25 Feb 2009 11:33:22 pm
More Notes from AWEA’s Siting Workshop—Day Two
SEATTLE--(partial article)

Thousands of people live near wind farms without complaints. But some residents have complained, and since sound is often regulated at a local level, community acceptance is essential before a wind farm is developed. Panelist Mark Bastasch, of CH2M Hill, noted that the industry has to “provide clarity once and for all” on the sound question. That means, among other things, assembling an advisory panel to determine whether more research is needed. He also stated that developers should make sure that the community understands beforehand that “turbines can be heard.”

Here's an interesting article from Dr. Leventhall that came out recently. Dr. Leventhall is an expert in the field of acoustics.

http://www.noblepower.com/reference/documents/06-06Leventhall-Infras-WT-CanAcoustics.pdf

Noise created by commercial-scale wind turbines has become a major concern around the world as wind power development continues to proliferate. Although the industry claims that modern turbines are quieter -- even as they grow ever larger -- complaints are increasing from people who live near new projects.

While the wind itself may mask some of the noise under some atmospheric conditions, the deep unnatural thumping as the giant blades pass their supporting tower is particularly intrusive. Testimony from hundreds of turbine neighbors confirms this, most recently from Maine, Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Wisconsin, Texas, Canada, the U.K., and New Zealand. Reports can be found at www.wind-watch.org/news and www.wind-watch.org/documents.

A law is on the table for our very rural town in the Finger Lakes region. The moratorium was extended another 90 days last week. I was the only one to speak to the town board re: concerns for size, set-back, and shadow flicker. No else spoke for or against except our local town officials who have nothing but nice things to say about them. It should also be noted that most of said officials live in the hamlet of Gorham or outside of the "preferred pink zone" on the wind speed map per windexplorer.com.

(This item included as UPC Wind is a developer currently working in NY to permit turbine facilities).

MARS HILL, Maine -- This year, when Steven and Tammie Fletcher took their traditional New Year's Eve walk to the top of Mars Hill, the crisp winter stillness mixed with something unfamiliar: the whoosh of the new windmills towering over the northern Maine mountaintop.

This is not how it was supposed to be, say the Fletchers and their neighbors on the north side of Mars Hill, where a 28-turbine wind farm, the largest yet built in New England, began operating in December.

I have obtained a copy of Bethany's "final" wind report. You can download it at http://www.effierover.com/downloads/ReportFinal.pdf

Don't know at this time if the town will offer it on their website (they usually do) or what the general reaction is.

... two things:

(a) See: a report by the United Kingdom Noise Association on wind turbine noise, ending with the recommendation of a minimum 1 mile setback from residences (following the recommendation of France's National Academy of Medicine). However, even this 1 mile is not far enough, as Dr. Pierpont shows.

(b) I urge you to contact Jack Sullivan at (518) 483-1122 (home) for help with your various town and county boards. Jack is invaluable in this regard. Visit Nina Pierpont's website at www.ninapierpont.com and go to Articles by other authors. Scroll down to Malone: The town that booted out the wind bums (a paraphrase). Read Jack's "to whom it may concern" letter. (You are welcome to circulate this widely, including reprinting it widely, so Jack tells me. That's why he wrote it!)

They introduced the world to "environmentally friendly" energy, but now some of Europe's "greenest" countries are under pressure to backtrack on wind farms as public anger grows over their impact on the countryside.

Voters are outraged by the unsightly turbines, the loud, low-frequency humming noise that they create and the stroboscopic effects of blades rotating in sunshine. Opponents are dismayed at the proliferation of the turbines in some of the most beautiful areas of the continent. Conservationists complain that hundreds of birds are killed each month by the rotating blades.

INTRODUCTION

The United States east of the Mississippi River has about five percent of the nation's onshore wind potential. If industrial wind developers achieve their goals, the region will be saturated with approximately 300,000 wind turbines spread over millions of acres. New York, with .3 of one percent of the nation's onshore wind, could be saturated with
about 20,000-400 foot tall machines, spread over more than a thousand miles of terrain.

Industrial wind turbines produce significant amounts of audible and low-frequency noise. Dr. Oguz A. Soysal, Professor and Chairman of the Dept. of Physics and Engineering at Frostburg State University in Maryland, measured sound levels over half a mile away from the Meyersdale, PA, 20-turbine wind farm. Typical audible (A-weighted) dB (decibel) levels were in the 50-60 range, and audible plus low-frequency (C-weighted) dB were in the 65-70 range.1 65-70 dB is the loudness of a washing machine, vacuum cleaner, or hair dryer.2 A difference of 10 dB between A and C weighting represents a significant amount of low-frequency sound by World Health Organization standards.3