Birds igniting in California in mid-flight and falling dead from the sky are the horrendous side effect of a new and state-of-the-art solar power plant in the Mojave Desert. Though this cutting-edge solar technology in California's Mojave Desert is called green energy, it is too much with the countless birds igniting in California and falling to their death.
According to wildlife officials, one bird is getting scorched to death every two minutes by the intensely focused rays of light coming from the BrightSource Energy plant.
Newswer reports that the plant is considered the largest solar thermal power plant of its kind in the world, and it appears to be the largest bird killing plant as well.
The Associated Press reports that workers already have a term for the birds igniting in California. They call them "streamers," for the smoke plumes which appears from the animals as they ignite in midair.
Federal wildlife investigators who have visited the BrightSource Energy plant last year and watched the birds igniting in California have reported on the one "streamer" death every two minutes, and they are urging California officials to halt the plant operator's application to build a still-bigger version.
TPM News described the sound of the birds igniting in California were as if they were going through some sort of torture before death. It is reportedly enough to leave one mortified of what is happening to the birds - catching fire and falling to their deaths.
This so-called "green energy" may not be so green after all since its massive size has come with a dreadful price. Not only do the birds die, but their deaths are terrible.
Newser reports that the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System uses more than 300,000 mirrors the size of garage doors to focus the sun's power toward "power towers" which are as many as 40 stories tall. These can reportedly power as many as 140,000 homes. Google is one of three owners of the plant which is located at Ivanpah Dry Lake, near the California-Nevada border.
Opened in February, the plant is reported to have cost $2.2 billion to build. Light beams coming from the plant are said to be intensely bright that even pilots coming in and out of Los Angeles and Las Vegas are dazzled, according to the AP.
The birds igniting in California midair are reportedly thought to come since they follow the bugs attracted to the light.
The so-called "mega-trap" still needs to be studied closely before the opening of further power plants such as these, warns federal wildlife officials.
Also, because of the alarming number of birds igniting in California, the investigators are urging California officials to halt temporarily the company's application to build a "still-bigger version" of the plant.
According to The Examiner, they still want to assess the numbers of these deaths and are pushing for the halt of new solar towers until the full extent of the bird deaths from this plant is assessed.
An expert for the Center for Biological Diversity environmental group have estimated that the per year range death of these birds by BrightSource is at least 1,000 to 28,000.
Garry George, renewable-energy director for the California chapter of the Audubon Society said that the deaths are "alarming. It's hard to say whether that's the location or the technology."
He added, "There needs to be some caution."
The birds igniting in California, according to the AP, marks the latest instance in which clean energy causes unintentional environmental harm.
The federal government, the previous year, has decided to allow some wind farms to kill bald eagles without penalty, according to Newser.
Solar farms have also reportedly been criticized for their effect on desert tortoises, and wind farms have also killed birds, including several raptors.
According to Grist, the plant which causes the birds igniting in California has had problems with tortoises as well. Quite a few of the species have reportedly been taken out from their homes when the plant was constructed, according to a Businessweek in 2012.
Meanwhile, Jeff Holland, a spokesman for NRG Solar of Carlsbad, California, the second of the three companies behind the plant said, "We take this issue very seriously." Google, on the other hand, reportedly deferred comment to its partners.
Other Ivanpah officials argued that at least some of the puffs of smoke are not from the birds igniting in California and are only insects and bits of airborne trash ignited by the solar rays.
According to U.S. Fish and Wildlife officials, they still want a death toll for a full year of operation.
The shocking sight of the birds igniting in California brings to light the concern of wildlife experts of another proposed plant. Part owner of the Ivanpah plant, Bright Source, reportedly plans to build a mirror field and a 75-story tower between Joshua Tree National Park and the California-Arizona border.
The area where this new proposed plant is to be built is directly in the flight path of birds traveling between the Colorado River and the Salton Sea, which experts say are richer than the Ivanpah plant. Avian species here are also protected, including golden eagles and peregrine falcons. More than 100 other species of birds have also been recorded there.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials estimated the proposed new tower to be almost four times as dangerous to birds as the Ivanpah plant. According to the AP, the agency is expected to decide this autumn on the proposal.
Birds igniting in California are dying by the hundreds and biologists still have no known feasible way to curb the number of deaths. In the meantime, the companies behind the projects are hoping to find a solution. Joseph Desmond, senior vice president at BrightSource Energy said they are studying whether lights, sounds or some other technology would scare the birds away.
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