For anyone who has been following the anti-wind farm lobby and their attempts to discredit the wind power sector over the years, this most recent offering might seem like their most desperate yet. Continue reading “Pollie Watch: Liberal MP sides with anti-wind fringe”
This post was featured at Renew Economy, Australia’s leading source for energy news and analysis. Victorian Senator John Madigan (Democratic Labor Party) has alleged that Australia’s wind power generation sector is responsible for a health cover-up comparable to those perpetrated … Continue reading Pollie Watch: More hot air from Sen Madigan
Originally posted at The Conversation. View original here. There is no reliable or consistent evidence that proximity to wind farms or wind farm noise directly causes health effects. That’s the finding of the National Health and Medical Research Council’s (NHMRC) … Continue reading Study finds no evidence wind turbines make you sick – again
Ever wondered how much sound a wind turbine really makes? If you’ve not yet had an opportunity to experience it for yourself, Simon Mahan makes some relative comparisons with the everyday sounds in our lives, and notes that sensible regulations afford a level of protection for nearby residents while allowing responsible wind energy development.
Published by cleanenergy.org View original article
Recent polling shows that over 70% of Americans support wind energy; yet the small number of wind energy opponents can be loud. Very loud, in fact. One way those anti-wind activists attack this American industry is by overstating how much sound wind turbines make. Continue reading “Sounds like a Wind Farm Ban”
Late last year, several articles appeared in South Gippsland newspapers surrounding the Bald Hills wind farm which will soon commence construction. Advisor to anti-wind farm crusader Senator John Madigan travelled to the region claiming the Bald Hills wind farm would not comply with noise standards.
Such claims are speculative at best. They make big assumptions about the sound of turbines that haven’t even been built. Yet this speculation is nothing new in the wind energy debate.
Fear mongering about the sound of wind farms championed by Senator John Madigan–a politician with a track-record of anti-wind activism–is part of a larger campaign. The other side of the coin is a scare campaign alleging wind farms make people sick.
Despite a lack of credible evidence, anti-wind farm groups persistently link wind turbines to a bizarre collection of 234 diseases and symptoms. All this hysteria promoted by wind energy opponents is having real impacts. Academic research shows it’s the anti-wind farm fear mongering that’s causing some to experience adverse health impacts, not the turbines. Continue reading “Busted: Anti-wind spin in South Gippsland…”
On January 10 Prime Minister Tony Abbott signaled that it might be timely for the National Health and Medical Research Council to review the evidence on wind farms and health saying “it is some years since the NHMRC last looked at this issue: why not do it again?” He appears to be poorly informed. The NHMRC reviewed the evidence in 2010, and has been re-reviewing it again since 2012, with the release of a public discussion document imminent.
There have been no less than 19 reviews of the evidence on wind farms and health published since 2002. All have concluded that while sometimes a minority of people exposed report adverse health effects from living near turbines, there is no good evidence that these effects are directly attributable to the turbines. Continue reading “Wind farm noise complainants and anti-wind groups: how many, how large?”
Published by www.barnardonwind.com. View original article.
One thing to admire about those who dislike wind energy is their sheer persistence. If one argument gets stamped out, they turn to another without blinking an eye. Specific pieces of disinformation ebb and flow as the evidence mounts.
One of the recurring minor points of anti-wind rhetoric is that wind farms commonly feature amplitude modulation which increases the intensity of the noise and the annoyance factor of the noise. So what’s the reality? Continue reading “Amplitude Modulation: another anti-wind myth goes thump”
The anti-wind farm group, the Waubra Foundation, have rejected a community request to stop using the town’s name.
The petition signed by 316 residents and people with strong links to the town was delivered to the Foundation in November. The petition shows the community has made strong attempt to reclaim their name.
“Now Waubra Foundation has decided to ignore the petition, it’s time for politicians to throw their weight behind the local push to reclaim Waubra from anti-wind farm campaigners,” said Leigh Ewbank, Friends of the Earth’s renewable energy spokesperson.
“Waubra Foundation office holders live between 122-793km from Waubra. Such vast distances make a mockery of their use of the town’s name. If the Foundation won’t respect the wishes of locals, then that leaves politicians to intervene.”
“Does Premier Denis Napthine think it’s acceptable for an anti-wind farm campaign group to co-opt a town’s name for their own ideological purposes?” Continue reading “Time for politicians to back Waubra townfolk after anti-wind group ignores community petition to reclaim name”
In September, independent filmmaker Neil Barrett released a short documentary presenting the views of people living near one of Australia’s largest wind farms, located in Waubra, Victoria. The personal accounts Mr Barrett documents in The Way the Wind Blows demonstrates … Continue reading Waubra Wednesday #11 – Locals tell their story about wind energy
Published by Renew Economy. View original article.
By Ketan Joshi
The most interesting places on Earth are the subduction zones where tectonic plates of science and emotion scrape relentlessly. Buried in these dynamic boundaries we find the most telling insights into human nature. Wind energy spans the continents of science and sentiment, and discourse is dominated by this violent collision of empirical reality and unbridled passion.
Though living full time in this fissure might seem unenviable, I guarantee it is stirring. Yesterday, the plates grated once more, as the South Australian Environmental Protection Agency (SA EPA) released the long-anticipated results of their study into low-frequency noise levels at Waterloo Wind Farm.
First, some history. In May 2012, Graham Lloyd of The Australian mused in an article whether the Waterloo Wind Farm could be the culprit behind the mutations of chicken embryos, spikes in “sheep deformities” and “reports of erratic behaviour by farm dogs” – a joyful foray into absurdity that served as a textbook example of implication by proximity. Continue reading “Collision of science and sentiment – Waterloo wind farm cleared by EPA”
yes2renewables.org 