Acceptance of wind energy development is challenged by stakeholders’ concerns about potential effects on the environment, specifically on wildlife, such as birds, bats, and (for offshore wind) marine animals, and the habitats that support them. Communities near wind energy developments are also concerned with social and economic impacts, as well as impacts on aesthetics, historical sites, and recreation and tourism. Lack of a systematic, widely accepted, and balanced approach for measuring the potential damage to wildlife, habitats, and communities continues to leave wind developers, regulators, and other stakeholders in an uncertain position. This paper explores ecological risk-based management (RBM) in wind energy development for land-based and offshore wind installations. This paper provides a framework for the adaptation of ecosystem-based management to wind energy development and examines that framework through a series of case studies and best management practices for applying risk-based principles to wind energy. Ten case studies indicate that wind farm monitoring is often driven by regulatory requirements that may not be underpinned by scientific questions. While each case applies principles of adaptive management, there is room for improvement in applying scientific principles to the data collection and analysis. Challenges and constraints for wind farm development to meet RBM framework criteria include collecting sufficient baseline and monitoring data year-round, engaging stakeholder facilitators, and bringing together large and diverse scientific teams. The RBM framework approach may provide insights for improved siting and consenting/permitting processes for regulators and their advisors, particularly in those nations where wind energy is still in the early development stages on land or at sea.
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Naturally CO2-rich mineral water springs (pouhons) in east Belgium occur in the context of the Rhenohercynian domain of the Variscan fold-and-thrust belt, mostly within the Cambro-Ordovician Stavelot-Venn Massif. The origin of the CO2 is still unclear, although different hypotheses exist. In this review study, we show pouhon waters are of the calcium bicarbonate type (~310 mg/l HCO3- on average), with notable Fe (~15 mg/l) and some Ca (~43 mg/l). Pouhon waters are primarily meteoric waters, as evidenced by H and O isotopic signature. The δ13Cof CO2 varies from -7.8 to +0.8‰ and contains up to ~15% He from magmatic origin, reflecting a combination of carbonate rocks and mantle as CO2 sources at depth. Dinantian and Middle Devonian carbonates at 2–6 km depth could be potential sources, with CO2 generated by dissolution. However, carbonates below the Stavelot-Venn Massif are only predicted by structural models that assume in-sequence thrusting, not by the more generally accepted out-of-sequence thrust models. The mantle CO2 might originate from degassing of the Eifel magmatic plume or an unknown shallower magmatic reservoir. Deep rooted faults are thought to act as preferential pathways. Overall low temperatures of pouhons (~10 °C) and short estimatedresidence times (up to 60 years) suggest magmatic CO2 is transported upwards to meet infiltrating groundwater at shallower depths, with partial to full isotopic exchange with carbonate rocks along its path, resulting in mixed magmatic-carbonate signature. Although the precise role and interaction of the involved subsurface processes remains debatable, this review study provides a baseline for future investigations.
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