There has been much agitation about climate change and the immediate need to revert our growing use and rapid depletion of natural resources. In effect, wind power has become the ‘supposedly free, renewable and carbon-friendly’ solution to help alleviate global warming, but what goes unnoticed are the potential risks associated with the use of wind turbines for energy. While there is certainly not enough evidence to prove a number of health concerns such as the wind turbine syndrome or the production of unwanted noise/shadow flickers, it is still imperative that awareness be raised about them.
Firstly, the unwanted noise generated by wind farms has led to reports of “annoyance” and “disturbance” especially during sleep, which can lead to potential heart rate increases and awakening. However, for a noise level that is never below a threshold level of 40 dB, it is hard to take such health effects into serious consideration. On another note, low-frequency noise produces vibrations that cause suffering to those who are sensitive to it, leading to chronic psychophysiological damage from long-term exposure to it. However, there is limited evidence to determine whether or not there is a direct relationship between wind turbines and an increase in noise, for reported symptoms of dizziness and insomnia could be due to the psychological knowledge that a wind turbine is present.
Moreover, the shadow flicker that occurs when the sun is located behind a wind turbine that flicks on and off when the turbine blades rotate has been attributed to photic stimulation seizures. In other words, it has been claimed that the repeated shuttering of light leads to a brain disorder and repeated seizures over time i.e.: epilepsy. However, it appears that approximately “5% of people have this epilepsy, and should be already taking antiepiepetic medication” (massDEP, 2012). Furthermore, for those who have claimed to feel nausea and disorientation due to the shadow flicker, there is limited evidence even after a government-sponsored
study in Germany (Phl et al., 1999) that shadow flickers cause transient
stress-related effects on cognition and the automatic nervous system.
The wind turbine syndrome has been an issue over recent years as 38 individuals, 38 claimed and reported to have suffered insomnia, tinnitus, nausea and dizziness (Paulman, 2011). Nina Pierpont, a pediatrician with both an M.D and PHD, stated the wind turbine syndrome to be a “communicated disease” that was supposedly spread via the nocebo effect by being talked about, therefore being described as a psychogenic condition (Kloor, 2012). As a strong opponent to wind turbines, Pierpont believes that the psychological effect that the presence of turbines has on people is enough to drive them to delusion. A meta-study released by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (Kloor, 2012) thus proved a ‘mere but strong belief’ by Pierpont wrong that there was no correlation. Furthermore, in early 2012, a group of teenagers in New York were suddenly afflicted with these ‘syndrome-like’ symptoms, however a doctor later diagnosed them with a psychological condition called “conversion disorder” (Plumer, 2012). Furthermore, those who claim to have panic symptoms due to the surrounding wind turbines were muted when it was proven that these symptoms were in fact linked to previous history of motion sensitivity (Pierpont, 2012).
With that in mind, the aforementioned does not give us the ability to disregard the idea that exposure to wind turbines may have health impacts. Wind turbines release infrasound that is around 60-63 dB(G) and people who live in cities are normally exposed to 50-60 dB(G). Dr. Salt, a cochlear psychologist, found out after that turbines stimulate the outer hair cells of the cochlea (Quora, 2012).The outer hair cells contribute to making hearing sensitive by contracting and thus counteracting low frequency, infrasound vibrations – to help make sure one doesn’t hear them. Thus, infrasound from turbines give hair cells a “good workout”, so that any disturbance said to be caused by the wind turbine noise is prevalent; and related to the long-term stimulation of outer hair cells. However, there needs to be more direct evidence from humans in order to determine whether there is a cause-and-effect relationship. Moreover, Dr. Salt’s research was conducted on guinea pigs, which have different sensitivities and hearing thresholds, whose effects cannot be directly compared to those of humans.
Slightly less important but still worth considering are risks associated with the installation of the turbine. According to David Craig (2007), there have been approximately 40 fatalities of workers due to construction and maintenance of wind turbines, including falls or tie-ups within the machinery whilst performing maintenance inside ‘turbine housings’. Furthermore, although not common, the possibility of a turbine break failure can cause a fire (due to the uncontrolled/free spinning), which cannot be extinguished due to the height, thus generating toxic fumes and fires within the fields (and living area). Similarly, ice may be formed on the turbine and thrown off during operation – dangerous for passerby’s.
In conclusion, there is often speculation about supposed health risks associated with the implementation of wind turbines such as the unwanted noise, shadow flickers, the wind-turbine syndrome, its effect on outer hair cells and problems associated with it’s maintenance. While some of these effects may be strongly opinion-based and hyped up, such as Pierpont’s theory of the wind turbine syndrome, it is still important to look for evidence that either proves a theory right or wrong. So far however, there is not enough evidence, as seen above, that can clearly deem wind turbines health impacting, but this doesn’t mean that we must stop looking.
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