Wind farms continue to be a contentious issue. Dr Mark Ragg is currently summarising available evidence for the website windandhealth.org. Many thanks to Mark for this update.
Mark Ragg writes:
Did you know that you’re more likely to be annoyed by wind farms if you’ve renovated your house than if you haven’t?
Did you know that you’re more likely to complain of problems with wind farms in some parts of Australia than others?
That’s what the research tells us. I’m trawling through it and summarising it for the website windandhealth.org, which is funded by the Public Health Association of Australia in an attempt to bring reason to the debate.
Wind turbines have been used to generate power since the 1930s, with a significant expansion during the OPEC oil crisis of the 1970s. They’ve been part of Australian life since the 1990s. In many parts of the world, they’re seen as part of the furniture, like any other power plant. If you want electricity, you have to have somewhere to make it.
It’s like that in many parts of Australia, too. But in other parts, they cause tremendous controversy due to concerns over health. Since about 2009 a number of activists’ groups have campaigned to raise either awareness or fears, depending on your perspective, wherever new wind farms are planned.
That hasn’t always gone well. Organisers of the most prominent group – the Waubra Foundation – are under pressure to return the name to the folk of Waubra, northwest of Melbourne, site of a wind farm. A community petition has been sent to the foundation, asking them to stop using the name Waubra as, they say, the foundation doesn’t represent the view of the town. The foundation says it has more important things to consider.
So far, the research is saying that some people find wind farms disturb their sleep, and that some people (often the same people) are annoyed by them. To date, there are no clear links between wind farms and health.
The National Health and Medical Research is carrying out a comprehensive review – a quick review in 2010 found no issue – and we’ll all be wiser then.
Mark Ragg edits windandhealth.org for the Public Health Association of Australia.
The true Cost of Wind Farms…
Wind machines have a massive carbon and geographic footprint, are a drain on Government revenues,… have questionable productivity, financial and technical claims,…. escalate electricity costs, (anyone notice) and create a “foreign corporate dependence” in regard to electricity production and maintenance…..
They are large and cumbersome,.. visually offensive,… a danger to aircraft,…can catch fire…wild life moves away (including Man)…. and are relentless killers of all manner of bird life including the majestic wedge tail Eagle which lives and breeds on the ridges.
Industrial wind farms are socially intrusive and divisive,… physically and mentally disturbing,… a source electromagnetic and infra-sound transmissions , environmentally destructive,… financially damaging to surrounding communities creating a litigation nightmare,…. and, with far too many moving-parts to be considered green, sustainable, or whatever other motherhood tag one wishes to apply.
Wind farms are old technology and only serve the foreign wind manufacturing industries which are Hungry for new markets…..(come in spinner)
Politicians from both sides are moving away from the current wind farm strategy in regard to wind farm approvals around communities, and are now calling for a Moratorium,… and I suspect, not before too long, a Royal Commission to find out where the money went and who got it….
…..and with a further $5 billion of proposed wind farm installation in South Australia….
….Please tell me there won’t be any leakage…$$$$.!!?.
What an inane state of affairs….!!
If exposure to wind farms is like previous public health issues, with some people more sensitive than others, it will be decades before the industry is forced to admit any problem. With tobacco, asbestos, various pharmaceuticals and mobile phones, the private profits have been more important than public health costs.
Mark Ragg wrote a very good short review of the wind turbine and health ‘debate’. Wind turbines are simply machines that generate electricity cleanly and as cheaply, or more cheaply, than any other form of renewable energy. They don’t make anyone sick any more than diesel generators make people sick. Why should they? How could they?
http://ramblingsdc.net/Australia/WindPower.html
Good article by Dr. Ragg. The first couple of comments aren’t so informed. For a bit more leavening fact:
Wind farms don’t harm human health, anti-wind campaigners do. 19 reviews world wide of all of the available research and complaints by credible, independent groups have cleared wind farms of health impacts. Meanwhile, studies in the UK, Australia and New Zealand point the finger at anti-wind lobbyists spreading health fears and jacking up stress. http://barnardonwind.com/2013/02/17/wind-farms-dont-make-people-sick-so-why-the-complaints/
Wind farms are the best source of utility-scale energy for wildlife including birds: global warming and air pollution are the big threats. Studies tell us that wind farms in the USA kill about one in 86,000 birds annually. Cats and lit windows on the other hand kill up to one in ten. http://barnardonwind.com/2013/02/15/how-significant-is-bird-and-bat-mortality-due-to-wind-turbines/
Firefighters agree that wind farms reduce fire impacts by grounding lightning on ridge lines and providing pre-built firebreaks and access roads for firefighters. The handful of wind turbines that catch fire, however photographically interesting, are statistically irrelevant compare to the roughly 240,000 wind turbines operating day and night, year after year. Wind turbines causing fires is even more statistically insignificant. If you want the causes of fires, it’s smoking, brush burning, kids and arsonists. Wind farms don’t register. http://barnardonwind.com/2013/03/01/wind-farms-causing-fires-all-smoke-no-flame/
Wind turbines produce vastly more energy than they consume. De-icing is just starting to penetrate the market, air-conditioning doesn’t exist and published and reviewed lifecycle cost analyses (LCA) following ISO methodologies suggest that electrical consumption by wind towers is insignificant, so the ratio is extremely high. The Hepburn wind farm in Australia produces 302 times the energy annually that it consumes. http://barnardonwind.com/2013/03/02/parasitic-power-and-wind-turbines-sounds-scary-but-whats-the-real-story/
Guys..Music is great therapy….Great guitar …and the words works both ways….
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRu5XXR0e34
You will feel better…..