Personal Stories
Our home in rural DeKalb County, IL is where we wanted to stay for good.
We have put so much into our home to make it a place where we would love to live and raise our children, and unfortunately we are being forced to live differently.
We have been bullied by a large industrial wind company (NextEra Energy, a subsidiary of Florida Power and Light (FPL) and sold-out by the DeKalb County Board.
FPL told residents that these wind turbines only "sound like a refrigerator." Well, we have found that this is not the case.
Often times our yard sounds like an airport. We hear and feel the low frequency sound on our property as well as in our home. We are bothered by the noise, whistling, contant swirling movement, and shadow flicker.
Someone needs to speak up. These industrial wind turbines should not be built close to homes. They should be at least a mile away to avoid these issues. We have 13 within a mile. The closest 2 are 1,400 feet away.
Sound is horrible today (May 23, 2010):
It's Sunday afternoon, 89 degrees, winds SSW at 17mph.
The sound is horrible today and turbine number 30 is whistling again. We were outside on the front porch and had to come in because of the noise. Sitting at the computer now typing this out and can still hear the sound through the walls. It is so upsetting to our family that this is happening. We're going to have to move someday.
We are being forced to move from our dream home that we designed and built (with our own hands), the home we brought all our babies home from the hospital, the home that is close to our family/friends/and neighbors, the home where we have created such great family memories, the home that is close to a wonderful school where we volunteer and our children attend....HOW COULD WE POSSIBLY PUT A PRICE ON OUR HOME?
We wish the turbines could just be turned off. We could deal with what they look like, just turn them off. We reported this disturbance to the Next Era hotline and the planning and zoning office of DeKalb county. This is a noise that NO ONE should have to live with. It's heartbreaking that the wind industry misleads voting members in saying that turbines don't affect people.
We are proof that they do! Wind companies who are reading this, please tell the truth in your presentations to county board members, landowners, residents, etc... We agree, yes they can sound like a light swishing, babbling brooke, a refrigerator as you claim. But, the reality is that they don't always sound like that. Most of the time they sound like jet plane engines in your yard and in your home. The quality of sound and low frequency hum is a nuissance that no one should live with. As a side note....say they did sound like a refrigerator all the time (which they don't)....Who would want to sleep next to their refrigerator, bike and walk next to one, have a refrigerator running next to you as you push your child on the swingset, listen to a refrigerator as you sit on the front porch...and so on. That would be a nuissance....to ANYONE!
These turbines are way too close to homes.
We are calling for the wind companies to be honest in their presentations to county board members, planning and zoning committees, residents, landowners, etc. We heard 2 presentations last week from 2 different wind companies claiming the same thing...very minimal sound. Live with them for a month and you will know what we're talking about!
Editor's note: Windaction.org encourages you to visit the Hulthen's blog pages for more information.