By Evolution Solar Sunshine Coast
Those against wind farms have believed for years that infrasound, too low to be detected by the human ear, from wind farm turbines has been causing serious health risks. After countless studies have shown no correlation between the two, the new Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of South Australia has released a new report that will hopefully put the issue to rest.
The Clean Energy Council (CEC) has welcomed the report and hopes it will give some clarity to the arguments and finally dispel the myth. CEC policy director Russell Marsh said, “South Australia’s EPA is the most experienced regulatory authority in Australia when it comes to wind farm noise, and this new report provides hard evidence that wind turbines do not cause increased levels of infrasound in surrounding areas, neither inside people’s homes nor outdoors.”
“This is yet another clean bill of health for wind farms.”
Anti wind farm activists claim that wind farms cause ‘Wind Turbine Syndrome’ which can cause psychological and physiological issues such as headaches, insomnia, tinnitus, nausea and so on.
The report compiled studies in 11 different locations: – seven locations in urban areas, four locations in rural areas and included two homes around 1.5kms away from wind farms at Bluff Wind Farm and Clements Gap Wind Farm. The report concluded that there is no link between wind farms and health. In fact, one of the homes closest to the wind farm recorded one of the lowest infrasound noises out of all eleven locations. The study found that the worst infrasound noise comes from air conditioners, traffic and noise generated by people. Other reports have also shown that there is no difference in infrasound levels when wind turbines are on or off.
Mr Marsh said, “It’s certainly more evidence to back up the case that we’ve been making for a long time that it is not infrasound that is responsible for any of the health claims that people are making near wind farms. And we hope that this put the issue to bed as you say.”
Anti wind farm activists say the EPA report does not look at the right areas and more research needs to be done. Sarah Laurie, CEO of the Waubra Foundation says, “The report itself, the authors only measured down to 10 hertz by using what we call the g-weighting. They ignored the frequencies between 0 and 10 hertz. And they’re the frequencies that many of us believe are the problem frequencies. So they didn’t actually measure those.”
Mr Marsh of the CEC responded saying that there are many other studies underway to measure these frequencies but they expect them to turn up the same results – that there is no health risk associated to wind turbine noises. “Seventeen international reviews that have looked at the science behind this and they’ve all concluded that there isn’t a link between wind farms and health,” Marsh said.
The report by the EPA stated that the infrasound levels recorded were “insignificant in comparison with the background level of infrasound in the environment.”