News
Desert Bats Face the Growing, Twin Threats of White-Nose Syndrome and Wind Turbines
Protecting the Southwest’s winged mammals from the menaces coming to their roosts and their flight paths first requires changing the public’s perspectives of the keystone species.
By Emma Peterson
It’s only a matter of time before Arizona identifies its first case of white-nose syndrome and the disease that has killed millions of bats in the U.S. spreads throughout the Sonoran Desert. But, in the meantime, the biggest threat to bat populations in the Southwest is wind turbines.
Related Knowledge Center: ENERGY BASICS: wind
State of Play
Decades of government support for the development of wind energy has resulted in lower costs and a rapidly growing share of electricity generated by wind turbines. Wind in 2019 accounted for 7.3 percent of electrical generation, surpassing for the first time hydropower at 7.0 percent.