Wind turbines kill more birds than oil spills

Question

A meme posted on Facebook by the group “Patriot Energy Facts. I’ve heard this claim repeated in energy debates, especially by those opposing wind power, but I’ve also seen environmentalists strongly dispute it. I want to fact-check it to see what the actual data says.

Answer 1

An estimated 500,000 birds die worldwide due to oil spill every year. This is especially important because seabirds are the most commonly endangered type of bird (https://ornithology.com/birds-and-oil-spills/). During just a single oil spill incident, Deepwater Horizon, 800,000 coastal birds and 200,000 offshore birds died (https://www.audubon.org/news/more-one-million-birds-died-during-deepwater-horizon-disaster). In addition to this, oil spills kill and endanger many other animals, such as fur bearing animals like sea otters, to sea turtles, dolphins, whales, fish, shellfish, and coral (https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/oilimpacts.html)

Although wind turbines do kill a significant number of birds every year (somewhere between 140,000 and 680,000), they are significantly less damaging than oil spills (https://climate.mit.edu/ask-mit/do-wind-turbines-kill-birds). These numbers are statistically smaller than deaths by oil spill, but they are also less horriffic, as it is only a fraction as many birds are killed per year by housecats, cars, buildings, or the  lethal fossil fuel operations being replaced by turbines.  Wind projects kill 0.269 birds per gigawatt hour of electricity produced, compated to 5.18 birds per the same unit by fossil fuel projects (https://thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/do-wind-turbines-kill-birds-and-other-climate-questions/). So Ultimately, no, wind turbines do not kill more birds than oil spills, which have many more terrible repercussions, and wind turbines are better for birds than other alternatives. 

Answer 2

 

The claims that “wind turbines kill more birds than oil spills” is not true. While wind turbines do kill some birds, the number is much lower than the deaths caused by the oil industry. Experts estimate that wind turbines in the U.S. kill between 140,000 and 500,000 birds each year. Some studies say the number might rise as more turbines are built, but it's still far less than often claimed. I do like the meme reference though!

Comments

What's your source? I don't see any mentioned, but you stated "experts". Who are you referring to?

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This is in fact true but, if you are tryin g to make the claim that wind turbines are as bad as oil spills that would be false. Wind turbines provide clean energy while oil spills harm are entire planet not just birds.