Opinions
Bring on solar power; wind turbines are noisy and blot the horizon
We measured industry noise at night under low and medium wind conditions. We found, in front of the boundary fence of an industrial plant we measured, a sound pressure level of 52 dBA. Then, 1500 m away, we measured the same noise at the same value (52 dBA), implying that the noise is hardly attenuated by distance. This is an extraordinary result and it took calculations for us to appreciate that the combination of a temperature inversion (where the ground is colder than the air) and the wind had caused the plant noise to travel significantly further than usual.
We further discovered that our findings were actually quite well known - the phenomena is not new.
August 14, 2009
by Terry Mackenzie-hoy
in Engineering News
The British Wind Energy Association says: "Well-designed wind turbines are, generally, quiet in operation and, compared [with] the noise of road traffic, trains, aircraft and construction activities . . . the sound of a wind turbine generating electricity is likely to be the same level as noise from a flowing stream 50 m to 100 m away or the noise of leaves rustling in a gentle breeze."
Makes you want to weep, dunnit ? However, Dr Nina Pierpont, of the US, writes: "Industrial wind turbines produce significant amounts of audible and low-frequency noise. Dr Oguz A Soysal, professor and chairperson of... [continue via Web link]
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