A recent study, summarized in Scientific American starts to shed light on why it is that bat fatalities are so high around wind turbines (and have been growing exponentially with the size of the turbines): air pressure. In doing autopsies on dead bats found near turbines, scientists learned that the bats are dying because their lungs are unable to handle the air pressure changes around turbines. This should lead to some interesting discussions about what to do, as previous assumptions about bats being killed by blades led to much different potential solutions.

The most promising solution so far, echoed in The Discovery Channel's version of the story, is to shut the turbines off during evening time during the migration period, where the likelihood of bat population impact is highest. But that would obviously impact the net electric generation impact of turbines, and make their production even more spotty.