A similar mean level of annoyance to sound is found in European results. In the U.S. sample, the mean levels of annoyance to lighting, shadow flicker, and landscape change are similar but slightly lower than in the European sample. Comparable result patterns for the U.S. support the reliability of our findings.
Wind Noise, Health, & Safety
Attitudes were significantly correlated with compensation, sensory perceptions of the nearby turbines, planning process perceptions, and attitudes toward wind turbines in general. It was also found that individuals moving into the area after wind project construction were significantly more positive than those already in the community, implying that more supportive individuals might be self-selecting into the community.
In 2015, the U.S. Department of Energy funded Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) to lead a 4-year project collecting data from a broad-based and representative sample of individuals living near U.S. wind power projects. The aim was to widen the understanding of how U.S. communities are reacting to the deployment of wind turbines, and to provide insights to those communities considering wind projects. Berkeley Lab led this research in collaboration with University of Delaware, Portland State University, the Medical School or Hamburg (Germany), RSG Inc., and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.
The Unite union has called on the UK government and Health and Safety Executive (HSE) to toughen the laws governing the construction and maintenance of wind farms, following the death of a worker at a project in Scotland last weekend.
UK: A 74-year-old man has died at a wind farm in southeast Scotland after becoming stranded without heat or power.
Anxiety over “wind-turbine syndrome” stems from a decades-old misunderstanding of inaudible noise. (Jun 19, 2017)
The ruling would push back community wind projects by “at least a decade”.
One of Victoria’s best-known wind farms, Waubra, 35km north-west of Ballarat, has been shot at several times in recent years, police have revealed.
Cody Hubbard, 29, was electrocuted and trapped at the top of a wind turbine at a farm on CR 183 Thursday. He was doing work for Ivenergy LLC when the accident occurred, injuring one other employee, who has not been publicly identified.
We find cumulative wind and solar air-quality benefits of 2015 US$29.7–112.8 billion mostly from 3,000 to 12,700 avoided premature mortalities, and cumulative climate benefits of 2015 US$5.3–106.8 billion.
