The federal government wanted to make the construction of new wind power and solar plants a question of national security by law. However, after opposition was expressed over the idea the controversial amendment to the energy transition law was dropped.

Impact on Wildlife Energy Policy Germany

The construction of wind farms in Norway is booming. And German investors are behind many projects. Sami interests are ignored.

Impact on Wildlife Impact on People Energy Policy Europe Germany

According to its findings, more than 70 percent of the legal objections are based on species conservation, especially the threat to endangered bird species and bats. ...In addition to species protection, it is primarily conflicts with noise protection that are leading to legal objections against wind power projects. They are responsible for 17 per cent of legal cases. Monument protection are behind six percent of lawsuits. 

Impact on Wildlife Energy Policy Germany

Wind turbines for power generation should actually produce more electricity with increasing wind strength. However, this is exactly what they often do not do, which has confused experts for years. The puzzle could already have been solved in 2001 thanks to a new study: dead insects that stick to wind turbines should be responsible for the low yield.

Impact on Wildlife Germany

"The effects of an industrial wind power plant on this valuable biotope are immense," says Prof. Dr. Fritz Vahrenholt, sole director of the German Wildlife Foundation. "The negative impact on birds are substantial and proven in similar habitats." 

Impact on Wildlife Impact on Birds Germany

How dangerous is wind power for animals and humans? This question is the construction of wind turbines in Denmark almost stopped as the "Welt am Sonntag" reported. Also in Germany there is growing skepticism about wind power projects.

Impact on Wildlife Impact on People Denmark Germany

German developers plan to install 60 wind turbines, each 700-foot tall, in one of Central Europe’s last remaining untouched regions, the Palantinate Forest, a UN designated natural monument.

Impact on Wildlife Impact on Landscape Europe Germany

TURKEY: A new wind farm is to be built on the Turkish Aegean coast - with technical support from Germany. But also at the expense of the environment and the neighboring community according to the residents and legal experts.

Impact on Wildlife Impact on Landscape Impact on People Europe Germany

"There are indications from research that fish larvae can be damaged by intense sounds,” said Fabian Ritter, leader of the marine protection campaign at Whale and Dolphin Conservation in Berlin. "Seals are very sensitive to sounds and can be easily disturbed," he told DW. "There's disturbance and the risk of collision for birds, and bats, and other animals."

Impact on Wildlife Offshore Wind Germany

Porpoises are adding millions of euros to costs for wind-turbine developers in waters off Germany, delaying the nation's shift from nuclear energy. About 231,000 porpoises, which are smaller and stouter than dolphins, live in the North Sea and Baltic Sea.

Impact on Wildlife Germany

Previous studies have already highlighted that more than 200,000 bats are killed each year by German wind turbines. Researchers are convinced that such high mortality rates may not be sustainable ...Voigt calls for stronger legislative agreements. The large-scale development of wind farms throughout Germany may have negative consequences for even remote ecosystems in northeastern Europe.

Impact on Bats Impact on Wildlife Europe Germany

"From the standpoint of environmental protection, it's necessary to decrease noise pollution in marine ecosystems," BfN acknowledges in the introduction of its recent report. The study looks to the guidelines set forth by the Federal Environment Agency (UBA), which suggest that noise outside of a 750 meter radius from the construction site should not exceed 160 decibels.

Impact on Wildlife Germany

Earlier today German Radio reported that an unusually large number of dead whales have washed up on the North German Baltic beaches over the last 2 weeks. Now some believe that a newly installed Baltic 1 offshore windpark consisting of 21 2.3-MW turbines may be responsible, according to reports.

Impact on Wildlife Germany

They might produce renewable energy, but offshore wind farms are a scourge for porpoises. Researchers have found that construction noise at a turbine site off the German coast has scared away the marine mammals, who depend on their acute hearing. A "bubble curtain" could protect the sensitive cetaceans from future stress.

Impact on Wildlife Germany

Sound pollution from offshore wind turbines poses a threat to Baltic Sea porpoises, a German marine mammal specialist said on Monday.

Impact on Wildlife Germany

Massive wind turbines seem to be killing more and more migratory bats, prompting research into these neglected creatures and efforts to minimize the toll. ...The deaths have led to a flurry of research on migratory bats and their behavior. "The problem with bats and wind energy has pushed a lot of work that wouldn't have occurred otherwise," says Edward Arnett of the Austin, Texas-based nonprofit Bat Conservation International. Indeed, at a January conference in Berlin on migratory bats, wind farms were a dominant theme. Scientists are racing to figure out what brings the bats in contact with wind turbines, and what can be done to save them.

Impact on Bats Impact on Wildlife Europe Germany

German animal campaigners are alarmed by the number of dead bats being found near wind turbines and have called for restrictions on generators in areas with high populations of the nocturnal mammal. "The bats are not only being clobbered to death by the turbines, but can also suffer from collapsed lungs due to the drastic change in air pressure," said Hermann Hoetker of the Michael Otto Institute for wildlife and the environment.

Impact on Bats Impact on Wildlife Germany

It may be the time to consider how wind farms fit in with the values which the Wilderness Society represents. If the Society is prepared to go through such a prolonged and worthy fight to save the forests, with all the financial and emotional costs involved, it would be consistent to regard wind farm development with the same scepticism with which it regards the wood chip industry. Both are potent adversaries to the values which I hope we share.

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