De-Bunking The Windpower Myths
Myth 1. "Wind turbines spoil the landscape "
This is a highly subjective issue. Being visible is not necessarily the
same as being intrusive. While some people express concern about the
effect wind turbines have on the beauty of our landscape, others see them
as elegant and beautiful, or symbols of a better, less polluted future.
The landscape we inhabit is largely human-made and it evolves over
time. In comparison to many other energy developments like coal and gas
power stations, or open cast mining, wind farms have relatively little
visual impact. Nevertheless National Parks or areas of high conservation
value may not be appropriate spots for wind farms.
The increased utilisation of renewable energy and greater use of wind
power will mean that we will have more of these structures visible in our
townscape and landscape in the future. But wind energy is one of the most
environmentally benign ways of producing the electricity we need to power
our daily lives.
If we don't switch to cleaner forms of energy, climate change will
severely and irrevocably alter much of our landscape as well as the animal
and plant life it contains.
And anyway, if we are speaking up against visual intrusion upon the
landscale, where are the campaigns. against HT power lines, grain silos,
motorway flyovers, phone masts, TV transmitters?
Could it be because
these are such accepted parts of the landscape that people hardly notice
them anymore. Is it impossible to think that wind farms can become an
accepted part of the landscape also?
Myth 2. Wind turbines kill lots of birds
Monitoring of existing wind farms suggests that with sensitive siting
adverse effect on bird populations can be minimized or avoided. The The
RSPCA doesn’t think that well designed wind farms pose a significant
threat to birds as do the Royal
Forest and Bird Protection Society in New Zealand who support the
sustainable development of renewable energy such as wind power because it
helps mitigate climate change, and state that:
"climate change poses the most significant long-term threat to the
environment...The available evidence suggests that appropriately
positioned wind farms do not pose a significant hazard for birds."
As large scale wind farm development is at a relatively early stage, we
don't know much about potential bird death rates. However,the 9
harbour-wall turbines at Blyth in the UK are in a busy bird area. Of the
bird flights through the wind farm, only 1 in 10,000 have resulted in a
collision. This translates to 1-2 collisions per year per turbine. Using
New Zealand as an example, no bird deaths have been reported during the
ten years of operation of the Brooklyn wind turbine and the Tararua wind
farm has had approximately 10 reported bird deaths in five years (See: www.eeca.govt.nz/uploadedDocuments/windsup_final.pdf).
To put these figures into perspective, in the UK every year more than
10 million birds are killed by cars and 55 million by domestic cats and
the Exxon Valdez oil spill alone is estimated to have killed up to 500,000
birds.
In addition to bird mortality rates caused by wind turbines being much
lower than other anthropogenic sources, studies have shown that birds are
able to habituate to the new environment, a well thought-out design of the
sites may reduce the risks of bird fatalities. For example wind farm
developers avoid sites which lie across common migratory routes, keep a
good distance between the turbines and avoid structures which are
attractive nesting places for birds.
Question.....?
Since local anti-windfarm
protesters seem to have developed an admirable concern for the local bird
population (the risk of collision being one of their key arguments against
their construction), can we now assume that any proposed widening of the
A14 will be opposed by the same people on the grounds of the additional
number of birds likely to be killed by the increased traffic?
Can we
also expect moves from them to ban domestic moggies....?
Myth
4. Wind turbines are noisy
Modern turbines are actually very quiet. Thanks to advances in wind
turbine technology, well-designed, well-sited turbines can be quiet enough
to cause no disturbance to people living just a few hundred metres away.
At these distances, any noise they do make is usually drowned out by
the natural noise of the wind itself in the trees and vegetation. To
protect nearby residents from any undue disturbance, proposals to install
wind turbines are required to meet strict noise standards.
Having read exaggerated claims in the press, people visiting wind farms
are often surprised at how quiet they actually are. A conversation can be
carried out at the base of a modern operating turbine without raising
one's voice. The Scottish Executive public opinion survey for example is
one of several demonstrating that concerns about noise are often
unfounded.
Before construction of the Scottish wind farms studied, 12% of people
living near the sites thought that the turbines would cause a noise
nuisance, but after construction, when people had experience of the wind
farm operating, only 2% thought they were noisy. See here for
survey
What about infrasound?
Infrasound and Low Frequency Noise are established as real causes of
illness in some people, but there are no harmful infrasound effects from
wind turbines.
There are all sorts of sources of infrasound in the modern world such
as cars and other road traffic, aircraft, diesel engines, trains,
shipping, factories, combustion, artillery, mining and quarrying, fridges
and other household appliances, fans, compressors and pumps, music, TVs,
and air conditioning. Infrasound is also ubiquitous in the natural
environment from sources like air turbulence - even from earthquakes and
storms, sometimes thousands of miles away.
Extensive work has already been carried out on infrasound from wind
turbines, which demonstrated that "Low frequency noise and vibration
levels were both found to comply with recommended residential criteria
even on the wind farm site itself with the acoustic signal, below 20 Hz,
being well below accepted thresholds of perception." In the words of
infrasound expert John Leventhall: "There are no harmful infrasound
effects from wind turbines."
If a generator were to emit infrasound, the turbine tower would be
affected, noticeably vibrating, and although at below audible sounds, this
would be detected by the on board power control systems which monitor the
wind turbine and would automatically shut it off.
Tens of thousands of wind turbines have now been operating worldwide
for up to 20 years, including in some of the countries with leading
general studies on infrasound. No link or problem has been identified with
the presence of wind turbines in these studies.
For more information have a look here: "Low Frequency Noise and Infrasound from Wind Turbine
Generators"
For the last four years, the international wind
power market has been expanding at a rate of about 30% each year. It’s now
worth an annual $4 billion. It would be a crime if Britain, with it’s long
engineering tradition, were to miss out on this opportunity.
Even
leaving aside climate change for a moment, the fuel is free,
non-polluting, reduces our dependence on fuel imports from unstable
regions of the world and due to it’s dispersed nature, increases the
security of our energy supply.
