New study says wind turbines pose no risk to human health

Dec 5, 2014 - A new study indicates that noise coming from operational wind turbines can not cause any reported disease or lead to other indicator of harm to human health.

The report was conducted independently by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and was funded by the Canadian wind energy association, CanWEA, and the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA). It considered stress, annoyance and sleep disturbance among other health effects that have previously been raised when it comes to living close to wind parks, EWEA said yesterday.

Indeed, wind turbines emit infrasound but disturbances to homes are usually well below audibility levels, the study shows. As per low-frequency sound (LFN), an investigation of four large machines and 44 smaller turbines in Dutch residential areas indicates that LFN sound does not exceed levels from traffic and other common noise sources.

Another case study in northern Poland concludes that living in close proximity to such plants not only does not result in the worsening of the quality of life, but might even improve it.

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