The American Wind Wildlife Institute (AWWI) plans to use big data to manage the effects wind farm installations have on our planet.
As fossil fuel supplies dwindle, the world is looking for alternative sources of energy. But even the cleanest renewable energy developments have an impact on the environment. The AWWI aims to facilitate the responsible development of wind energy, while protecting wildlife. According to Inhabitat, the team from AWWI hopes to provide a clearer picture of the wind/wildlife impact by collecting and analysing decades of data from the wind industry and providing its findings to the industry, government and wildlife advocates.
The institute will use its Research Information System (RIS), which is a centralised database, to help interested parties evaluate the impact of operating wind projects. According to the AWWI, it will be "the most comprehensive wind-wildlife data management tool available".
A prototype of the RIS was developed in 2012 and the latest phase of the project will see the AWWI team approaching more wind energy companies in an attempt to build up a comprehensive database of information. The RIS is being built by Oregon State University's Northwest Alliance for Computational Science & Engineering (NACSE) and includes wildlife fatality data from post-construction assessments.
"The RIS will provide analysis with a high certainty of accuracy by including data from thousands of sites. For the first time, comprehensive and uniform data analysis will be compared across multiple regions and species in one database," says Abby Arnold, AWWI executive director.
The reports and analyses generated with the RIS will be valuable across a wide spectrum of wind energy issues, including everything from selecting a site for wind power projects, to the design of the turbines.
This comes as the results of a recent investigation by the Associated Press revealed that 573 000 birds, including 83 000 hunting birds such as hawks, falcons and eagles, are killed by wind turbines each year in the US. No wind energy companies have been fined or prosecuted, despite legislation outlining each death as a federal crime. And it isn't only birds that are at risk. According to the Pennsylvania Game Commission, 10 000 bats are killed in the state each year by wind turbines.
"Our priority is to build the confidence of wind industry data providers and show that, by giving access to anonymous data, we can securely service the needs of wind developer companies, analysts and regulatory agencies," says Dr Cherri Pancake, NACSE director.
When the AWWI's project is fully launched, independent analysts will evaluate the data and produce scientific reports and trend analyses that can be used for better decision-making in the wind energy sector.
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