Behind the Blades: How Cris Hein Helps Bats & Wind Turbines Share the Sky

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Like most everybody, Cris Hein thought all bats have been vampire bats. That was 25 years in the past, earlier than NREL’s lead environmental scientist started researching the world’s solely flying mammal.

Hein at all times appreciated wildlife. Rising up within the suburbs of Houston, Texas, he preferred tenting throughout household holidays and at all times loved nature exhibits. However he by no means dreamed of getting a job in wildlife.

Whereas Hein was engaged on his grasp’s diploma in biology, one in every of his advisors had a gap to do analysis on bats.

“I jumped at the chance because it seemed really interesting. How many people get to work with bats?” Hein stated. “As soon as I started catching, handling, and researching them, I was fascinated by them. And it took off from there.”

Hein ended up getting a Ph.D. learning bats. This gave him the possibility to deal with and work with a number of species and uncover that every has its personal persona.

“Some are sweet and docile, just laying still in your hand,” he stated. “Others are feisty, constantly moving and making noise. They try to be intimidating by opening their mouth real wide. So just learning that they’re all different intrigued me.”

Hein additionally discovered that solely three of the greater than 1,400 species of bats on the earth truly suck blood.

We hung the wrong way up with Hein to be taught a bit of extra about him and bats—simply in time for Bat Appreciation Day, which was April 17. (Please be aware: This interview has been edited for readability and size.)

What makes bats worthy of an appreciation day yearly?

There are many causes. Many of the bats that we have now in the US eat bugs, and a number of these bugs are agricultural or forest pests. And so, bats are necessary to our ecosystem by holding insect populations beneath management. Research have proven that within the U.S. alone, bats save farmers billions of {dollars} in pest management yearly. That trickles all the way down to decrease meals costs and fewer chemical substances within the atmosphere. Bats additionally pollinate a number of the agricultural crops that we take pleasure in world wide, which is a good ecological service for us as nicely.

Bats are additionally attention-grabbing. They’re the one mammals that may fly. They use sound echolocation, or sonar, to navigate in darkish environments and fly at evening. They discover locations to sleep which are troublesome to entry, like in caves or timber. They usually are available numerous colours. There are bats which are brown, crimson, yellow, and multicolored. Some bats have stripes, and a few have spots.

So that they’re not all vampires. What different myths about bats are you able to bust?

Straightforward. They don’t fly at you. They don’t assault you. They don’t get tangled in your hair. In truth, bats are secretive animals who don’t need something to do with us. Additionally, they spend a number of time grooming themselves and others of their colony, so that they’re not soiled animals.

How did you turn out to be concerned in wind vitality?

I used to be ending my Ph.D., writing a dissertation, and on the lookout for paid work. Bat Conservation Worldwide employed me to work on a wind vitality web site that was not constructed but. It was nonetheless a pure setting, and we wanted to find out whether or not it had bat exercise to foretell danger as soon as the location was operational. Throughout that venture, I helped a consulting agency that was beginning their bats and wind vitality program and on the lookout for recommendation. After I completed my diploma, that firm was on the lookout for a bat biologist. So, I bought a job with them and moved to Oregon, the place I nonetheless dwell.

Then I used to be employed by Bat Conservation Worldwide to be their director of bats and wind vitality. I labored there for eight years earlier than beginning with NREL in 2018.

What do you do at NREL?

I handle NREL’s environmental program, which Bob Thresher and Karin Sinclair began at the very least 27 years in the past. I labored with Karin once I was at Bat Conservation Worldwide, and NREL funded a few of our work. So it was a straightforward transition for me to work at NREL.

My job is so various. We analysis land-based and offshore wind vitality environmental points, and we fund others to do analysis. We contemplate tips on how to finest web site a facility in order that it nonetheless captures wind vitality but additionally reduces interactions with wildlife.

I work with bats, which is the place I really feel most comfy, however we additionally work with eagles and different species—comparable to marine animals that may work together with offshore wind vitality methods. NREL additionally has a powerful instructional outreach and engagement program, conducting webinars and trainings for stakeholders, business, state and federal companies, and others.

Can bats and wind generators coexist peacefully?

We’re optimistic that we will create options for wind and wildlife to coexist. If you put one thing like a wind turbine of their house, bats would possibly work together with the construction simply because it’s there. However there’s additionally a behavioral part through which the animals would possibly truly have an interest within the construction. So that they’re not simply flying within the airspace and going from level A to level B. They’re flying round and appear inquisitive about or interested in the construction, which sadly places them at higher danger.

We’ve used thermal video cameras to file their habits and we simply see them flying round and round, out and in of the rotor-swept space. And the bats seem to don’t have any understanding that they’re in danger. There are a number of causes that they is perhaps interested in wind generators, however we don’t have a definitive reply why. Bugs is perhaps within the space, attracting bats who keep round that space as a result of they suppose it’s a superb place to forage for meals.

We all know that bats have been noticed roosting within the nacelles of wind generators and there is perhaps a social part to those areas. When some bats are there, it attracts in different bats, after which they’re interacting with each other. The best interval of danger is late summer season to early fall when bats are mating and migrating. Males might be chasing different males or looking for females. Females might be looking for males. It’s advanced. If we will perceive the motive force behind what’s occurring, it would assist us provide you with methods to cut back danger and have coexistence between bats and wind vitality or different species and wind vitality.

Do bats have an effect in your private life?

Sure, as a result of they’ve been an enormous a part of half my life—from graduate college to my profession. I don’t get to work together with them as a lot now as a result of I don’t do fieldwork anymore. However I take pleasure in talking about bats at elementary, junior excessive, and excessive faculties. As you possibly can think about, children gravitate to bats as a result of they’re so attention-grabbing. They’ll fly. They’ll echolocate. And they are often humorous wanting or very cute wanting. The scholars are captive audiences and are at all times excited to ask questions.

As an illustration, college students ask why bats hold the wrong way up. How come the blood doesn’t pool of their brains? Effectively, the reason being that hanging the wrong way up permits them to occupy house that no different animal does—like cave partitions. Additionally, it doesn’t take a lot vitality to shut their little ft and hold from cave ceilings. All they need to do is let go, they usually begin flying. As well as, bats’ circulatory methods are a bit completely different, permitting their blood to move and never get pooled of their brains like it could for us.

Do you suppose the environmental work you’re doing at NREL is necessary?

Bat analysis has grown a lot since I began within the area, partially as a result of concern about wind vitality and a couple of fungal illness that impacts bats known as white nostril syndrome, which has devastated bat populations within the East and, since shifting west, is now in virtually each state within the U.S. It’s actually unhappy.

However over time, individuals’s perceptions of and concern for bats have modified. All people’s actually engaged on this problem, together with the wind vitality business. They need to do the proper factor. It’s difficult for them to guard wildlife and likewise produce renewable vitality. Quite a lot of occasions, this problem may be seen because the environmental aspect versus the commercial aspect. And there’s some fact to that. However we’ve made a number of progress on this area as a result of all people has come to the desk. I actually benefit from the collaborations which have been constructed.

I feel NREL’s environmental program has a superb status for wanting to resolve the problem in a scientifically credible means whereas assembly all people’s wants and seeing completely different views.

What’s the perfect a part of working at NREL?

I get to work not solely with different biologists and ecologists at NREL but additionally with atmospheric scientists, computational scientists, and engineers. It’s actually wonderful, and I feel that’s what makes NREL so distinctive in comparison with different organizations.

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Article from NREL. By Carol Laurie