It's an ill wind that blows no good!

Dear Friends: Today's subject is "Windmills" or to be more accurate "Wind Turbines!"

Even though we are light years behind Europe in renewable energy the number of Turbines spread across North America is truly impressive. (We will talk Solar another day!)

The first thing I should mention is the fact that the Ontario government has done a lousy job of explaining wind energy, resulting in a lot of old wives tales and misinformation about the benefits and drawbacks of having these rotating behemoths spread across the countryside. As a result of this ignorance, rumors have run rampant among the rural community and a definite campaign of fear-mongering has spread throughout the land! (Through a concerted effort to demonize wind turbines the same people that are against fossil fuels and nuclear energy have spread false information about these friendly giants.)

 

 In Ontario and elsewhere, some individuals have reported experiencing adverse health effects resulting from living near IWTs. Reports of IWT-induced adverse health effects have been dismissed by some commentators including government authorities and other organizations. (Physicians have been exposed to efforts to convince the public of the benefits of IWTs while minimizing the health risks according to opponents of the turbines. Those concerned about adverse effects of IWTs have been stereotyped as “NIMBYs” - not in my backyard)

During the past few years, there have been case reports of adverse effects. A 2006 Académie Nationale de Médecine working group report notes that noise is the most frequent complaint. The noise is described as piercing, preoccupying, and continually surprising, as it is irregular in intensity. The noise includes grating and incongruous sounds that distract the attention or disturb rest. The spontaneous recurrence of these noises disturbs the sleep, suddenly awakening the subject when the wind rises and preventing the subject from going back to sleep. Wind turbines have been blamed for other problems experienced by people living nearby. These are less precise and less well described, and consist of subjective (headaches, fatigue, temporary feelings of dizziness, nausea) and sometimes objective (vomiting, insomnia, palpitations) manifestations.

An Ontario community-based self-reporting health survey, WindVOiCe, identified the most commonly reported IWT-induced symptoms as an altered quality of life, sleep disturbance, excessive tiredness, headache, stress, and distress. Other reported effects include migraines, hearing problems, tinnitus, heart palpitations, anxiety, and depression. In addition, degraded living conditions and adverse socioeconomic effects have been reported. In some cases the effects were severe enough that individuals in Ontario abandoned their homes or reached financial agreements with wind energy developers. (The latest complaint is that these turbines also set up a vibration in the ground that muddies and contaminates well water!)

Fortunately, we don't have these problems in most of North America since other municipalities have done a better job of educating people about the operation of these whirling dervishes!

As we mentioned North America is still quite a bit behind Europe in renewable energy, but just the same, the number of wind turbines across the land is quite impressive!

P.S. I believe it's not politically correct to use the term "old wives tales" anymore, but I don't really give a shit!

 The way I see it anyway!

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