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AEI Wind Turbine Noise Report Now Downloadable
January 8, 2009The Klondike Wind Rush is underway, and while wind energy is a crucial wedge in the emerging renewable energy mix, some nearby neighbors of wind farms are reporting noise levels that are higher and more disruptive than they’d been led to expect. Simple noise models suggest noise should be inaudible beyond a quarter mile or so, but […]
UK Wind Farm Plan Abandoned; Developer Cites Responsibility to Avoid Noise Problems for Neighbors
July 28, 2008Plans for a modest-sized wind farm in rural Wales have been abandoned after one of the developers decided that it would have to be cut in half to meet local noise standards. While energy company E.On had hoped to build a 10 megawatt, 8-turbine wind farm, their analysis showed that only a 5 megawatt project […]
Towns Seek Setbacks for Wind Turbines to Protect Residents from Noise, Companies Concerned
May 13, 2008Across the eastern and central United States and Canada, small towns are writing ordinances to govern wind farm development, grappling with uncertainty about reasonable buffer zones to assure that residents will not be disturbed by turbine noise. In recent months, stories about several specific wind farms that have caused noise complaints have circulated more widely, […]
Pennsylvania Couple Sues to Stop Noise from Wind Farm
May 4, 2008Todd and Jill Stull of Portage, Pennsylvania have sued the operators of the Allegheny Ridge Wind Farm, alleging that the turbines near their homes create noise in excess of local regulatory limits. Attorney Bradley Tupi, representing the Stulls, alleges in the lawsuit that Gamesa Energy misrepresented to local officials the noise levels from the turbines […]
Wisconsin Country Implements Strict Noise Regulations on Wind Turbines; Company Declares “War to End All Wars”
April 29, 2008Calumet County, in eastern Wisonsin, recently faced a dilemma that is increasingly common in rural America: an outside company had appeared in their region, planning to build wind farms and seeking permits. Many local governmental bodies have taken a cursory look at complex reports submitted by companies, taken assurances of “no noise” at face value, […]
AEI Special Report: Wind Energy Noise Impacts
March 19, 2008The latest AEI Special Report takes a close look (or, listen) to the growing concerns about noise impacts from wind farms. While it appears that only about 20% of wind farms trigger noise complaints, it is crucial that wind energy developers take a close look at these, to assure they don’t repeat the same mistakes. […]
More evidence of fish being affected by shipping, energy development noise
January 4, 2018A couple of recent studies have added to the increasing evidence that anthropogenic ocean noise can have deleterious effects on fish. As the years go by, it’s becoming clear that it’s not just whales and dolphins that are struggling with human noise in the sea. A lab-based study of European sea bass found that recordings […]
Oysters and scallops: no ears, but they still hate loud ocean noises
November 30, 2017A recent line of research ups the ante on how widespread the impacts of human noise in the ocean may be. Oysters appear to suddenly and dramatically close up in response to low frequency noise at intensities that are relatively common—beginning at sound as levels as low as 120dB, and ramping up rapidly above 140dB. The figure at […]
VT legislature accepts turbine noise limits, drops setback requirement
October 31, 2017More restrictive noise limits on industrial wind turbines are one key step closer to implementation in Vermont. In May, the Public Service Board proposed that the current 45dB limit be reduced to 42dB during the day and 39dB at night, along with a setback requirement of 10x the turbine height (4000-5000ft for modern turbines). A legislative committee […]
Ships to slow near Vancouver Island to reduce noise impacts in key orca feeding area
July 18, 2017About 14 times a day, a large ship passes through Haro Strait on its way to or from the Port of Vancouver. From early August through early October, Port authorities are asking them to slow down, in a pilot project to assess how that might reduce the overall sound levels of shipping in this biologically […]
End of the line for Falmouth wind turbines
July 18, 2017The Falmouth Board of Selectmen have decided not to continue the legal battle over two wind turbines that began operation at the town’s wastewater treatment facility in 2010 and 2012. The decision comes in the wake of a ruling from Massachusetts Superior Court last week that called for immediate cessation of turbine operations. Wind 1 has been […]
VT PSB moderates stricter turbine noise limits
May 23, 2017The Vermont Public Service Board has released its final proposed rule for wind turbine noise. After taking comments on the draft released a couple of months ago, the PSB chose to increase the proposed night time limit from 35dBA to 39dBA; the daytime limit remains 42dBA, three decibels lower than the current limit. The rule […]
VT towns reject wind farm & town-wide personal payments
December 6, 2016Two central Vermont towns have voted against plans to build a wind farm on the hills along their border, despite a late-in-the-game offer from wind developers to mitigate some of the downsides by making direct annual cash payments to residents. While landowners that host turbines always receive payments from wind developers, and some projects have included […]
5th vote in Dixfield retains embattled wind ordinance
December 5, 2016You really need to have a history degree to keep track of the twists and turns in the 4-years-and-counting Dixfield Wind Energy Saga. Ever since the adoption of a wind ordinance in 2012, local citizens, Planning Board, and Selectmen in this Maine town have been proposing revisions that have been rejected by voters. The 2012 ordinance, […]
Wind farms increase stress in nearby badgers
July 8, 2016Lay summary of Rosanna CN Agnew, Valerie J Smith, Robert C Fowkes. Wind Turbines Cause Chronic Stress in Badgers (Meles meles) in Great Britain. Journal of Wildlife Diseases, 52(3), 2016. DOI: 10.7589/2015-09-231. Download PDF A new study out of Britain provides one of the clearest looks at whether wind farms create chronic stress in wildlife […]
Ohio “wind energy killing” setbacks: reports of wind’s death were greatly exaggerated
November 24, 2015Once again the wind industry has been caught crying wolf about reasonable and workable setback increases. In 2014, the Ohio legislature tweaked the state’s wind farm siting standards to require setbacks of 1300 feet from neighboring property lines, rather than from neighboring homes. Wind energy advocates gnashed their teeth, with an executive of the national trade […]
Oil industry noise headed for arctic waters
July 14, 2015Shell Oil is gearing up to do the first new exploratory drilling in the Chukchi Sea off northwestern Alaska. The project has been in the pipeline for years, and has faced numerous legal challenges (mostly regarding the danger of a spill and climate imperatives) and logistical snafus (the most extreme being a drill ship that ran aground). Just last […]
Highway noise can block key fish mating calls
May 13, 2015AEI lay summary of: Daniel E. Holt, Carol E. Johnston. Traffic noise masks acoustic signals of freshwater stream fish. Biological Conservation 187 (2015) 27-33 (ScienceDirect link) With each passing year, we learn more about the ways that animals use sound—and so also how human noise interferes with their lives. A new paper looks at how traffic noise […]
Noise issues featured on annual “top stories” lists
January 2, 2015Every December, local papers around the country routinely highlight the top stories of the year gone by. Based solely on AEI’s routine Google News keyword results, it appears that noise-related issues were among the major topics in several areas. Wind farm noise issues made the lists in at least two places. In Van Wert County, Ohio, it […]
AEI poster for the Wind and Wildlife Research Meeting
November 26, 2014Next week in Denver, the American Wind and Wildlife Institute and National Wind Coordinating Collaborative will be hosting their 10th Wind and Wildlife Research Meeting. For the second time, I put together a research summary poster for the event (here’s the first one). Most of the presentations at this meeting are focused on direct mortality (birds […]
MI turbine suit settled; another lesson in operating too close to already-generous noise limits
October 22, 2014For the past couple of years the Lake Winds Energy Park in Mason County, Michigan has been embroiled in a contentious dispute about its noise levels (image to left is the “Park” under construction). In April 2013, five months after the 56 turbines began operating, 17 neighbors filed suit, claiming that wind farm noise, vibrations and flickering lights […]
Deepwater Wind agrees to limit activities to protect Right whales
May 9, 2014Deepwater Wind, which recently won the first-ever competitive lease auction for US offshore wind, has signed an agreement with a consortium of environmental organizations that affirms its intention to minimize potential impacts on critically endangered Right whales. The wind farm’s location, in Rhode Island Sound, is host to foraging Right whales each spring; the agreement […]
Vermont PSB asking for input on turbine noise standards
February 4, 2014The state Public Service Board has initiated a public process for re-examining the noise standards used at wind and natural gas energy facilities in Vermont. Geoff Commons, the PSB’s public advocate, notes that neighbor complaints from wind projects operating in compliance with a 45dB standard are part of the driver for this review. “Even with […]
Aussie wind farms moving forward with 2km setbacks
October 11, 2013Despite much gnashing of teeth among wind developers and some wind advocates, it appears that the Australian wind industry is adjusting to larger setback requirements. In the past two months, two large wind farms have cleared key approval hurdles in New South Wales, with both incorporating the 2km setback requirement from non-participating homes that is […]
IMO shipping noise guidelines complete, awaiting approval
September 24, 2013After a couple of years with no progress to report, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) appears to be nearing completion of “Voluntary Guidelines for the Reduction of Underwater Noise from Commercial Shipping.” This process began in 2008 with a burst of activity and focus from the US and European IMO representatives, but appeared to languish in […]