Many recent DailyTech stories have focused on the world's growing reliance on wind power, along with efforts to reduce the noise pollution resulting from the large farms. However, a new study suggests that living near a wind farm can cause serious health problems; including causes sleep disorders, difficulty with equilibrium, migraine headaches, panic attacks, and other issues.

Blades have begun to turn on 121 wind turbines here and in neighboring Ellenburg, a 35-minute drive northwest of Plattsburgh. Saturday, they turned with a soft whush, whush, whush. "Whush, whush, whush, all day long, all night long - I moved here because it was so peaceful and quiet," groused Allen Barcombe as he pointed to the nearest tower, jutting up 400 feet into the sky behind his house. ...The New York turbines, in two projects developed by Noble Environmental Power, are the first of nearly 400 expected to go up in five towns on a windy plateau just south of the Canadian border. When completed, the development about 90 minutes from Burlington will represent the largest concentration of wind turbines in the eastern United States.

An enviro-friendly windmill that could save Sullivan County Community College up to 50 percent on its electricity bill. Who would argue against that? Kenneth Walter would. He's been railing against the project for months now, to anyone who will listen. Walter, whose family helped establish the college by selling a plot of land to the state in 1965, has said noise from the 111-foot-tall windmill will ruin his 89-year-old mother's quality of life, since she lives about 500 feet away, and that the college has been stingy with public information about the project. ...Walter said he plans to fight the windmill project even if lawmakers approve it today. He has threatened to sue on the basis that a windmill would violate the college's property deed, which says the land will be developed "for the uses of the Sullivan County Community College." Walter believes the windmill is not a "college use."

As plans for a wind farm in the neighboring town of Arkwright move closer to reality, landowners in the town of Charlotte are taking the first steps toward development of a wind turbine operation in that municipality. Town resident, Merle Goot, who has spearheaded interest in a WECS (wind energy conversion system), said UPC Wind Management is currently contacting and ‘‘signing up'' town property owners. ‘‘Arkwright has been moving forward with wind energy plans since 2004,'' Goot said. ‘‘Charlotte has a long way to go, but at least we're now on the way.'' After several months of research and tours of wind turbine sites, Goot said, a group of town landowners ‘‘decided to go with UPC.'' ‘‘It was a visit to UPC's Cohocton energy conversion site in December that sold us,'' he said. ‘‘That trip really cinched a decision to select UPC as the developer of our town project.

What constitutes protection of public health and safety for siting and operating 400-foot industrial wind turbines with capacities of 1.65 to 2 megawatts? That question stirred lots of activity and animosity in Calumet County in 2007. ...Among the common themes were unacceptable noise levels that disrupted sleeping and other activities, shadowing and flickering inside residences, health problems and attitude changes in their families, loss of property value, interference with television reception and Internet services, and refusal by wind energy system owner/operators to deal with complaints. Concerns specific to Calumet County included protection of groundwater in a very sensitive geological area, flight corridors for medical helicopters between Chilton and Fox Cities hospitals and sheriff and state patrol microwave relay pathways.

A settlement has been reached in the long-standing dispute over the Cruickshank Wind Power project in Kincardine. Owners Kevin and Nancy Cruickshank have agreed to remove the sixth turbine located on their 300-acre property at the South end of the Municipality. The turbine in question was positioned too close to a neighbouring property not owned by the Cruickshanks. ...Now that the project is free and clear for construction, there is no word on when the Cruickshank Wind Project will get off the ground.

Do you think wind mill development can effect property values? For anyone to say that property values aren’t hurt by this is wrong. I went to a house where six of these wind mills were facing down on me. The house is 2,000 feet away and you can plainly see them in front of you as if it’s right there, that’s how close they feel. They are gigantic devices and I have to say I am amazed by them, but would I want to look at them that close to me? No I wouldn’t. The people in Tyrone that will be affected by our proposed wind farm are the people who live on top of Decker Hollow Road, by the old apple orchard. Those people will see and hear the wind mills. I’m going Saturday on top of Decker Hollow Road and look to see the mountain they will be on and try to imagine what it will be like.

A PUBLIC meeting has been called to discuss controversial proposals to erect 13 wind turbines across a swathe of Fenland countryside. Peterborough City Council planning chiefs are currently assessing applications for two separate schemes on neighbouring strips of land abutting the Cambridgeshire border. ...Mr Potts said: "We respectfully ask that any application for wind turbines is taken after the findings of Defra's investigation. We do not want the Fens to become a dumping ground for these inefficient systems."

Environmental leaders and state energy officials are excited about all the interest in wind power, and all are learning more about it, thanks to Mars Hill. But the project has critics in its hometown. A group of about 18 homeowners in Mars Hill is angry about loud noise that is produced by the wind turbines. The neighbors say the noise is not consistent, that it can vary with weather and wind conditions. At times, it's almost inaudible. But at other thimes, they say, the noise can reach over 50 decibels in their homes, disturbing sleep and making life uncomfortable. ...the Town Manager of Mars Hill says he believes future wind projects should have guidelines for how close wind turbines are placed to homes. He says a turbine within 2,500 feet should have to get a noise easement from the homeowner, to avoid problems with complaints later on.

A noisy rotor problem on some turbines in the Allegheny Ridge Wind Farm was described Tuesday as "minor," and localized to just some of the 40 turbines at the Cambria-Blair county farm. "We have been working with Babcock & Brown and we have a schedule set up for repair," said Ellen Lutz, Gamesa Inc.'s director of development for the Atlantic Region. ...But residents - including Myrle Baum - are not optimistic. Baum said at times the operating windmills sound like a jet going over his house. ...A sound study done by the residents shows times when the turbines were producing levels topping 70 decibels.

The biggest challenge to the proposed 1.5-megawatt wind turbine in Falmouth Technology Park may not come from the 14 local, state, and federal agencies that Notus Clean Energy LLC needs approval from. Instead it may come from nearby residents who are concerned that the machine will negatively impact their views, lower their property values, create noise pollution, and potentially cause health problems to those in the neighborhood.

An application for a 25 metre-high wind turbine at Plymstock's Coombe Dean School has been withdrawn ...The school applied for planning permission from Plymouth City Council in July but had to withdraw its application this week due to the lack of "noise information" provided.

In a hearing that ended at approximately 10 p.m. last Thursday, Ontario Municipal Board hearing officer Norm Jackson reserved his decision on Amaranth Township's 22- turbine share of the Melancthon II wind farm project. ...Although Mr. Jackson must rule on aerodrome setbacks as well as on all issues, including the underground transmission line, the most troublesome concern is with residential complaints of noise from the transformer substation. ...Whether or not the noise issues would go beyond the transformers was not clear. Joan and John Lever of Melancthon, parties to the Amaranth hearing, presented turbine noise/health issues from Nina Pierpont, PhD, who is doing research on infrasound. Dr. Pierpont posits that turbine noises, even if inaudible, can be injurious to health. Mrs. Lever's contention was essentially that there is a growing number of professionals in agreement, although there are other professionals in disagreement.

A PLAN to put a wind turbine in the grounds of a rural school has run out of puff amid concerns it will create too much noise. ...Peter Evans, the council's director of public protection, has expressed doubts over the plan. He is concerned about the noise the turbine would make and the possible health effects. The council's planning committee has now delayed a decision for a site visit. In his report to the committee, Mr Evans said: "The background noise level at the school site is such that we believe the turbine will cause sleep disturbance to local residents during the night."

A couple forced from their home by noisy wind turbines are prepared to take their fight to the ombudsman. Jane and Julian Davis moved out of their farm near wind turbines in Deeping St Nicholas in May after months of sleepless nights caused by noise. And they believe there is no end in sight to the disruption to their lives because South Holland District Council has been dragging its heels investigating the case. Mrs Davis believes that the council has done nothing to look into the issues of noise at the site since last summer but instead left the investigation in the hands of operator Fenland Windfarms. She said: "We let them get on with it thinking they were doing something but it turns out they weren't. "Even in the full knowledge that we were driven out of our home they still did nothing. "I absolutely hit the roof when I found out."

The government has ruled out further research into wind turbine noise following the publication of a university report into the phenomenon. Salford University concluded the incidence of Aerodynamic Modulation, aerodynamic noise, (AM) from the UK's wind farm fleet is low. But its recommendation that more research might be "prudent" was rejected. Energy minister Malcolm Wicks said: "Where there are legitimate problems we will address them. But it is essential that we produce more wind power if we are to meet our climate change and security of supply aims."

LEE, Maine - The developer of a wind farm proposed for northern Washington County told state regulators Wednesday that noise levels from the massive turbines are expected to be well within legal limits. Representatives of UPC Wind Management described Stetson Mountain - located between the communities of Danforth and Springfield - as an excellent location for a wind energy facility because of the remote location, existing road network and steady winds. "No site is ideal in every respect, but from our perspective, Stetson comes as close to ideal as you can get for wind energy," Dave Cowan, vice president for environmental affairs with UPC, told members of the Land Use Regulation Commission.

PUGWASH - Opponents of a proposed wind farm on the Gulf Shore got more fuel for the fire Friday night. Mark Harris, a pastor from Bridgewater, Maine, spoke Friday night at the Ground Search and Rescue in Pugwash about how a wind farm in Mars Hill, Maine has terrorized locals. He bought property in Mars Hill roughly 1200 feet away from the turbines, but hasn't done anything with it because of how unbearable the sound and strobing from them is. "Many of the mills we have, on certain days when the wind comes from a certain direction and the humidity is such and such, it will be all but silent at 1200 feet away where my home site would be. But come back the next day and it'll pound until you can't tolerate being there and there's no predicting when that will happen," he said. He said the wind farm has wreaked havoc on the town, with many people now dealing with health complications allegedly caused by the turbines' sounds and shadows.

CAMPAIGNERS against plans for a new wind farm between Bagthorpe, Barmer and Syderstone have been told of the horrific impact turbines can have on village life. A packed public meeting in Bircham Newton heard from a number of guest speakers who gave grave warnings about the health impact, noise disturbances and threat to wildlife which could stem from the five turbines earmarked for the villages. Included among the speakers was Jane Davis, of Deeping St Nicholas, Lincolnshire, who described the persistent noise problems she has faced from a wind farm near her home. She also spoke of how the value of her property has plummeted since the development was completed. Syderstone resident Reg Thompson, a member of the action group formed to oppose the plans, said: "People are very concerned about this. "There are moves being made in Europe to ban wind farms that are within two kilometres of housing and we hope that becomes legislation because every house in Syderstone falls within that radius. "People are very upset. We have seen housing deals fall through as people no longer want to move here.

In the North-east, the Skelmonae Windfarm Action Group was formed in Methlick earlier this year. Member Mervyn Newberry, 42, a sales manager in oil and gas, said: "These monstrosities inflict untold misery on local inhabitants with their high levels of noise, shadow flicker, ruination of natural landscape, devastation of wildlife habitat and loss of housing value."