Podcast | “If wind turbines are switched off for too long during bird migration, the lights will go out” (Dutch spoken)
Wind turbines are intended to help tackle climate change, but they pose a serious threat to migratory birds flying overhead at night. Is there anything that can be done about this? Ecologist Bart Hoekstra investigated whether wind turbines could be adapted to allow the autumn migration to take place safely, without causing an energy shortage. Listen to and watch the episode now on Spotify or YouTube.
Every autumn, hundreds of millions of birds migrate from north to south to spend the winter in warmer regions. The thousands of wind turbines along their migration routes act like giant meat grinders. Ecologist Bart Hoekstra used weatherradar to study bird migration. His solution is to temporarily shut down wind turbines at certain times to prevent largenumbers of birds from being killed by their blades. This is already happening offshore, a situation which, according toHoekstra, is unique in the world. He also investigated how we can ensure that people’s lights stay on when the turbinesare switched off. As it turns out, this is no easy task.
Listen to his full story in the latest episode of Uitgedokterd on Spotify, or watch the video recording on YouTube here.
