The Dark Side of Renewable Energy
By Cayman Somerville, Environmental Science, 2017
Environmentalists struggle to deliver world-class solutions to complex environmental problems without further harming Earth’s natural systems. This well-known dilemma stems from unknown or ambiguous environmental impacts. Countries around the world are exploring alternatives to non-renewable energy resources like fossil fuels or nuclear energy. While coal, oil, and natural gas give off detrimental atmospheric pollutants, they are also in limited supply and unsustainable in terms of energy generation. Consequently, scientists are exploring renewable sources of energy to meet the high energy demand.
Dr. Francis Daunt recently gave a cross-site seminar in Edinburgh about the unknown environmental impacts of marine renewable energy systems on seabird populations in the United Kingdom. The UK has committed to delivering 15 percent of its energy demand from renewable sources by 2020. In addition to this aim, they hope to meet their goal of an 80 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, while simultaneously creating over 350,000 jobs. An advantage of marine renewables is that it involves fewer landscape issues than terrestrial alternatives and holds great potential for further expansion.
According to the UK’s governmental site, the country currently has some of the ‘’best wind resources in Europe.’’ While the electricity sector is currently dominated by onshore wind, there has been a shift towards offshore renewable development in territorial waters. UK legislation requires the sustainable use of the country’s coastal seas, seeking to ensure that wind farm zones include the consideration of physical, biological, and human environments. Of the marine renewables, offshore wind is currently the most advanced, with the expectation that it could quadruple by 2020. Today, there are at least 20 offshore wind turbines holding a 5500 megawatt capacity, with plans in the works to further expand these wind farm zones.
However, there are justifiable concerns that offshore marine renewables will negatively impact ecosystem health and biodiversity. These impacts include direct collision risks, displacement from foraging habitat, and noise disturbance for organisms near wind turbines. Marine birds come face to face with these sub-lethal risks and will potentially continue to do so as offshore marine renewable energy rapidly continues to develop. In recent years, the North Sea seabird population has declined, evidence that as the human population continues to skyrocket, the natural environment absorbs the consequences.
The Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH) has engaged in long-term monitoring of seabird populations on the Isle of May, utilizing the results as a baseline for model parameterisation. The Isle of May is located in Scotland and is home to six different species of protected seabirds. Additionally, it is in the vicinity of the multiple wind farm development projects led by the Forth and Tay Offshore Wind Developers Group (FTOWDG). CEH has been appointed by FTOWDG to conduct 24-month surveys and assessments on the degree of connectivity between “seabird usage of marine environments under consideration for development and the SPA network of protected breeding colonies.” There was a high level of uncertainty found in the assessment, increasing the ambiguity of the potential wind farm footprint. While no clear guidance has been given to the developers, it is important to recognize the small-scale cumulative impacts that have been seen in these assessments.
This complex study contributes to CEH’s overarching goal of detecting the effects of environmental change. It provides demography, behaviour, survival and diet data for marine birds from the last four decades. In order for us to better understand displacement and disturbance impacts on seabirds, this data is essential for historical baseline information to be placed against new data on integrated population models. There is a need for a more strategic approach to marine spatial planning to minimize environmental impacts as marine renewable energy continues to expand. It is also imperative that policy and regulations for offshore developments are linked with biological understanding on the potential impacts for the surrounding environment.
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