Call for new tests: Is it risky for your health to live near wind turbines?
I have long- standing concerns about the stressful effects on human health
of living next to wind turbines (Mail). In the late Fifties, I read an
article in New Scientist magazine entitled The Next Sound You hear Will Be
Deadly.
It described experiments carried out by French scientist Dr vladimir
Gavreau, who developed a generator that emitted ultra-low acoustic
frequencies which severely affected natural brain rhythms to such a degree
that they could result in death.
This reference was awakened a few years ago when I read that residents
living close to wind farms were exhibiting distressing symptoms of
nervousness, insomnia, anxiety and similar unpleasantness.
Detailed examination revealed that the affected residents were suffering
from long-term, low-level infrasound vibrations coming from the blades of
the nearby turbines.
Little credence was given by the renewable energy providers to the victims’
complaints. They hid behind the industry standard eTSU-R-97 document, a
paper developed by the industry, for the industry, detailing the acceptable
levels of sound intensity from wind farms through various frequencies.
When this document was prepared, wind turbines were relatively small and
vibrations correspondingly low. Now, turbines have grown in size, and their
low frequency noise has grown, too. But the eTSU document applied back in
the past is still cast in stone.
Two studies analysed by the Renewable energy Foundation raise further
concerns. Research by G.P. van den Berg, of Groningen University, into the
presence of low- frequency components in wind turbine noise establishes
that measurable low-frequency noise is present.
It had been assumed that low frequency sound from wind turbines wasn’t a
major annoyance factor as the blade passing frequency is about one hertz,
where the human auditory system is relatively insensitive.
But the blade passing frequency modulates higher-frequency sounds and
creates periodic sound.
Residents near wind turbines have observed that, often late in the
afternoon or in the evening, the turbine sound acquires a distinct
‘beating’ character, the rhythm of which is in agreement with the blade
passing frequency. This effect is stronger for modern, taller turbines.
Professor Peter Styles, at Keele University, studied the vibrations from
60m-high wind turbines at Dun Law, in the Scottish Borders, and found that
‘considerable infrasound signals can be detected out to about 10km’.
Finally, it’s recognised that wind farms are impacting on people’
lifestyles more than previously admitted. The need to update the testing
standard is paramount.
People should know the risks of living next to a wind farm. They cannot
hear its sounds, but the effects are serious.
JOHN LANGLEY, Newport, Isle of Wight.
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