Changing colors of wind turbines for biodiversity?

Anyone who has driven around Wyoming has likely noticed large wind turbines dotting the prairie landscape. And while the large white rotor blades may catch a motorist’s eye, they also could be attracting insects due to their light color.

To test the hypothesis that wind turbine color attracts insects, a group of University of Wyoming researchers -- headed by former UW master’s student Madison Crawford -- sampled insects near experimental wind turbine mimics with nine different colors during summer 2017. The mimics were located on a hill with characteristics similar to sites of nearby wind energy facilities. “Madison’s study found that insects are attracted to colors with high reflectance generally. White reflects a high proportion of all... ... More: Official Press Release University of Wyoming

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University of Wyoming, research, studies, wind turbine, colour, insect, biodiversity, rotor blade, light, soil, surface