Will Newer Wind Turbines Mean Fewer Bird Deaths?

  About an hour's drive east of San Francisco, steady winds blow about half the year through a stretch of terrain dotted with thousands of electricity-generating turbines.   Since the 1960s, Altamont Pass has been a proving ground for wind power. Now it's a test bed for solutions to one of the industry's biggest downsides: Turbines kill thousands of birds and bats annually.   The question of how to protect winged wildlife is becoming more pressing as deaths rise with the growth of wind power. Wind generation in the United States, for example, is up dramatically, but so are deaths of birds such as the federally protected golden eagle. (See related: “Federal Study Highlights Spike in Eagle Deaths at Wind Farms.”)   Continue reading on The Great Energy Challenge.