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UK Study: Some Birds Avoid Wind Farms
September 30, 2009A study commissioned by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) found that many species of birds avoid nesting in areas within 500 meters of wind turbines. The RSPB, like its US conterpart the Audubon Society, has been largely supportive of wind energy. The new study was the most detailed yet of bird […]
Lynda Barry Leads Wisconsin Wind Farm Resistance; Pens Cartoon Featuring Suffering Neighbors
September 16, 2009Well-known cartoonist Lynda Barry lives in rural Wisconsin, and while her home is not in the midst of a wind farm, she has become a leader of local resistance, with a focus on the noise that keeps people awake, and strange physcial sensations, including one that she herself experiences when near operating turbines. “You know how […]
Ontario Wind Projects Lack Independent Environmental Analysis
September 9, 2009While the province of Ontario appears to be onto something promising with its new Green Energy Act (see recent AEInews post), local wind skeptics point out that in recent years, the province has taken wind developers’ environmental assessments at face value. Citizens can request that the province conduct a full-scale independent assessment, and indeed, such […]
Ontario Wind Push Triggers Residents AND Industry
September 1, 2009A great short piece in Canada’s esteemed Maclean’s magazine from early August highlights the aggressive push being made by provincial minister of energy to open up the province for wind power. George Smitherman, the self-styled “Mr. Wind,” may be on to something, because his initiatives are stirring up both anti-wind activists concerned about noise and […]
Ontario Wind Developers Buy 6 Unlivable Homes and Gag Sellers?
August 25, 2009An Ontario group that compiles reports of troubles with wind farms has claimed that wind power companies have spent $1.75 million to buy six homes in Dufferin County. According to the report, these six families had found their homes unlivable after wind farms began operations, and all were required to sign gag orders as part […]
Offshore Wind Farms May Be Heard Many Miles Away?
August 25, 2009As AEI has tracked noise complaints around wind farms on land, which seem fairly common between a half mile and mile (and in some cases up to a mile and half or so), I’ve held on to the idea that offshore will be the better way to go. Offshore wind developers have been mostly aiming […]
Maine Wind Farm Debates Continue in Mars Hill, Roxbury
August 13, 2009With one of the nation’s “poster child” noisy wind farms in Mars Hill and a popular former governor advocating (and financing) more use of wind power, the State of Maine continues to be at the forefront of the debate over how much credence to give to neighbors’ reports and concerns about wind turbines close to […]
Another Round of “Wind Turbine Syndrome” Fever Hit the Press, Blogosphere
August 10, 2009A recent article in the UK newspaper The Independent has triggered an avalanche of commentary in the press and blogosphere about the possible health effects of living near wind farms; more is sure to come when Nina Pierpont’s Wind Turbine Syndrome book is finally published this fall. In the book, Pierpont posits a set of […]
Noise Concerns Prompt Minnesota PUC Investigation of Setback Standards
August 4, 2009The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission has initiated a formal investigation of wind turbine setback requirements, after numerous complaints about noise. Minnesota Public Radio has a long piece on the process (both audio and a transcript), and a local regulatory advocate points us to the right documents on the PUC website for more information.
AEI in the world: Alberta oil and gas noise control conference
May 26, 2009AEI’s Jim Cummings reports on his second trip to Alberta’s biannual noise control conference. Alberta has very stringent noise regulations on the oil and gas industry, though as the AEI presentation pointed out, pressure is likely to continue to reduce the noise footprint of industrial operations.
Wind Turbine Setback Limits Debated in Maine, New York, Wisconsin
May 14, 2009Debate continues to swirl around wind farm development across the US, as local communities struggle to find the right balance between green energy and minimizing impacts on wind farm neighbors. At the crux of the issue is how close to homes turbines should be built. The wind energy continues to push for setbacks as small […]
Half Mile Setback Not Enough for Oregon Wind Farm
April 2, 2009Increasingly, local regulators are settling on a half-mile setback for wind turbines, despite many reports of noise issues beyond that distance. At the Willow Creek Wind Farm in Morrow County, Oregon, local residents raised concerns in November when the developer’s noise models indicated that the farm would not meet the relatively stringent 36dB noise limit. […]
Quiet Urban Wind Turbines
March 4, 2009Manufacturer Quiet Revolution has completed installation of the largest-yet urban installation of its vertical-axis wind turbines, which they say are “whisper quiet.” The new installation consists of 8 turbines atop an office building, which generate enough electricity for the 200-person building. How quiet are they? Most vertical axis turbines produce less energy than utility-feeding wind […]
AEI Annual Ocean Noise Recap for 2008 Now Available
February 18, 2009This year, the annual Acoustic Ecology Institute Spotlight Report on recent developments in ocean noise is too large for easy viewing on a web page. So, we’ve created a pdf version that you can download (or view in your browser if you’re a glutton for punishment). [AEI: Ocean Noise 2008 (pdf, 4MB)] Here’s what you’ll […]
Canadian Wind Farm Lowers Property Values Nearby; Now Rated Same as “Industrial Areas”
January 13, 2009In one of the first tests of wind advocates’ repeated claims that wind farms do not lower property values, a couple on Prince Edward Island asked for a reassessment, and found that their property had lost 10% of its value, solely due to the presence of wind turbines nearby. A spokesperson with the tax department […]
Wind Turbine Setback Requirements Vary Widely: From 300m to 1.5km
November 5, 2008Underlying the spreading controversy about noise and health effects of wind turbines is the “million dollar question” for wind farm developers: how large a buffer must they leave between turbine towers and homes? In the US, pressure is on local and state authorities who are scrambling to write regulations to govern wind farm development, […]
Wind Turbine Sounds Spur Health Complaints, Force Residents to Move
November 4, 2008The spread of wind turbines into quiet rural areas is leading to increasing complaints that they make more noise than residents were led to believe. While simple annoyance and sleep disturbance are the most common effects, in some cases, nearby residents are reporting health problems that they associate with the presence of the turbines, […]
Wind Turbine Syndrome: Can Wind Farms Make People Sick?
April 28, 2008While reports of nearby industrial wind farms causing annoyance with their noise are becoming fairly common, a physician who has been looking at the most severe complaints has coined a phrase: “wind turbine syndrome.” Nina Pierpont, a New York pediatrician who has taught at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, has found a […]
New maps track ships drowning out whale communication
February 23, 2010Ongoing research in Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary is providing ever more compelling visualizations of shipping noise and the much quieter calls of whales in the area. Scientists from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, NMFS, and Cornell have deployed networks of sound recorders, which allow them to track individual whales and ships and see how their […]
Municipal and regional assessment of “quiet areas” in Sweden
January 21, 2019A new paper from Sweden presents a compelling overview of efforts made by regions and municipalities in that country to identify areas that are relatively free of human noise. While these efforts have had only modest impact on planning and regulation, in a few cases quiet areas are being protected from noisy development or highlighted in recreational promotion. […]
Court adds new hurdles for BC oil sands pipeline as separate lawsuit calls for emergency orca protections
November 13, 2018Over the past decade, plans for a big expansion of the Trans Mountain pipeline in British Columbia have garnered pushback from ocean advocates. In late 2016, the plan gained its final approval from the Canadian government (see AEI coverage), but in late August, a Federal Appeals Court overturned that approval, citing the government’s failure to assess the effects […]
Don’t get too worked up over Trump’s splashy offshore oil talk
January 6, 2018An AEI big-picture commentary Once again, a Presidential announcement about offshore oil development has sent the media and environmental advocates into a spasm of headlines and press releases that presumes the words being uttered in DC actually reflect on-the-ground (or in this case, under-the-waves) reality. In late 2016, there was effusive praise for an effectively symbolic Obama decision to not offer leases […]
SD county learns that 2000ft setbacks not quite enough
November 2, 2017Clark County SD is in a legal battle over its decision to increase wind turbine setbacks from 2000ft to 3960ft (three-quarters of a mile). The Clark County Commission approved the 400MW Crocker Wind Farm, but based on local experience with a smaller wind farm, decided that more distance was needed between turbines and non-participating homes. […]
Vermont PSB proposes stricter sound standards
March 7, 2017The new draft rule adopts a fairly precautionary approach, in line with some of the stricter rules that have been appearing elsewhere in places where turbine noise has triggered discontent.
FAA spurns opportunity for quiet area protection in traffic pattern updates
June 30, 2015A new Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) effort to modernize air traffic flow around major cities is ignoring the chance to do slight re-routing that would minimize air traffic over dwindling areas of natural quiet. The FAA is in the midst of a multi-year process to update the traffic patterns in and out of airports in 17 metropolitan areas. Each “metroplex” […]