Some roast chicken with your solar power....

[rdhopeca]

Ivanpah Solar Plant is scorching birds right out of the sky...

www.sanluisobispo.com/2014/08/17/320058 ... .html?rh=1

[kevinswatch]

You can't make an omelet without cracking a few eggs.

-jay

[Hashi Lebwohl]

This is because Ivanpah really is Archimedes II. That is why the Brotherhood of Steel fought so ferociously to retain control of HELIOS I when the NCR showed up in the Mojave--Father Elijah knew what kind of weapon it was and desperately tried to get it working. It was only when they could not hold back the number of NCR troopers that Paladin MacNamara ordered the retreat to Hidden Valley to save the members of the Brotherhood who were still alive.

On a more serious note....if the mirrors are aligned to focus on the towers then how are birds being scorched? Are they flying too low compared to the tower? Are the mirrors not aligned properly? Is the focal area too small and the reflected light continuing past where it should be hitting?

[rdhopeca]

Hashi, the theory is that the light intensity is attracting things like insects, which attract things like birds to eat them, and the birds are flying over the panels. They don't have to be direct in the foci to get burned, as you approach the foci the temperature would go up...

[Hashi Lebwohl]

Ah so. That would make sense. The concentrated light from only two or three mirrors might be enough to scorch feathers.

Would speakers putting out ultrasonic frequencies be sufficient to drive the insects away? If so, wouldn't this save the birds?

It is interesting to note, though, that every time someone engages in a new way to produce clean energy someone else comes along to show how awful it is. I remember being told that migrating birds were being ground up like hamburger because of wind turbines. Those stories were shown to be exaggerations, though, and I certain never saw any evidence when I lived in West Texas where wind farms are more numerous.

Speaking of West Texas...that would be a perfect location for a couple of these solar plants.

[finn]

www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-23930675

..... and cats (Jaguars).

[Damelon]

It is interesting to note, though, that every time someone engages in a new way to produce clean energy someone else comes along to show how awful it is. I remember being told that migrating birds were being ground up like hamburger because of wind turbines. Those stories were shown to be exaggerations, though, and I certain never saw any evidence when I lived in West Texas where wind farms are more numerous.

They said the same thing about the turbine farms in Illinois, with the addition that they were bad for migratory birds.

I will say they can be mesmerizing in a different way. I travel occasionally along a stretch of interstate where the road for a couple of miles points straight at a wind farm of about 50 turbines. At night, the blinking of the hazard lights from those turbines can be distracting when driving straight towards them.

As for solar panels cooking birds, that's the first I'd read of that.