Search Results
Indiana wind developer sues over 1500ft setback, says zoning chair shouldn’t consider experience with existing wind farm
September 6, 2013Over the past several months, I’ve been watching with interest an apparently growing concern in farm country about wind farm setbacks. Several counties in Indiana and Illinois have been moving toward somewhat larger setback requirements after living with a first round of large-scale wind development. This week, juwi Wind filed a suit challenging recent decisions […]
Film features the stories of Fairhaven wind farm neighbors
September 4, 2013A new film from Fairhaven, MA, features the compelling real-life experiences of several local residents who live close enough to the wind turbines to hear them on a regular basis. The film, entitled Too Close, has a calm and caring tone, and is free of side-issues that can at times clutter the wind turbine siting […]
Australian report on LF, infrasound at Macarthur windfarm
July 29, 2013AEI lay summary of:Resonate Acoustics. Macarthur Wind Farm Infrasound & Low Frequency Noise: Operational Monitoring Results. 18 July 2013. Author: Tom Evans. Client: AGL Energy Limited. Download report here. A new report from Australia is being touted as the latest definitive proof that infrasound around wind farms is no louder than infrasound from wind and […]
Brief turbine noise monitoring in Vermont fails to capture useful data
July 6, 2013Noise complaints around the Sheffield Wind facility in Vermont began soon after the turbines began turning; combined with complaints from other wind farms, the Vermont Department of Public Service initiated investigations. This week, a report was released summarizing the results from three days of noise monitoring outside the home of a family that has been […]
AEI presents seminars to Sandia, NREL wind research teams
May 29, 2013Earlier this month, I arranged to visit the wind research teams at Sandia National Lab and the National Renewable Energy Lab’s National Wind Technology Center, both of which are relatively nearby here in the southern Rockies. I’ve been following the work of many of these researchers for the past year or so—it was central to my 2012 […]
Victoria tribunal calls for more health effects evidence during 6-month pause before reaching wind farm permit decision
April 6, 2013A environmental planning Tribunal in Victoria, Australia recently completed 28 days of hearings about a proposed new wind farm above the Trawool Valley. In a recent statement and preliminary report, the Tribunal noted that health effects were the central issue, and that the testimony presented left them still unable to make a clear determination about […]
Recent psychological papers may impact participation in Ontario wind farm survey
April 4, 2013A surge of widely-publicized papers purporting to show that those complaining about wind farm noise are being unduly influenced by expectations of harm, or have personalities that are easily upset, may be fostering distrust among residents of Ontario who are randomly selected to participate in an upcoming large-scale survey funded by the provincial government and […]
Do negative expectations cause wind turbine health effects? (AEI analysis and commentary)
March 22, 2013AEI lay summary of: Simon Chapman, Alexis St. George, Karen Waller. 2013. Spatio-temporal differences in the history of health and noise complaints about Australian wind farms: evidence for the psychogenic, “communicated disease” hypothesis. Download this paper (pdf) Crichton, F., Dodd, G., Schmid, G., Gamble, G., & Petrie, K. J. (2013, March 11). Can Expectations Produce […]
Cooperative Wisconsin turbine noise study breaks new ground
January 15, 2013In December, four acoustic consulting firms collaborated to study wind turbine noise at three Brown County, Wisconsin homes that had been abandoned by their owners after the nearby Shirley Wind Project began operations. The study, organized by regional environmental group Clean Wisconsin and paid for by the state Public Regulatory Commission, will help inform the […]
WHOI researchers initiate long-term sound study at Cape Wind site
November 18, 2012Researchers from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute have begun a 2-3 year project that will monitor the soundscape at the Cape Wind site before, during, and after construction of the planned 130 wind turbines. This is the first time such a long-term acoustic monitoring study has taken place at an offshore wind site. “We want […]
New paper quantifies sleep, mental health effects near wind farms
November 6, 2012AEI lay summary:Nissenbaum, Aramini, Hanning. Effects of industrial wind turbine noise on sleep and health. Noise & Health, September-October 2012, Volume 14:60, 237-43 Online access A paper recently published in the journal Noise & Health is getting a fair amount of notice in the media; this article from The Telegraph is perhaps the most detailed coverage, […]
60 neighbors sue NY wind farm operators for negligence, nuisance, liability
October 30, 2012Sixty people who live within a mile of the Hardscrabble Wind Farm in Herkimer County, NY, have sued the operators of a 37-turbine wind farm that began operating in early 2011. Initial press reports suggest that the suit does not aim to shut the wind farm down, but to receive damages payments based on a […]
For second wind farm, Maine town considers larger setbacks, lower sound limits
September 24, 2012Nearly a year of experience with a ten-turbine wind farm has led the town of Woodstock, Maine to consider nudging any future wind developments a bit further from homes. As reported here in July, the Spruce Mountain Wind Farm sits more than three-quarters of a mile from any homes; a few homes (perhaps 10) are within […]
Tehachapi area braces for wind energy expansion
August 22, 2012Kern County, CA, surrounding Bakersfield and straddling the mountains and the Mojave desert, is home to one of the more iconic wind farms of the first round of the US wind industry. Just east of Tehachapi, over 5000 turbines were built during the 1980s and ’90s. Now, faced with a slew of new wind projects, the […]
Follow the Falmouth Wind Turbines Options Analysis process
July 30, 2012The town of Falmouth, Massachusetts has been the site of some unusually wide-ranging efforts to come to grips with the unexpected impacts on nearby neighbors after two town-owned turbines began operating at the local wastewater treatment plant. Several dozen neighbors, most living within a half mile or so, have spoken out consistently about their experiences […]
New Maine wind farm spurs a dozen complaints around lakes
July 30, 2012Ten wind turbines in Woodstock, Maine began operating last December, and now that summer camps are occupied on two local ponds, noise complaints are starting to roll in from up to a mile and a half away. The turbines are more than three-quarters of a mile from any homes; a few homes (perhaps 10) are […]
UK tax authorities affirm property value loss near some wind farms
July 22, 2012The UK Valuation Office Agency has begun setting some new precedents by approving property valuation reductions for some homes near wind farms. It appears that only a few properties have been downgraded so far, and it is unknown how many such requests have been submitted and denied. As reported in The Telegraph: In one recent […]
Health Canada launches 2-yr, 2000-person study of wind farm health effects
July 10, 2012Health Canada, the country’s health department, is preparing to launch a study of health effects among residents near wind farms. The study as currently planned will be based on interviews and physiological measurements of 2000 people living near wind farms of 8-12 turbines. Each participant will fill out a self-reported health survey, and will be […]
Massachusetts towns address turbine noise issues
July 4, 2012A trio of towns in southeastern Massachusetts continue to address turbine noise issues in response to neighbor complaints about sleep disruption and health effects near small wind farms of three to four turbines each. In Falmouth, which was the first of the towns to have turbines begin operating close to homes, the affected neighbors […]
Sheep dog affected by wind turbine wake pressure?
June 26, 2012This is the most substantial report I’ve yet seen suggesting that an animal is directly affected by some aspect living near a wind turbine. In this case, the wind farm company requested that a vet examine the dog after the owner contacted them about a dramatic behavior change in one of his working sheep dogs […]
Court approves smaller Goodhue wind setbacks; hurdles remain
June 26, 2012The Minnesota Court of Appeals has issued an expedited ruling that affirms a 2011 Minnesota PUC decision to issue a permit for the Goodhue wind farm using smaller setbacks than the county requires. While the county requires a 10-rotor diameter setback from non-participating neighbors (about 2700 feet, or just over a half mile), the PUC […]
Welsh Assembly committee urges caution in rural wind farm siting
May 30, 2012The Petiitions Committee of the Welsh Assembly, which includes members from four diverse political parties, has issued a report on its investigation of wind farm noise in Welsh communities. The report is short but concisely comprehensive in considering input from residents with noise complaints, advocates of wind energy, and wind developers. The committee suggests that in […]
(Update alert): Queensland Health joins other Australian govts in recommending 2km (1.2 mi) wind farm setbacks
May 29, 2012UPDATE, 5/31/12: The article in The Australian that spurred this post has triggered a quick back-and-forth in the couple days since it was published. First, this article implied it was nothing more than a renegade staffer speaking without understanding the issue, quoting a Queensland Health spokesman as saying the Department has not issued any new guidance […]
Falmouth board hears from dozens of wind farm neighbors
May 25, 2012The Falmouth Board of Health held a special meeting to gather written and oral testimony from neighbors of three wind turbines in town who are experiencing health issues. Seventy people attended the meeting, with about 30 having prepared written testimony about their personal health after the turbines became operational, as requested by the board, which […]
Falmouth selectmen, town meeting continue to tangle over wind turbines
April 16, 2012Two town meeting votes, along with a short-lived wind turbine plan adopted by the local board of selectmen, kept things blustery in meeting rooms as well as in the springtime air of Falmouth this month. A large number of people living within a half mile to mile of the two town-owned turbines have been struggling […]