An application for a 25 metre-high wind turbine at Plymstock's Coombe Dean School has been withdrawn ...The school applied for planning permission from Plymouth City Council in July but had to withdraw its application this week due to the lack of "noise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

The majority of the Gaines Wind Advisory Committee said at Wednesday's meeting that they don't believe wind energy is in the best interest of the Town of Gaines. ...Concerned Gaines residents filled the town hall to capacity Wednesday evening as they listened to prepared statements from each of the committee members listing worries about noise, costs, property values, vibration effects and the impact on wildlife. Of the eight-member board, two said they would be in favor of the 400-foot wind turbines. The remaining, including alternate Ted Swierznski sitting in for Royce Klatt, voiced opposition to the towers, while acknowledging their research is incomplete. "Federal and state subsidies are the only reason wind energy is taking a foothold in this country," said advisory member Marilynn Miller.

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.

Ashfield-Colborne-Wawanosh Council seems to be stuck between a rock and a hard place when it comes to settling on a minimum setback distance for wind turbines, and has deferred the matter until mid November when a final decision is expected. At the Oct. 16 meeting, Councillors Barry Millian and Carl Sloetjes presented a verbal report of the noise expert draft findings at the MOE focus group session in Toronto Oct. 15. The pair attended the meeting on behalf of the Township of ACW. "I'll get right to the bottom line here - which was the last chapter of the meeting, and that was, where do we go from here?" said Counc. Millian. "My bottom line is that I need to be put in a comfort zone before I move on this issue, and walking out of that meeting, that didn't happen."

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."

In March 2007, the [Ministry of the Environment] MOE initiated a review of its noise policy for wind turbines. To support the review, the ministry retained a noise expert to review recent findings relating to noise impacts, including a 2006 dissertation by Van den Berg. Attendees at this first session on Oct. 15 in Toronto will hear the first draft findings, as well as ask questions and offer feedback on the draft.

Juniata Township supervisors are ready to buy a pair of noise meters at the request of three residents disturbed by wind turbines near their properties. The township's ordinance specifies that the noise created by the turbines cannot exceed 45 decibles, a level that has been compared to the hum of a refrigerator. The noise has been a lot louder, residents Todd and Jill Stull told supervisors. Neighbor Clair Chappell agreed.

The initial application was refused by the City of York Council and an appeal was refused by the Planning Inspectorate, because planners were unsure how much noise the turbine would generate. ..."I note the appellant's frustration with the perceived lack of council officer support for this scheme, ...However, such schemes should not be at the expense of detracting from neighbouring residents' enjoyment of their properties and in this case insufficient information has been provided to conclude that the proposal would not harm the living conditions of existing residential occupiers."

From the roar of aircraft to the drone of giant wind turbines, it is getting harder to find peace and quiet in the countryside. ...Since the early 1990s, around 320 square miles of tranquil countryside has been lost every year - the equivalent to an area the size of Greater London every two years. At this rate the remaining 50 per cent of undisturbed countryside in England could be blighted by 2087.

Opponents of a controversial wind farm planned near Wellington are going back to court, claiming new evidence could limit the hours the project is allowed to run. Makara Guardians have asked both the High Court and the Environment Court to consider hearing submissions about the noise expected to come from Meridian Energy's West Wind project near Makara. ... Makara Guardians lawyer Graham Taylor said the group was not appealing against the project in full, but wanted to bring new evidence before the court about conditions relating to wind noise.

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."

CHILTON - Life near wind turbines is hell, a panel told about 500 at a forum Wednesday organized by residents worried that proposed wind farms would affect public health and property values. "The noise produced by turbines is intolerable," Kewaunee County homeowner Mike Washechek said. Washechek has lived about ¼ mile from a wind farm for the last seven years. "My wife thought the dryer was on and there was a tennis shoe in it."

A comprehensive study by Salford University has concluded that the noise phenomenon known as aerodynamic modulation (AM) is not an issue for the UK's wind farm fleet. AM indicates aerodynamic noise from wind turbines that is greater than the normal degree of regular fluctuation of blade swoosh. It is sometimes described as sounding like a distant train or distant piling operation. The Government commissioned work assessed 133 operational wind projects across Britain and found that although the occurrence of AM cannot be fully predicted, the incidence of it from operational turbines is low.

The town of Mars Hill...is the test bed for all that is good and not so good about wind power in Maine. ... With the failure of two other wind power proposals - a thirty-turbine project in Redington Township outside Rangeley and a three-unit installation in the town of Freedom in central Maine - the Mars Hill experience raises the question of wind power's future in the state. An energy technology praised as the green alternative to fossil fuels and one of the solutions to global climate change has produced controversies that have split the environmental community in Maine and made enemies of natural allies.