Wind farm resident
Do you live inside an industrial wind farm? I do. I live within the Forward-Invenergy project. It is a tremendous invasion of our life style and a horrible happening to our area. My wife, our 13-year-old son and I have experienced headaches, nausea, light headedness, lack of sleep because we hear them in all rooms of our house, ringing, crackling and buzzing in the ears, anger, anxiety and generally being tense due to the constant sound like that of a jet flying over or like the thumping of your heart if you listened in a stethoscope or like the sound of a Chinook helicopter.
I have memory and motivation problems that I did not have in the past. A friend has shadow flicker that is like a person turning the light switch on and off which takes 42 minutes to cross his house. I have five turbines within three-quarters of a mile of my house. One is 1,560 feet and another 2,480 feet. At times, I hear them equally and often inside our house. Would a city planner allow an industrial park in a residential area? I don't think so yet our government agencies are allowing industrial wind turbines close to homes. If you do believe in global warming think of the carbon foot print caused by the energy used to build the access roads, widening of local roads, 250 worker vehicles going to and from the job and all the driving between turbines daily, cranes and excavation equipment fuel, farmland destroyed or taken out of use, energy to crush all the aggregate for the roads, 300 to 500 cubic yards of concrete in the tower base, 55,000-plus pounds of rebar in the base, approximate 395,000 pounds of steel above the base (the tower) and many things I have not accounted for. Also consider the terrible inefficiency (28 percent to 30 percent) of the turbines generating capability. Would you buy a furnace for you home that is 30 percent efficient? If we really need industrial wind turbines where people live they need to be at least 1 mile from homes, 1,000 feet from property lines and not more than 35 decibels of sound from a residence or other public buildings.
I have memory and motivation problems that I did not have in the past. A friend has shadow flicker that is like a person turning the light switch on and off which takes 42 minutes to cross his house. I have five turbines within three-quarters of a mile of my house. One is 1,560 feet and another 2,480 feet. At times, I hear them equally and often inside our house. Would a city planner allow an industrial park in a residential area? I don't think so yet our government agencies are allowing industrial wind turbines close to homes. If you do believe in global warming think of the carbon foot print caused by the energy used to build the access roads, widening of local roads, 250 worker vehicles going to and from the job and all the driving between turbines daily, cranes and excavation equipment fuel, farmland destroyed or taken out of use, energy to crush all the aggregate for the roads, 300 to 500 cubic yards of concrete in the tower base, 55,000-plus pounds of rebar in the base, approximate 395,000 pounds of steel above the base (the tower) and many things I have not accounted for. Also consider the terrible inefficiency (28 percent to 30 percent) of the turbines generating capability. Would you buy a furnace for you home that is 30 percent efficient? If we really need industrial wind turbines where people live they need to be at least 1 mile from homes, 1,000 feet from property lines and not more than 35 decibels of sound from a residence or other public buildings.
I was naive when talk of wind turbines came to our area. I trusted the elected officials of the town and county and the state's public service commission. That was a terrible mistake. If you allow large industrial limits closer than the set backs I mentioned above you will regret it. It will divide your community.
Gerry Meyer
Where is your home located? Can we come listen? Put your name and location to the claim. If it is facutal you will have proven and backed up your claim. Please end this question.
(Posted by: nowindforme?)
Yes Turbines are Noisy: 10/6/2008
The comment about a wind turbine at 250 yards is no noisier than a refrigerator is an outragious lie. At times I hear 5 wind turbines in my house louder than my refrigerator and one of those turibnes is 3/4 of a mile from my house. I have completely changed my view on any benefits of industrial wind turbines. They should only be allowed if at least one mile from a resisdence and 1300 feet from a neighbor's property line and 5 decibels above ambient sound.
(Posted by: nowindforme)
Nina Pierpont: 10/6/2008
Is Nina JP's sister? Who is she and when was her study done?
(Posted by: Curious)
Noise : 10/3/2008
Turbine noise can exceed 55 dB (A). That is the problem with having them too close to people. A problem that Nina Pierpont had when doing her research on "Wind Turbine Syndrome" is that many people had signed "good neighbor agreements" which prevented them from complaining. Now many people suffer in silence.
(Posted by: flummoxed)
Noise: 10/3/2008
From today's Salina Journal: Some critics allege wind turbines can be noisy and pose a hazard to wildlife. What have been the effects of the Smoky Hills project thus far? More than 100 landowners and 20,000 acres are involved in the project. “It doesn’t make any more noise than that truck that just went by on the highway,” said Ellsworth landowner Michael Homeier. Fellow landowner Trey Coats, of Ellsworth, said there’s a low-volume hum noticeable only when he’s nearly adjacent to an operating turbine. “When the wind gets to blowing hard, you can’t hear them over the wind,” Homeier said.
(Posted by: Reader)
Division: 10/3/2008
Yes it has divided the community. What would your guess be? Like around 100/20,000 to 19,990/20,000, maybe.
(Posted by: Divided)
Give it time: 10/3/2008
We are just starting to use wind energy. True, no coal plants have been shut down, but no way to tell how many haven't been built or won't be built in the future.
(Posted by: Time)
: 10/3/2008
The small wind farm in Spearville, is on the north side of town as is the highway. No flicker for city residents or much noise - obviously. 50, 000 turbines on this planet , and not one coal plant has yet to shut down. Someday common sense will prevail but Hays will be stuck with a monstrosity and more to come.
(Posted by: Arnie Bender)
ghost writer: 10/2/2008
sounds as if this was written by JP or prompted by him. One line at a time.
(Posted by: sceptic of sceptics)
: 10/2/2008
Kermit Froetschner and family have lived within 1000 feet of turbines in the Spearville project since construction began. Kermit says "We love em." Wind turbines payback their carbon footprint. Coal plants don't. Millions of miles of roads use aggregate. Roads to tubines probably don't approach .01 percent of all road. Steel is used in many different forms of construction. Bet turbines aren't .00001% of worldwide use. Anyone wearing a J.P. Michaud mask to my house on Halloween won't be getting any candy.
(Posted by: Richard )
Spearville: 10/2/2008
Are these turbines different from the turbines in Spearville? I remember seeing in the paper that a city commissioner called someone in Spearville about the noise and shadow flicker and they had indicated that there are no problems with either. At some point you can hear the turbines, but either it is still and they aren't moving or it is so windy you can't hear them over the wind.
(Posted by: Both can't be right)
Gerry Meyer: 10/2/2008
Who is Gerry Meyer? Is he the J.P. of Brownsville, Wisconsin?
(Posted by: Please not another JP)
Noisy: 10/2/2008
Myth: Wind farms are noisy. Fact: ...to put into perspective, the sound generated from a wind turbine 250 yards away from a residence is no noisier than a kitchen refrigerator. -EverPower Renewables
(Posted by: Factual)
right on: 10/2/2008
"It will divide your community" ..it already has.
(Posted by: windfarmhays)
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