by the bat lovers.

As I stated above, no bat species in the US are in any danger of becoming threatened, let alone extinct. Yet the bat "lobby" is pushing for the suspension of wind energy permits until they can do more "research," which they want my industry to fund, because no federal or state government considers them threatened so they aren't funding any studies.

EBone

Of course, the downside of putting any kind of sonic bat repellant on or near wind turbines will be the rise of a new species of mosquito, more vicious than all the rest, who will only inhabit windfarm zones, eating alive all who may live nearby. Woe be unto those who may shun the bats!

dwarfgoat

Maybe we can get biofuel from all the dead bats.

stjnky

@strider_mt2k: Now that's an idea! Tie giant bat-eating apes to the wing of each turbine. That'll learn those bats.

Enochrewt

@Enochrewt: o.O .... But... that'll slow the turbines too much..

cmantito

Sounds like we'll have to erect giant nets around each wind turbine.

*looks for a job in the soon to be booming net industry*

phor11

How the hell did they manage to get that picture... I mean is that bat dead or alive.

DJTripleRRR

Yet we continue to do things easier for insects to take over the world.

rubasrv

Holy spinning blades Batman, your new enemy is ....WindmillMan!

VideoVampire

I always thought bats would support the "green" movement, I'm a bit disappointed in them.
Bat falcons and Bat hawks shall be deployed around such turbines for determent.
Of course the birds will have to be turbine-proofed before deployment.

Impetuous_Vigor

@Everyone: One wonders if the solution is as simple as a chicken wire cage around the blades? I can't imagine it would slow the wind too much? I could be wrong.

johnnyabnormal

I went to read the article, but I couldn't get past the word "echolocate". I kept reading that as "e-chocolate". So now I'm eating chocolate and have forgotten all about the bats.

bts

@PastorDoodah: Exactly. Water treatment plants play the sounds of a dying gull to ward off other gulls. And, guess what? It works!

Maybe there's common noise a dying bat makes that'll not attract other bats.

unspellable

@unspellable: You know bats are more important than human fetuses, right? JUST KIDDING.

johnnyabnormal

@DJTripleRRR: click the photo credit link. the little dude's still kicking..or he was when he was "evicted" from that person's house. hopefully he hasn't flown by any wind turbines since.

m0unds