AMSTERDAM - Wind turbines producing "green" energy kill many fewer birds than previously thought and pose less of a threat to avian life than cars, a study by the Dutch Bird Protection charity and power utility Nuon showed. The study, published on Wednesday, was based on results from three wind farms. It showed each turbine killed an average 28 birds per year, a third of what had been assumed on the basis of research conducted in the 1980s.

"The mathematical model which was used up until now seems to predict too many collision victims for modern wind turbines in the Netherlands," Bird Protection and Nuon said in a statement.
The new study suggests the Netherlands' 1,700 wind turbines kill about 50,000 birds a year. About 2 million birds perish each year on Dutch roads, it said.
The study showed that large wind turbines producing more than 1.5 megawatts of power killed slightly more birds than smaller, older windmills, but Bird Protection noted that the bigger windmills produce five to 10 times more electricity.
"In contrast to what might be expected, it seems that the number of bird victims has almost no relationship with the size of the wind turbine," the report said.