Posted on 10/05/2010 3:00:48 PM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
VINALHAVEN, Maine — Like nearly all of the residents on this island in Penobscot Bay, Art Lindgren and his wife, Cheryl, celebrated the arrival of three giant wind turbines late last year. That was before they were turned on.
“In the first 10 minutes, our jaws dropped to the ground,” Mr. Lindgren said. “Nobody in the area could believe it. They were so loud.”
Lawsuits and complaints about turbine noise, vibrations and subsequent lost property value have cropped up in Illinois, Texas, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Massachusetts, among other states. In one case in DeKalb County, Ill., at least 38 families have sued to have 100 turbines removed from a wind farm there. A judge rejected a motion to dismiss the case in June.
Like the Lindgrens, many of the people complaining the loudest are reluctant converts to the antiwind movement.
“The quality of life that we came here for was quiet,” Mrs. Lindgren said. “You don’t live in a place where you have to take an hour-and-15-minute ferry ride to live next to an industrial park. And that’s where we are right now.”
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
I LIVED 20 FEET FROM THIRD AVE EL IN nyc. AT EYE LEVEL ON THIRD FLOOR. AFTER ONE WEEK, I NEVER EVEN NOTICED BOTH THE NOISE AND TREMBLINGS. POOR ME POOR POOR ME!
I wish they had actually stated the offending frequency range. There is some validity to certain levels and frequencies being intolerable to some persons. I am among this group of people myself.
Low frequency noises present problems higher frequencies do not. Higher frequency noises can be blocked out. Lower frequency is more difficult and no ear protection devices can stop it. Low frequency noises don't just work on the ears they penetrate your skeletal system and the skull itself which is part of your hearing system.
I imagine many factors can make it better or worse as far as the noise generated goes. Design, prevailing wind speeds, and the gear boxes and blade pitches would definitely be factors.
As for claims of it being physiologically damaging? It's not junk science it is Vestibular Science. The Vestibular system {meaning auditory processing system} is in fact linked to anxiety especially in cases where that processing system is damaged to start with.
Just my own story to relate on this. TVA was constructing a high voltage transmission line across my property. I live in a wooded rural area. I am a day sleeper. Their dozers were a good 500-800 feet from the house. Yet every time I laid down to go to sleep it sounded as if they were coming through the house. I would get up and not hear them. Go to the door and barely hear them.
Many of us have heard dripping faucets at night can be literally maddening. This is the exact same principle. It is the individuals sensory filtering which can be making the noises much louder than what others can hear or normally tolerate.
I know this because I have to live with such a disorder and in my case it is too the point of permanent disability. It sets off seizure activity. I wouldn't be rushing to judgment saying the persons complaining are making mountains out of mole hills or do not have legitimate complaint.
Most people’s jaw drops when they are up close for the first time to these things simply because they are blown away with how big they are. They are huge, and make a huge swoosh noise. Take a ride through west Texas from Dallas and you will quickly get the picture about why people get upset.
They also increase the cost of electricity because they are so inefficient.
You don’t have to YELL. Keyboards have a “Caps Lock” button on the left side, just above the “Shift” key.
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