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In my last blog for CEI I looked at the safety record of wind turbines compared to the safety record of domestic nuclear power plants as reported by the Caithness Windfarm Information Forum. Now I want to examine some research conducted by Dr. Nina Pierpont, a leading pediatrician from New York, that may reveal a newly discovered wind turbine related illness dubbed WTS or wind turbine syndrome. Dr. Pierpont spent five years studying WTS symptoms displayed by residents near wind farms around the world.
The Independent describes WTS symptoms:
“This is the disruption or abnormal stimulation of the inner ear’s vestibular system by turbine infrasound and low-frequency noise, the most distinctive feature of which is a group of symptoms which she calls visceral vibratory vestibular disturbance, or VVVD. They cause problems ranging from internal pulsation, quivering, nervousness, fear, a compulsion to flee, chest tightness and tachycardia – increased heart rate. Turbine noise can also trigger nightmares and other disorders in children as well as harm cognitive development in the young, she claims.”
The root of Dr. Pierpont’s study is that bones within the human ear are affected by the low frequency sounds and vibrations typically found near windfarms. This belief counters assumptions acoustic engineers designing wind turbines use when measuring noise produced near windfarms. Other research groups at Manchester University and New South Wales support Dr. Pierpont’s stance on acoustic effects on the inner ear bones. Opposition to WTS research has come from the wind energy industry as Dr. Pierpont relates:
“The wind industry will try to discredit me and disparage me, but I can cope with that. This is not unlike the tobacco industry dismissing health issues from smoking. The wind industry, however, is not composed of clinicians, nor is it made up of people suffering from wind turbines.”
I for one am thankful that Dr. Pierpont and others are looking into the health effects wind turbines can have on the general public. As a commenter on Carrington’s post on land requirements for wind energy indicated, the Obama administration has mentioned that the US could eventually have as much as 1TW of our energy generated using turbines. If Dr. Pierpont is right that could be one large American headache (another WTS symptom)! We need to challenge our leaders to consider all of the risks associated with developing an energy policy that relies heavily on technologies that may be more harmful than they are commonly portrayed.
There are two many watchdogs looking into rediculous causes and false blame, I am no specialist but is the noise gernerated from windfarms, which are generally away from Cities or populated areas any more harmful from teh noice of engines generted by traffic or the low frequency hum of a PC monitor or TV which we sit in front of for hours on end every day. Spend the research money on something valid and find a cure for cancer. (or are windfarms the next cause of that too?)
Jonpaul,
Thanks for the comment. Personally, I agree with you. We have the same problems in the nuclear industry. Many energy industries are prevented from making progress because of some of the false claims and bogus litigation that is placed upon them.
Personally, I have never been around any industrial wind turbines. However, I do have a colleague that says his past company had one installed in front of their engineering office building. He said that it sounded like a jet engine was blaring outside the window all day long. It wasn’t long before the company had to move the wind turbine a couple of miles down the road so that their engineers could get some work done.
In Tyler’s last blog “Is Wind Energy Safe?” he pointed out that 41 people died working in the wind energy industry last year as well as 16 innocent civilians were killed as a result of wind energy industry activities. No one has ever died in US commercial nuclear industry history.
We feel that it is absolutely ridiculous that the nuclear industry gets such a bad safety reputation in comparison to renewable energy when, in fact, the opposite is true. Pointing out these issues will hopefully wake people up and force the wind energy industry to raise their safety standards in order to provide safe and reliable clean energy.
Although, it looks like wind energy has a long, long way to go if it hopes to compete with the nuclear industry’s safety track record.
Regards,
Carrington Dillon
Yes, noisy is a big problem for horizonal axis wind turbines, even the wind farm is far away from the home and village. Vertical axis wind turbine is a trend in future however the cost of vertical axis wind turbine is much higher than the horizonal wind turbine. Another problem is that it is difficult to manufacture the large vertical axis wind turbine like the horizonal one. Maybe this problem need some time to solve.