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Potential environmental impacts of wind energy development – A global perspective Muhammad Shahzad Nazir, Nisar Ali, Muhammad Bilal, Hafiz M.N. Iqbal
PII: S2468-5844(20)30003-9
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.coesh.2020.01.002 Reference: COESH 159
To appear in: Current Opinion in Environmental Science & Health Received Date: 13 December 2019
Revised Date: 29 December 2019 Accepted Date: 2 January 2020
Please cite this article as: Nazir MS, Ali N, Bilal M, Iqbal HMN, Potential environmental impacts of wind energy development – A global perspective, Current Opinion in Environmental Science & Health, https://
doi.org/10.1016/j.coesh.2020.01.002.
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Graphical abstract
Potential environmental impacts of wind energy development – A global 1
perspective 2
Muhammad Shahzad Nazir 1,*, Nisar Ali 2, Muhammad Bilal 3, and Hafiz M. N. Iqbal 4,* 3
1Faculty of Automation, Huaiyin Institute of Technology, Huaian 223003, China.
4
2Key Laboratory for Palygorskite Science and Applied Technology of Jiangsu Province, 5
National & Local Joint Engineering Research Center for Deep Utilization Technology of 6
Rock-salt Resource, Faculty of Chemical Engineering, Huaiyin Institute of Technology, 7
Huaian 223003, China.
8
3School of Life Science and Food Engineering, Huaiyin Institute of Technology, Huaian 9
223003, China.
10
4Tecnologico de Monterrey, School of Engineering and Sciences, Campus Monterrey, 11
Ave. Eugenio Garza Sada 2501, Monterrey, N.L., CP 64849, Mexico.
12
*Corresponding authors emails: [email protected] (M.S. Nazir); and 13
[email protected] (H.M.N. Iqbal).
14
15
Abstract 16
Following careful consideration of long‐term economic crises and ecological impact of 17
fossil resources, green and sustainable energy resources have gained preference. Wind 18
energy has been endorsed as an emission‐free, green, and sustainable, thus supported 19
by state appropriations. However, many avian fatalities at utility‐scale wind energy 20
amenities, particularly along forested and habitations globally. These mortalities raise 21
serious concerns about the increasing pace of projected wind energy development on 22
ecological beings. This mini overview discusses current developments of wind energy 23
developments, its increasing trend, and the adverse ecological impacts i.e., noise, 24
visual, deforestation, and land erosion. Moreover, possible solutions to those mentioned 25
above adverse ecological impacts on wind power production facilities are also given. In 26
this context, considering the research needs, decision-makers, developers, and other 27
stakeholders should work closely to standardize the policies to minimize the negative 28
environmental impact of this natural source of energy.
29
Keywords: Wind energy; Environmental impact; Ecology; Visual impact; Computational 30
fluid dynamics 31
32
Introduction 33
The massive utilization of fossil-fuels has led to chaos and adverse impact on the entire 34
living ecosystems. Climate change is another problem that has a devastating 35
impression on human life and the environment (Nazir et al., 2019; Sharifi et al., 2019).
36
Concerning the fast depletion of fossil-based energy resources, the demand for the 37
development of sustainable energy is growing at a constant pace (Sharifi et al., 2019).
38
Renewable energy is of high interests at all levels, globally at large and regionally, in 39
particular owing to its significant role in the development of sustainable societies and 40
impact on the environment (Mori-Clement and Bednar-Friedl, 2019). Renewable energy 41
sources such as wind, solar and geothermal are playing an important role in coping with 42
the growing energy needs of developed countries (Nazir and Abdalla, 2019). It also 43
creates a balance between economical, technological systems and the environment 44
(Park, 2019). The advantages of renewable energy include safety, reduced dependence 45
on fossil-based fuels, high energy output, protection of natural resources, and the new 46
source of job establishment (Park, 2019; Stigka et al., 2014).
47
The market share of these renewable energies are gradually increasing (Cherni and 48
Kentish, 2007; Lund, 2009). In addition, a proper adoption of renewable energies is 49
essential for the development of greener environment. Thus, the installation of 50
renewable energy technologies is of supreme interests. Currently, an accelerated pace 51
of wind energy projection and its usage globally has been observed (Aubrun et al., 52
2013). Major milestones with progression of wind turbine rotor size and their rated 53
energy output since 2000 with growing future trends are shown in Figure 1. It has also 54
become an important task to keep eye on its environmental impacts (Dai et al., 2015). It 55
has been found that the general lack of understanding of new technologies, lack of 56
impartiality, distrust, and suspicion of investors are key influencing factors that affect 57
renewable energy (Stigka et al., 2014). The implementation and use of renewable 58
energy technologies are useful when the public is aware of its socio-economic benefits.
59
To this end, suppliers are trying to improve customer awareness of renewable energy 60
technologies (Cherni and Kentish, 2007). Furthermore, to have a positive influence, it is 61
also important to study the harmful effects of wind turbine-based technology. The worst- 62
case must be determined and predicted before any decision is made. By doing so, 63
damage can be minimized. The most serious negative effects of wind turbine-based 64
technology are habitat damage to flora and fauna, noise and flicker effects, which we 65
have discussed in this paper.
66
67
Influencing factors and consequences 68
From a techno-economic point of view, the most mature form of renewable and “clean”
69
energy is wind energy. Wind-based renewable energy is considered eco-friendly 70
choices among all available energy resources today (Lintott et al., 2016). Wind energy 71
is also assumed to be the most compatible energy source for animals and humans in 72
the world (Wang et al., 2015). It can effectively respond to climate change while 73
providing a variety of environmental, social, and economic benefits (Dai et al., 2015).
74
Causes of major bird killings associated with humans in developing and developing 75
countries are explained in Cronin, (2002). American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) 76
calculated that in terms of current bird mortality, wind-based energy can only cause one 77
fauna death in every 250 human-related bird deaths (Saidur et al., 2011; Erickson et al., 78
2014). Some researchers have reported wildlife impacts (Wang et al., 2015). The 79
consequences of death from a collision with a wind power plant are direct, while indirect 80
effects are avoidable, habitat destruction and displacement. However, compared to 81
other renewable energy sources, the impact is smaller (Saidur et al., 2011). Currently, 82
industry and researchers are trying to standardize the preventive measures to reduce 83
the adverse effects of wind energy on wildlife. Many researchers have recommended 84
that a proper location of a wind farm significantly reduce the bird mortality.
85
Birds are reported to be one of the largest victims of wind turbine deaths worldwide 86
(McNew et al., 2014). Unlike other human activities, the number of birds killed by wind 87
turbines is negligible (Kikuchi, 2008). It is studied that only twenty of the total number of 88
fauna killed in a year, died of an installed capacity of 1000 MW wind turbines, while the 89
number of avian caused by hunters is counted around 1,500, and the number of deaths 90
caused by collisions with vehicles and electricity is around 2000. Where power 91
transmission lines are almost "invisible" to birds (Snyder and Kaiser, 2009; Sumper et 92
al., 2010). To sum up, it is essential to understand any effects that wind turbines 93
produce, so their effects are tandem, and instead. In short, we must decide that if 94
electricity is to be generated, it is desirable to build electricity in a way that has the least 95
impact on the environment. Raptor deaths are much less than the deaths of birds and 96
bats in developed and developing countries. The danger of birds is often a major 97
complaint during the installation of wind turbines (Erickson et al., 2014). Studies have 98
shown that birds can get lost in bad weather or foggy nights. Subsequently, birds are 99
attracted by light from wind farms, which causes more birds to fly through wind power 100
plants and become vulnerable due to collisions with wind turbine blades (Erickson et al., 101
2014). It rises the capability for birds to fly through wind turbines farm, especially in the 102
presence of attractive and charming color light. In a study, when the weather was not a 103
factor, only three out of 48 fauna were found dead (Saidur et al., 2011).
104
105
Prevention and protection 106
To decrease the number of bird deaths, safety, and prevention steps should be carried 107
out on an immediate basis. Wind energy-based projects should be planned carefully in 108
considering the environmental impact (Shohag et al., 2017). Different countries have 109
associations/organizations, which are keeping eye on the bird’s rights and protections, 110
such as in the UK, an association (Royal Bird Protection Association, RSPB) was 111
established. The wind energy industry of many countries and other stakeholders form 112
the National Wind Energy Coordination Committee are taking ken interest to spared 113
awareness of wind turbines and its ecological impact. Social risk tolerance, thresholds 114
of tolerance, and uncertainty are key determinants of wind and ecological conflicts. The 115
consultant should check the aligned sites in a scheduled time and report the impacts to 116
review by the developers. Such survey reports can help to reduce the threat to wildlife 117
at a minimum range (Saidur et al., 2011). The wind industry is currently negotiating with 118
concerned organizations to reduce aviation issues, and safety lighting for wind projects.
119
The main theme of the discussion is to ensure that the wind turbine's light would not 120
attract the birds that are migrating during bad weather or foggy nights. For safety 121
reasons, minimal light must be installed and proper scientific techniques should be used 122
to prevent glare in the field (Wardlaw, 2017).
123
124
Ecological influences – Noise impact 125
The most critical impact of wind turbines on the environment is noise pollution.
126
Therefore, turbines should be retreated from residential and property lines to protect 127
participating and nearby landowners from noise and safety issues. The wind turbines 128
noise can be divided into two main types, i.e., (1) aerodynamic, and (2) mechanical.
129
Aerodynamic noise is generated by airflow flowing above the turbine blades and 130
produces a characteristic "howling" sound (Saidur et al., 2011). Mechanical noise can 131
be minimized during the design phase (side gears) or by sound insulation inside the 132
turbine housing. Mechanical noise can also be reduced through the soundproofing 133
curtain and the anti-vibration support feet during operation. Manufacturers can reduce 134
aerodynamic noise by carefully designing the blades, which minimizes such noise 135
(Nazir et al., 2019). The intermittent speed of wind and direction tends to produce the 136
noise levels comparative to turbines and end receiving the object. Higher noise levels 137
can be found at the bottom of the wind turbine, and the bottom of the rotor is located 138
from the factory to the receiving end (Lintott et al., 2016). The mechanical parts of the 139
turbine produce a small amount of noise. It can be clearly imagined that a wind turbine 140
of 350 m from a home is not even noisier than a kitchen refrigerator. Figure 2 illustrates 141
a schematic representation of wind energy development and potential impacts.
142
143
Ecological influences – visual impact 144
In terms of visual impact, the negative effects of wind turbines have been evaluated 145
(Kikuchi, 2008). Visual effects vary with wind energy equipment, such as color contrast, 146
size, distance from the home, flashing shadows, and time spent on the turbine.
147
Geographic Information System (GIS)-based assessments are widely used to measure 148
visual impact. When a particular site is proposed, GIS and visibility assessments can 149
help determine the extent of the affected area and the visual impact (Erickson et al., 150
2014). According to the planning guidelines used in the modern world, the affected area 151
is called the visual impact zone (ZVI) (Cherni and Kentish, 2007). The degree of impact 152
can potentially be plotted by considering the distance and setting the degree of 153
influence to have been used for the transmission line (McNew et al., 2014).
154
It has been reported that the degree of influence of contrast caused by wind turbines 155
increases with increasing contrast with the surrounding environment (Lund, 2009). In 156
fact, designers tend to mix the turbine pixels with the background pixels at the edge of 157
the turbine. At a greater distance, this effect is more pronounced when there is a higher 158
proportion of pixels on the side. The distance between the wind turbine spot and the 159
residential area has significant role regarding visual and noise impact. Authorities and 160
legislation have limited the installation of wind turbines and the distance of the 161
residential premises including farmhouses. Different countries have implanted their own 162
laws considering the local residential premises' life. With increasing the range from the 163
residential field, the visual impact of turbine decreases.
164
165
Ecological influences – disco effect (shadow flickers) 166
In general, there are two ways to produce shadow flicker: shadow flicker caused by 167
blade motion and reflection of sunlight on the wind turbine body, so-called "disco effect."
168
The shadow flicker caused by the wind turbine changes with the intensity of the light 169
produced. Shadows are cast on the ground and stationary objects (such as houses) by 170
moving the blades. This will cause disturbance to residents living in the area around the 171
turbine. In addition, the reflection of sunlight on the turbine is caused by periodic flashes.
172
It can be minimized by optimizing the smoothness of the rotor blade surface and by 173
coating the turbine with less reflective material (Hartmann and Apaolaza-Ibáñez, 2012).
174
It is under investigation for a wide range effects of offshore wind turbines but has minor 175
impact on aquatic life. The construction of wind turbine towers makes the seawater 176
turbid and introduce other objects into the seabed, which may damage the benthic 177
plants and block the sunlight in the water. The construction of the wind farm produced 178
an artificial reef that also affected biodiversity. McNew et al., (2014) studied that the 179
abundance and diversity of benthic communities increased more than the protozoan 180
community around the turbine base. Electromagnetic field and noise generated by wind 181
turbines can place a negative impact on fish (Lintott et al., 2016). Marine species such 182
as dolphins and seals respond to wind farms, particularly while the construction is in 183
process, such as piling (Lee et al., 2019; Leung and Yang, 2012). Maintenance 184
activities of wind turbines, such as lubrication or parts replacement, may cause debris or 185
oil to enter and pollute the specific range of seawater. Although the summary of different 186
pieces of literature depicted that the possible impact of wind farms on marine species is 187
generally because of the construction phase duration, and the impact of the operational 188
phase is more local, offshore wind farms should be carefully planned to avoid the main 189
habitat of the local sea and animals (Lee et al., 2019; Nazir et al., 2019).
190
191
Ecological influences – soil erosion and deforestation 192
Soil erosion and deforestation are major ecological influences of wind energy farm 193
development. Several activities, such as the excavation of foundations, roads and 194
projected lands during the construction of the wind energy farm, affect the local 195
biological system. For instance, the removal of plants from the land are responsible of 196
undesirable weather changes, such as irregular rain patterns which further lead to soil 197
erosion and so on. Moreover, wastewater and oil at the construction site can seep into 198
the underground soil and cause serious environmental problems. Wind energy-rich 199
areas often have weak ecosystems and low biodiversity. Heavy machinery construction 200
can interfere with the local ecological balance and the recovery of the local environment 201
can take a long time. China's wind turbine construction guidelines suggest that 202
excavation should involve as much work as possible to minimize heavy equipment 203
interference (Nazir et al., 2019). In addition, after construction work, it should be 204
recommended to replanting trees as early as possible.
205
206
Ecological influences – wake effect 207
To measure the productivity of large wind farms, the loss of wake effect must be 208
considered as the climate impact of wind turbines may be related to their wake effect.
209
Therefore, in order to determine how wind turbines, affect the local climate, the wake 210
effects of wind turbines must be considered. Based on an experiment using shipborne 211
to measure the wind current distribution at sea, a number of commonly used models 212
were evaluated and a new evaluation method was established (Son et al., 2014). A 213
mountain range based wind turbines 3D simulation was conducted for various flow 214
properties in complex terrain (Lee et al., 2012). In another study, Peña and Rathmann, 215
(2014) described a wind farm wake model to evaluate the efficiency of a wind turbine 216
array. The large eddy simulation (LES) and Lagrangian scale-related dynamic sub-grid 217
scale (SGS) models were used to study the flow characteristics of wind turbine wakes 218
(Jimenez et al., 2008). The results show that the un-tune SGS model works well 219
compared to the experimental results, and the Rotating Actuator-Disc Model (ADM-R) 220
has better usability to detect the forces generated by the turbine (Aubrun et al., 2013).
221
With regard to the offshore wake, the ENDOW project began in 2000 and lasted for 222
three years (Leung and Yang, 2012). First, a comprehensive assessment of the existing 223
offshore wake model was carried out, and then the wake and boundary layer models 224
were enhanced to improve the planning of large offshore wind energy (Kusiak and Song, 225
2010).
226
227
Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) technique 228
It is hard to organize and perform experiments on a real-time stand-alone wind turbine 229
or in a large wind farm. Hence, computer-based modeling is preferred for exploring wind 230
energy’s prone and corns. Therefore, simulation methods have always been a useful 231
technique to study the wind blade design, efficiency, wake effect, wind farm design, etc.
232
The CFD method has been adopted successively form last two decades to perform 233
wind turbine numerical simulations (Jimenez et al., 2008). Along with CFD and 234
Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) techniques are implemented on an 235
“Actuator-Disc and a turbulence model. This approach successively substantiated as a 236
promising modeling scheme for analysis the wind turbines wake loss. The CFD based 237
software programming, such as STAR-CCM+, and STAR-CD have been industrialized 238
to simulate the airflow of different types of turbine configurations that are stored by 239
default in the database of this software (Kusiak and Song, 2010). Currently, a big 240
project named Wind Giant in Austria has installed this software successfully to validate 241
the acceptability of its different wind turbine concepts (Haas et al., 2004). By applying 242
the CFD technique, it can’t only gain the precise limit loads, but also to obtain additional 243
data comparing with experimental techniques.
244
245
Concluding remarks and future guidelines 246
The energy generated by wind turbines is not free from adverse impacts. The ecological 247
impact of wind energy-based facilities is not only complex but varies according to the 248
time scale, season, climate, location, ecosystem type, and other factors. In addition, 249
many of these impacts are cumulative and its ecological impacts can interact in complex 250
behaviors and places associated with land erosion, deforestation and multi human 251
health disturbances at wind power facility. Due to these aforementioned complexities, 252
assessing the ecological impact of wind energy development is a challenge. Despite 253
this, several patterns of the information presented and available for further 254
implementations. More research by using rigorous scientific techniques are needed to 255
fill current research method gaps and improve the reliability of forecasts. Policy- and 256
decision-makers can be expected to deploy and follow new and improved scientific 257
methodologies i.e., CFD technique to managing the conflict between wind energy and 258
ecological elements.
259
Future research and monitoring should recognize that areas and locations that have 260
adverse environmental impacts on fauna are more likely to address the following key 261
points:
262
To address these problems, hypothesis-based monitoring and research are needed.
263
A policy framework must be implemented that requires owners and developers to 264
provide full access to wind power facilities with public support.
265
266
Acknowledgment 267
The listed author(s) are highly grateful to their representative universities for providing th 268
literature services and library facilities.
269
270
Conflict of Interest 271
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
272
273
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List of Figures 377
378
Figure 1 Major milestones with progression of wind turbine rotor size and their rated 379
energy output since 2000 with growing future trends. Source: The European Wind 380
Energy Association (EWEA).
381
382
383
384
385
386
387
388
389
390
391
392
393
394
Figure 2 Schematic representation of wind energy development and potential impacts, 395
i.e., (1) noise and visual, (2) bird fatality, (3) soil erosion and deforestation, (4) lightening 396
from towers, (5) electromagnetic, and (6) surrounding neighborhood.
397
Conflict of Interest Statement
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
