Wind Turbines are not a Health Risk
Written by: Adam
A small group of people have complained and argued that wind turbines can cause health problems. A new study confirms that those people are wrong and in fact wind turbines are not a health risk at all.
December 16th, 2009The study acknowledges that a minority of people find the intermittent swooshing noise emitted by the turbines’ giant blades to be annoying, but it also concluded: “Annoyance is not a pathological entity.”
The study says there’s “nothing unique” about the noise or vibrations emitted by wind turbines and no evidence that the audible or sub-audible sounds have any direct adverse effect on health.
It suggests that those who are bothered by turbines simply have a lower tolerance for annoying sounds of all sorts.
“A major cause of concern about wind turbine sound is its fluctuating nature. Some may find this sound annoying, a reaction that depends primarily on personal characteristics as opposed to the intensity of the sound level.”
Topic: Energy, Environment, Health Tags: noise, risk, sound, turbine, wind_power
December 16th, 2009 at 12:23 pm
I found the aspect of the study about “anticipatory fear” particularly interesting. It is a result I had not previously considered but in retrospect makes some sense. The media’s ability to cause anxiety and effect peoples perceptions is truly a powerful tool, and not unlike the overblown H!N! ordeal it’s not surprising that this could at the very least play a small role in what many people say they were experiencing.
Enviralment
January 16th, 2010 at 8:18 pm
So for things to be good, we need to blame the victims? If they weren’t expecting problems, they wouldn’t have them? It can also be noted that the AWEA-funded study simply divides noise-health issues in two–either the problems arise from very loud sounds that directly harm the eardrum, or else they are mere “annoyance.” I think anyone who has suffered the effects–on health, sleep, digestion, and heart rates–of living nextdoor, for example, to someone playing a boombox at all hours can see the falsity in the AWEA study’s dichotomy. We should also note that the study you mention is funded by this windturbine builders’/promoters’ group (the AWEA, CWEA, etc.) and thus is as likely to be unbiased as, e.g., a pharmaceuitical firm’s “research study” of its new drug. Good news is great, but only when true.