A peer-reviewed article in the official journal of the College of Family Physicians of Canada says its members should expect to see increasing numbers of rural patients reporting adverse effects from exposure to industrial wind turbines.

The commentary, published in the May issue of Canadian Family Physician, says turbines can harm human health if built too close to where people live.

Ontario’s Green Energy Act requires that turbines be at least 550 metres away from neighbouring homes but the article says, “Evidence-based studies were not conducted to determine adequate setbacks and noise levels for the siting of IWTs (industrial wind turbines) before the implementation of the Ontario renewable energy policy.”

It adds that “owing to the lack of adequately protective siting guidelines, people exposed to IWTs can be expected to present to their family physicians in increasing numbers.”

Wind farm development has been heating up in Sarnia-Lambton with two large projects planned for the northern half of the county, and others proposed elsewhere.

There are currently two small wind farms in Lambton — one near Kettle and Stoney Point and the other in Brooke-Alvinston Township.

Several citizens’ groups have formed to oppose turbines, and Plympton-Wyoming has been taken to court by Suncor over its wind bylaws, including one calling for a 2-km setback.

Ingrid Willemsen, a member of the group We’re Against Industrial Turbines Plympton-Wyoming (WAIT-PW), said the Canadian Family Physician article quantifies that patients are going to family doctor with symptoms.

“We haven’t known how much of this they’re seeing.”

She added it was interesting to see the college publishing an article drawing its member’s attention to the issue.

“Otherwise, we can’t say we’re surprised.”

The article says people who live and work in close proximity to wind turbines have experienced symptoms that include decreased quality of life, annoyance, stress, sleep disturbance, headache, anxiety, depression, and cognitive dysfunction.

“The documented symptoms are usually stress disorder-type diseases acting via indirect pathways and can represent serious harm to human health,” it says.

It also states, “It is now clear that the regulations are not adequate to protect the health of all exposed individuals.”  Continue reading, here……

Austrian Independent — May 17, 2013

The ÖVP of Lower Austria announced that they would stop the expansion of wind farms. The interest group IG Windkraft strongly criticises this as they claim that the law undermines the turning point of energy.

According to the new Spatial Planning Law, wind farms cannot be built everywhere any longer. The government of Lower Austria does not want to permit any more wind farms until the law has come into power. This could take up to two years.

The managing director of IG Windkraft, Stefan Moidl, thinks that this takes too long: “This threatens the development of projects and jobs in Lower Austria.

“It is an endangerment for the scientific development and the positive environmental effects of wind power”, Mr Moidl stated.

The Environmental Umbrella Organisation was disappointed that the interest group does not stick to cooperative decisions. President Gerhard Heilingbrunner said that a limit for wind farms was necessary.

The responsible state councillor Stephan Pernkopf (ÖVP) promises that planned projects will be examined thoroughly. However, he said that some wind farm operators ran from one village to the next and thought they could put up a new wind farm on every hill.

“This will not happen. We will review the regulations and there will be clear conditions for the future”, Mr Pernkopf explained.

http://austrianindependent.com/news/Politics/2013-05-16/13929/Debate_over_planned_stop_for_wind_farms_in_Lower_Austria

Lisa Linowes — May 16, 2013

“The claim that wind projects in the U.S. are achieving 30% average capacity factors nationally [are] … not meaningful when considering that state RPS mandates are based on local resources. For states like New York and Pennsylvania, where average capacity factors are in the low- to mid- 20% range, many more wind turbines and related infrastructure (transmission) will be needed to meet RPS mandates than originally forecasted, resulting in increased costs and impacts.

Couple this with the fact that wind production in most states is seasonal with summer months producing at half that of winter months and also concentrated during periods of low demand (night time) — much of the energy arrives as excess energy making it less useful.”

This week, the U.S. Department of Energy announced it was revisiting the conclusions of its 2008 report, 20% Wind Energy by 2030.

The study, produced in cooperation with the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) and other stakeholders, explored a modeled energy scenario in which wind could supply 20% of the nation’s electricity by 2030. DOE made clear in the report that the 20% scenario was neither a prediction nor a goal, but, for wind proponents, the study served as the foundation for ongoing advocacy.

20% wind power by 2030 became a call to action and more. Absent a national renewables standard, AWEA heralded the 20% as a de facto mandate for wind.

The industry insists it’s on track to reach 20% wind (up from 4% today), but such claims are neither realistic nor wise. Despite explosive growth in new wind installations in the last five years alone, [1] challenges to further development have become more evident and will ultimately limit wind’s expansion.

An Unpopular Wind

Continue reading, here….

The Ontario Liberal government’s decision two years ago to cancel plans for gas-fired power plants in Oakville and Mississauga is enough of a “scandal” to justify the same kind of judicial inquiry that has been investigating and charging politicians in Quebec over corrupt dealings involving public contracts, said Ontario PC Leader Tim Hudak during a telephone conference for the media that Niagara At Large participated in this May 16.

“I think we need a judicial inquiry into this gas plant scandal,” said Hudak, who leads Ontario’s official opposition party, during the teleconference.

“Perjury and destroying public documents is a criminal offense,” Hudak said before adding that “maybe the threat of having jail cell doors shut behind them” will cause the reigning Liberals in Ontario to be more forthcoming about who exactly was responsible and how much of the province’s tax money – possibly above and beyond the $585 million already disclosed – on closing these plant projects down.  Continue reading, here….

Clearview Township councillor Thom Paterson will put a motion before council at its June 10 meeting stating the municipality is not willing to host industrial wind turbines.

Paterson advised colleagues Monday night that he would bring the motion before them at the upcoming meeting.

He’d like to see “thoughtful” debate about the motion before council decides how to proceed with it.

He said that in coming to office Premier Kathleen Wynne stated her government won’t force wind turbine projects on municipalities that don’t want them and so Clearview should make its position known.

Currently there is a controversial wind turbine project proposed for just west of Stayner and another contentious project that could be built between Singhampton and Dunedin.

The Creemore-area councillor said he’s not against green energy but does have concerns about the Green Energy Act.

Paterson said it’s not right that municipalities have no approval authority regarding green energy projects, adding his motion will call on the province to change this. 

“Green energy is not wrong for our community,” he said. “But the arbitrary placement is.”  Continue reading, here….

 

Man-made structures can now be seen from at least 70 per cent of Scotland, with a recent five per cent increase in the area affected by development being blamed on the spread of wind turbines.

An official report from Scottish Natural Heritage, the environment agency, found that the figure had risen from 65 per cent in 2008 to 70 per cent by 2010.

However, according to anti-wind farm campaigners, the situation may now be much worse, with one suggesting that 80 per cent of the country could soon be blighted.

The report on the “visual influence of built development”, which considers the impact of structures including roads, railways, bridges, airfields and tall buildings, singled out wind farms as the cause of the recent change.

It revealed that turbines were visible from 19.9 per cent of Scotland in 2008, with the figure jumping to 31.6 per cent the following year, and to 35.6 per cent by 2010.  Continue reading and view graphics, here….

As seemingly limitless as the air that swirls around us, wind has proven to be the world’s fastest-growing source of renewable energy. Backers suggest wind power can continue growing as quickly as companies can raise turbines to capture it.

 

But some scientists are challenging that assumption, arguing that the laws of physics will limit wind’s potential for meeting the world’s energy needs. The controversy arises from the turbines themselves. “As soon as you start to put turbines into the wind, you start to change the resource,” said Amanda Adams, a meteorologist who conducts atmospheric modeling at the University of North Carolina Charlotte. (See related quiz: “What You Don’t Know About Wind Energy.”)

In several recent published studies, Adams and other researchers have explored the issue of turbines stealing energy from the wind, creating drag or a “wind shadow” of air slowed by the spinning blades. Each turbine added to a particular landscape captures less energy. “You reach a point that if you add any more turbines, you get no more energy,” Adams said.

Developers of wind farms recognize the risk, so they carefully space turbines to prevent one from robbing wind speed from another. But today’s wind farms are small compared to the giant complexes needed to meet a significant slice of the world’s energy needs. (See related story: “Sizing Up Wind Energy: Bigger Means Greener, Study Says.”)

Adams and colleagues argue that when wind farms get big enough, they won’t be able to avoid the wind-shadow effect.

Wind has a future, and even the pessimists’ projections suggest that there is plenty of room to grow today’s generating capacity, said David Keith, a Harvard applied physicist who recently co-authored a paper with Adams. But he argues that if the effects are as severe as projected, wind can’t be counted on to provide a significant share of energy needs. The Adams-Keith paper, “Are global wind power resource estimates overstated?” was published earlier this year inEnvironmental Research Letters. Theirs is still a controversial view among scientists, and the American Wind Energy Association dismisses the doubts as the product of “crude theoretical modeling techniques.”

But better modeling may become necessary, because the wind energy industry faces a number of well-recognized and practical limitations on where it can site farms—due to the need to capture the best resources, to steer clear of community opposition, and even bird migration routes. Research into the wind-shadow effect may grow in importance as the world seeks to expand renewable power while limiting placement of large energy installations. (See related pictures: “Flying Wind Turbines Reach for High-Altitude Power.”)   Continue reading, here….

 

Shot from another angle.  Thanks Wainfleet for the pic.

See the tiny specks way down at the base of these things. Those are people. Not sure how relaxing these beaches would be for anyone with 100 foot long blades spinning over their heads.

Reblogged from Turtle Talk:

Halifax Courier / UK — May  9, 2013

Walkers had a narrow escape as blades on a wind turbine ripped off in high winds across common moor land.

The 17m turbine blades split and scattered across Ovenden Moor Wind Farm, Cold Edge Road, Wainstalls, Halifax.

Walkers and local residents were stunned at what could have been a nasty accident and fear for further blade breakages.

Energy provider E-on has a total of 23 wind turbines which tower at 32 metres tall on Ovenden Moor Wind Farm.

After the accident, a workman erected a safety fence around the turbine and a sign saying “danger, falling objects” was attached to the moor entrance gate.

Sue Midgley, 37, of Spring Mill Fold, Wainstalls, was out walking with Ann. “I couldn’t believe what we saw, it was frightening having to continue walking across the land.”

Ann said: “At any minute more of the blades could shatter and who knows how long it will be until other turbine blades break – with disastrous consequences.

“It’s public land. More must be done to protect the people.”   Continue reading, here….