Studies from National Renewable Energy Laboratory Have Provided New Data on Wind Energy (International assessment of priority environmental issues for land-based and offshore wind energy development)

2023 MAR 28 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Climate Change Daily News -- A new study on wind energy is now available. According to news reporting out of Golden, United States, by NewsRx editors, research stated, “Non-technical summary A substantial increase in wind energy deployment worldwide is required to help achieve international targets for decreasing global carbon emissions and limiting the impacts of climate change. In response to global concerns regarding the environmental effects of wind energy, the International Energy Agency Wind Technical Collaborative Program initiated Task 34 - Working Together to Resolve Environmental Effects of Wind Energy or WREN.”

Funders for this research include U.S. Department of Energy.

Our news editors obtained a quote from the research from National Renewable Energy Laboratory: “As part of WREN, this study performed an international assessment with the global wind energy and environmental community to determine priority environmental issues over the next 5-10 years and help support collaborative interactions among researchers, developers, regulators, and stakeholders. Technical summary A systematic assessment was performed using feedback from the international community to identify priority environmental issues for land-based and offshore wind energy development. Given the global nature of wind energy development, feedback was of interest from all countries where such development is underway or planned to help meet United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change targets. The assessment prioritized environmental issues over the next 5-10 years associated with wind energy development and received a total of 294 responses from 28 countries. For land-based wind, the highest-ranked issues included turbine collision risk for volant species (birds and bats), cumulative effects on species and ecosystems, and indirect effects such as avoidance and displacement. For offshore wind, the highest-ranked issues included cumulative effects, turbine collision risk, underwater noise (e.g. marine mammals and fish), and displacement. Emerging considerations for these priorities include potential application to future technologies (e.g. larger turbines and floating turbines), new stressors and species in frontier regions, and cumulative effects for multiple projects at a regional scale.”

According to the news editors, the research concluded: “For both land-based and offshore wind, effectiveness of minimization measures (e.g. detection and deterrence technologies) and costs for monitoring, minimization, and mitigation were identified as overarching challenges. Social media summary Turbine collisions and cumulative effects among the international environmental priorities for wind energy development.”

For more information on this research see: International assessment of priority environmental issues for land-based and offshore wind energy development. Global Sustainability, 2022,5. (Global Sustainability - https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/global-sustainability). The publisher for Global Sustainability is Cambridge University Press.

A free version of this journal article is available at https://doi.org/10.1017/sus.2022.14.

Our news journalists report that additional information may be obtained by contacting Rebecca E. Green, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, United States. Additional authors for this research include Elizabeth Gill, Cris Hein, Lydie Couturier, Miguel Mascarenhas, Roel May, David Newell, Bob Rumes.

(Our reports deliver fact-based news of research and discoveries from around the world.)