today's Halifax Daily News

N.S. goes green, but at what cost?
In remedying one problem, we shouldn't ignore signs we're creating another

David Rodenhiser
The Daily News

Wind energy will be an important part of Nova Scotia's cleaner, greener future. But in the rush to set up giant wind-powered turbines to fight global warming, we shouldn't discount growing evidence that they can significantly harm the health of their neighbours if built too close to homes.

Premier Rodney MacDonald's government and Nova Scotia Power are eager to show themselves taking action to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions. They've embarked on an aggressive campaign to see the number of turbines operating in the province grow from 40 to more than 250 by 2013.

Their public-relations goals don't justify giving short shrift to the potential health hazards of what's being called "wind turbine syndrome."

Theories about what's causing the condition - including low-frequency vibrations and sound too low for humans to hear called infrasound - are tough to wrap your head around. That plays into the hands of governments and businesses that want to ignore the issue.

After all, if you can't hear a sound, how can it hurt you?

Well, you can't see ultraviolet light, and it can hurt you plenty.

Daniel d'Entremont, his wife Carolyn and six children know the terrifying truth of living next to a wind farm. They started experiencing problems in early 2005 after Atlantic Wind Power installed 17 massive turbines near their home in Lower West Pubnico. The closest tower is little more than 300 metres from their home; all 17 are within 1.6 kilometres.

"Immediately, we noticed ringing in the ears," d'Entremont said. "The children began acting differently. Their behaviour changed. They weren't doing well in school. Things like that. My wife developed high blood pressure."

Over time, it got worse. Carolyn began experiencing blurred vision. One adult son would go blind in one eye or the other for a few minutes at a time. It would clear up, then after a day or two it would happen again. Some mornings when getting out of bed, the same son would have trouble convincing his legs to move.

"I get this pulsating feeling in my chest - a feeling I don't like, but I can't get rid of," d'Entremont said. "I can't shake it off, unless I get away from the turbines."

In February 2006, the d'Entremonts moved to Carolyn's parents' home 30 minutes away. Their problems resolved, some quickly, some more gradually, although Carolyn's blurred vision hasn't completely cleared yet.

The d'Entremonts never wanted to leave their house, which they built in 1982. But d'Entremont, a former fisherman who now works part-time at Wal-Mart, said they can't live there anymore. They haven't found anyone willing to buy it.

"Nobody in his right mind will move here," he said.

Nina Pierpont - the pediatrician, brain specialist and evolutionary biologist who named wind-turbine syndrome - has studied the d'Entremont family's case. She said the d'Entremonts are victims of an industry that tries to discredit or diminish complaints about noise, infrasound and health problems.

"The current approach of the wind industry is to deny that the problems exist and to do nothing about them," Pierpont said.

The industry relies on acoustics consultants, who base their conclusions on engineering principles, as opposed to audiologists and physicians who consider the effects of sound and vibration on the human body.

Pierpont said wind turbine syndrome is very real, and can cause a host of problems including insomnia, headaches, dizziness, unsteadiness, nausea, exhaustion, anxiety, anger, irritability, depression, memory loss, eye problems, tinnitus and problems with concentration and learning.

There may not be just one sole cause of the syndrome. It affects some people, but not others. It may have to with the configuration of individual homes, or the geology beneath them, Pierpont said.

"It's unclear whether it's infrasound or the vibration getting transmitted through rock... Certain people, houses, geological structures, whatever it is causes there to be particularly bothersome forms of noise or vibrations."

Receptors in our extremities that sense vibration and the stretching of muscles respond to inaudible infrasound. Those receptors are tied in neurologically with our sense of equilibrium. Equilibrium can impact balance and vision. Additionally, infrasound can also stimulate the production of the stress hormone cortisol, which can cause high blood pressure.

Pierpont, who practises in rural New York about 30 kilometres from the Quebec border, is one of a number of doctors researching health problems caused by wind turbines. She intends to publish her study in six months and establish a clinical definition of wind turbine syndrome.

Pierpont recommends turbines be erected at least two kilometres away from the nearest home. In Nova Scotia, only four municipalities have bylaws governing turbine setbacks. The common standard is just 500 metres. That's less than the distance from Halifax City Hall to Spring Garden Road.

Tuesday, provincial Energy Minister Bill Dooks announced his department will help the Union of Nova Scotia Municipalities hire a consultant to develop best-practice guidelines for wind-turbine bylaws.

"We're very serious about putting towers in the right place," Dooks said. "We want to make people who live in their communities comfortable about this."

It's crucial that they fully consider the human health impacts, but I'm not optimistic. The Energy Department's website includes no discussion of health concerns and places great faith in the wind energy industry. In fact, for Nova Scotians seeking more information, it links to industry websites.

One department official I spoke with Tuesday claimed infrasound fears have been disproved, and referred me to industry research conducted by engineering consultants.

Environmentalists don't seem worried about wind-turbine syndrome, either. The need to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions has created an atmosphere where it's tantamount to sacrilege to raise concerns about turbines. Complaints are dismissed as NIMBYism.

Remember, though, governments and business rejected the science of climate change for decades, producing their own reports in rebuttal. We're seeing the same reaction on a smaller scale to warnings that wind turbines are injuring their neighbours.

Have we learned nothing? In trying to remedy one problem, we shouldn't ignore signs we're creating another.

David Rodenhiser thinks the energy minister should move his family into Daniel d'Entremont's house for a year, then consider policy.

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http://www.hfxnews.ca/index.cfm?sid=64760&sc=93

Land availability

It is our understanding that wind energy companies were supposed to have secured land lease agreements before they make their application to NSPI.

The land owner that AWPC had planned on putting the nine most easterly turbines (#19 - 27) never signed the lease agreement. This land is not, nor will ever be, available for wind energy development.

It seems other local land owners are being approached by AWPC for land lease agreements.

Does NSPI know this?

Has the environmental assessment included these sites?

What is going on?

Holding our breath

Applications to Nova Scotia Power Inc (NSPI) for request for Proposals (RFPs) were due by August 31st.

Everyone - proponents, land owners and local residents alike - are holding their breath, waiting to find out who's projects have reached NSPI's short list. This list is to be released fairly soon. The final list should be released later in the fall.

Some proponents have put in multiple applications, some have grouped multiple projects in one application.

Rumours abound as to who has applied for which projects, or if they have deferred to the next phase of RFPs.

We are told that NSPI is very sensitive to controversial proposals. It is a private company which, we are told, would prefer to avoid any conflict.

We (Gulf Shore Preservation Association) have sent letters to the Premier, the Ministers of Environment and Labour, Energy, Tourism, Municipal Relations and Economic Development and to NSPI. AWPC, CAWF, CBCL and Cumberland County Municipality have been sent copies. Included in these communications have been copies of letters of opposition from large community groups. There are over 1,100 paper petitions signed and 270 online versions. The paper petitions are in the last stages of being collated.

The opposition to this particular project is made crystal clear.

Dutch turbines going offshore

The story below comes from Monday's Globe and Mail. The original story is found at the link:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070903.wdutchwind0903/BNStory/Science/home

The comments section is very interesting and worth a visit, even though it turns into a wind vs nuclear discussion.

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Dutch adding more wind turbines

ALEXANDRA HUDSON

Reuters

September 3, 2007 at 1:31 PM EDT

IJMUIDEN, Netherlands — There is no shortage of wind in the densely populated Netherlands, but there is a shortage of space and in a nation that likes its houses small and its gardens cosy, opposition to wind farms is immense.

That is why a new Dutch wind farm is being built so far out to sea that it is barely visible on the horizon, reducing the visual impact of its 60 turbines to virtually nil while at the same time harnessing higher offshore wind speeds.

Offshore wind farms are likely to appear more and more frequently off European coastlines as governments seek to increase their use of renewable energy without angering their citizens by placing giant turbines on their doorsteps.

The €383-million ($549-million Canadian) Q7 wind park development, 23 kilometres from the Dutch North Sea coast, is the farthest offshore wind park anywhere in the world, and its developers Econcern and Eneco Energie say a further five to 10 such wind parks will likely follow in the next few years.

"Q7 will contribute enough electricity for 125,000 households, but it is also a learning process. We are learning how to build these wind farms, how to organize the supply chain, and how to manage and operate them," said Bernard van Hemert, one of the wind farm's engineering directors.

"Most campaigns against turbines are based around the noise and the visual impact, and these have been reduced by going offshore. It is more expensive to do it here than to do it on land, but we have all agreed we don't have enough space on land," Mr. van Hemert said.

Blessed with shallow sandy soils around their coastline, Dutch engineers say the foundations for the turbines can be hammered 25 metres into the ground in just a matter of hours, although there are myriad other challenges.

The proportions are breathtaking. The turbines extend about 98 metres from the ocean, with three sharp narrow blades, each 40 metres long.

It is hoped that when they start rotating in early 2008 they will cut carbon-dioxide emissions by 225,000 tonnes, helping the Dutch to meet a target of 20-per-cent renewable energy use by 2020.

Tricky logistics

The turbines are so massive that they can be transported only by sea and there is only one factory in Europe which can weld and construct the 4.5-metre-diameter piles, which must be first driven into the sea to form the base of the turbines, Mr. van Hemert said.

"It is a huge logistical operation that requires lots of space. There are only a few crane vessels that can handle those huge structures and hammer them down.

"But bringing up the cables is the most challenging for all offshore wind projects."

Expert divers are helping to fit the electrics.

Developers have also had to ensure that the wind park is well away from busy shipping channels.

"Studies in the United Kingdom have shown that there can be some radio interference but in the situation we have here it is completely safe and there is no risk of confusion or reduced visibility for vessels."

Jim Mollet, chairman of a Dutch group campaigning against wind energy acknowledges off-shore wind farms have some benefits over land-based wind turbines.

"They can be a better solution. But the problem is people tend to believe they are an entire solution. We think the vast sums spent on wind farms would be better spent on research and innovation in other energy sources."

Wind farms cannot generate the sheer amounts of energy the continent requires with cost or space efficiency, he added.

Man killed after wind tower collapses

The photo shows the collapsed wind turbine tower. Photos courtesy of Brian Hulke

Story Published: Aug 26, 2007 at 2:27 PM PDT

Story Updated: Aug 26, 2007 at 5:42 PM PDT

By KATU Web Staff

NEAR WASCO, Ore. - A giant wind turbine tower collapsed Saturday in Eastern Oregon, causing a worker to fall to his death and another man to be injured.

The man killed is from Goldendale, Wash., while the second man is from Minnesota, according to Deputy Geremy Shull of the Sherman County Sheriff's Office.

The man from Minnesota was at last check listed in serious but stable condition at Mid-Columbia Medical Center in The Dalles, Shull said.

He did not release the names of the men.

The incident happened about 4 p.m. at a wind farm about six miles east of the town of Wasco in Sherman County, Shull said. Portland-based PPM Energy owns the wind farm but Florida-based Siemens Power Generation manufactured and owns the wind turbine tower that collapsed.

Melanie Forbrick, a Siemens spokeswoman, said three people were at the site when the accident happened, two of whom were Siemens Power Generation employees and a third a contractor.

Shull said the worker killed in the incident was at the top of a turbine tower when the support column holding the turbine buckled about halfway up and toppled over. Forbrick said the injured man was inside of the tower at the time while the third worker, who escaped injury, was at the base.

She said the turbine had been in operation for 500 hours and the workers were doing a routine inspection.

Forbrick said federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration officials were on site Sunday investigating.

"We are very saddened by this event and our sympathy goes out to the families and the workers as well," Forbrick said.

Forbrick said she did not know how the height of the turbine. Bonneville Power Administration documents from last year said the turbine towers would stand 263 feet high and reach about 400 feet with blades included.

The Klondike III wind project, located in the wheat fields near Wasco, is expected to generate 221 megawatts of electricity when it's completed in late 2007, said Jan Johnson, a spokeswoman for PPM Energy. PPM is using 44 Siemens 2.3 megawatt wind turbines and 80 General Electric 1.5 megawatt wind turbines.

- The Associated Press contributed to this report.

http://www.komotv.com/news/local/9383316.html

From today's Chronicle Herald

Quietly sounding alarm
Forced from home after noise from wind farm turbines made family sick, d’Entremont telling others his story
By Yarmouth Bureau | 6:04 AM

DANIEL D’ENTREMONT has become somewhat of a poster boy for people opposed to having wind farms in their neighbourhood.

He was in Kincardine, Ont., this spring for a speaking engagement and recently returned from Chilton, Wis.

An Illinois trip is also on the horizon for Mr. d’Entremont, the Yarmouth County man who relocated his family of eight away from a local wind farm.

He says the noise from the turbines was making his family sick.

In Ontario, a group of people who had formed a wind-action group invited him to speak.

"They weren’t opposed to wind power but they were just fearful of the effects it would have when wind farms would encroach too close," said Mr. d’Entremont.

In Wisconsin, he was invited by local homeowners who had heard of him.

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Daniel d’Entremont says this poster of his house in Pubnico Point is being used in Manitoba by a group opposed to windmills being built too close to homes. (brian medel / Yarmouth Bureau)

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"When they found out these wind companies were proposing wind sites . . . close to their homes they got together and they were afraid for their homes. . . . They want these windmills set farther back," he said.

"They learned of me through Dr. Nina Pierpont from Upstate New York."

She’s a pediatrician who studies the effects of wind turbines on kids.

She did a clinical interview with Mr. d’Entremont over the phone early last year and "presented it to a wide audience," he said.

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Daniel d’Entremont stands in front of his Lower West Pubnico home. He moved his family out of the house last year after noise from the nearby wind farm was making them sick. The nearest wind turbine is about 350 metres from the house.(brian medel / Yarmouth Bureau)

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He and his wife Carolyn decided to move last year with their six children back to her parent’s home in Abrams River, about 35 kilometres from the 17-turbine wind farm at Pubnico Point, operated by Atlantic Wind Power Corp. Ltd.

The constant swooshing sounds from the turbines — the closest being 350 metres from their Lower West Pubnico house — was making everyone sick, he said.

No one in the household could concentrate for long and headaches were frequent among family members, he remembers.

Now people want to hear all about his experiences first-hand.

He said there is a common question: "What was life (like) with (wind) turbines next door, in the backyard?"

And what did these audiences find interesting or startling?

"Everything – from the health affects to just the shear magnitude of the noise," said Mr. d’Entremont.

His said his family, for instance, had to use noise to block out noise.

"All (bed)rooms had fans eventually, but the kids would have fans right at their heads, especially the small ones, just to mitigate the noise.

"They could sleep with the fan noise but not with the windmill noise.

"It’s an intrusion. It’s a violation. You feel violated," said Mr. d’Entremont.

People often seemed surprised after hearing him speak, he said. "It really opened their eyes to the potential problems.

"Everybody is not impacted the same way, but a large number of them would be impacted severely."

Mr. d’Entremont has had his expenses covered on these speaking engagements, but has refused to take a fee for both speaking engagements. He said he has another session coming up in Illinois sometime soon.

And Dr. Pierpont contacted him again this month, asking that he undergo some tests at a U.S. medical centre after his upcoming appearance in Illinois.

Dr. Pierpont has arranged for a doctor in Lafayette, Ind., to do some work, he said.

She wants to speak with the d’Entremont children individually.

"She’s going to publish this in a medical journal," said Mr. d’Entremont.

He’s e-mailed the premier to let him know what he’s been doing and wants the government to agree to relocate his family.

"They’re both responsible, the government and the wind farm," said Mr. d’Entremont, about decisions made to operate wind turbines so close to dwellings.

Natural Resources Canada ordered a study of noise levels at the site. Testing in 2005 by an Ontario firm determined that sound from the turbines is continually audible, to varying degrees.

The wind power company has made some noise reducing alterations to some of their equipment, president Charles Demond said this week.

"We’ve reconfigured some of the turbines so that they do not engage or generate any power until a higher . . . wind speed," he said.

"At lower wind speeds, if the wind is coming from a southerly direction, then certain of the turbines will not come on until a higher threshold," said Mr. Demond.

He could not say what the wind speeds were or how many machines have been reconfigured.

Mr. d’Entremont said he has seen the three windmills closest to his home shut down during daytime hours, but has heard the same units operating again after dark.

"You can hear them from (my house)," he said.

No one from the company has told him of any changes to turbine operations, he said.

Daniel d’Entremont and his family still live in Abrams River with in-laws and their home in Lower West Pubnico is vacant and still for sale.

"Nobody wants to live near a wind farm," said Mr. d’Entremont.

TURBINE TALK:

•The company that owns the Pubnico Point Wind Park is Atlantic Wind Power Inc.

•The Pubnico project includes 17 turbines connected by 5.2 kilometres of access roads.

• Atlantic Wind Power is also one of two companies now proposing to build upwards of 21 wind turbines on Nuttby Mountain in Colchester County, which is said to be the highest spot in mainland Nova Scotia.

• Atlantic Wind Power, together with Cobequid Wind Power, will operate the wind farm under the name Cobequid Area Windfarms Inc.

• Developers are leasing more than 200 hectares of land on Nuttby Mountain and the turbines would be built approximately 1.5 kilometres from the nearest home, say proponents.

Unhealthy noise

Noise of modern life blamed for thousands of heart deaths

· Stress of exposure adds to risks, says WHO report
· Light traffic is enough for chronic levels at night

• Alok Jha, science correspondent
• The Guardian
• Thursday August 23 2007

Thousands of people in Britain and around the world are dying prematurely from heart disease triggered by long-term exposure to excessive noise, according to research by the World Health Organisation. Coronary heart disease caused 101,000 deaths in the UK in 2006, and the study suggests that 3,030 of these are caused by chronic noise exposure, including to daytime traffic.

Deepak Prasher, professor of audiology at University College London, told the New Scientist magazine: "The new data provide the link showing there are earlier deaths because of noise. Until now, noise has been the Cinderella form of pollution and people haven't been aware that it has an impact on their health."

The WHO's working group on the Noise Environmental Burden on Disease began work on the health effects of noise in Europe in 2003. In addition to the heart disease link, it found that 2% of Europeans suffer severely disturbed sleep because of noise pollution and 15% can suffer severe annoyance. Chronic exposure to loud traffic noise causes 3% of tinnitus cases, in which people constantly hear a noise in their ears.

Research published in recent years has shown that noise can increase the levels of stress hormones such as cortisol, adrenaline and noradrenalin in the body, even during sleep. The longer these hormones stay in circulation around the bloodstream, the more likely they are to cause life-threatening physiological problems. High stress levels can lead to heart failure, strokes, high blood pressure and immune problems.

"All this is happening imperceptibly," said Prof Prasher. "Even when you think you are used to the noise, these physiological changes are still happening."

The WHO came to its figures by comparing households with abnormally high exposure to noise with those in quieter homes. It also studied people with problems such as coronary heart disease and tried to work out if high noise levels had been a factor in developing the condition. This data was then combined with maps showing the noisiest European cities.

According to the WHO guidelines, the noise threshold for cardiovascular problems is chronic night-time exposure of 50 decibels (dB) or above - the noise of light traffic. For sleep disturbance, the threshold is 42dB, for general annoyance it is 35dB, the sound of a whisper.

Ellen Mason, a cardiac nurse at the British Heart Foundation, said: "Our world is undoubtedly getting busier and noisier. Some people find noise pollution more stressful to live with than others do. Noise cannot directly kill us, but it may add to our stress. Occasionally, stressful events can trigger a heart attack in someone with underlying heart disease. We know that stressed people are more likely to eat unhealthily, exercise less and smoke more, and these can increase the risk of developing heart disease in the first place."

Mary Stevens, policy officer at the National Society for Clean Air, said of the study's results: "We welcome this because one of the problems with noise is that it's one of the areas that local authorities get most complaints about and it's a big draw on their resources. But, unlike air quality, it hasn't been taken that seriously policy-wise because there [wasn't] the link between noise and health."

Ms Stevens said that there were many options for reducing noise. Traffic could be quietened if more cars used low-noise tyres and councils installed low-noise road surfaces, for example. And coordinating roadworks by utility companies would also prevent the proliferation of potholes, another source of noisy traffic.

The EU has already issued a directive that obligates European cities with populations greater than 250,000 to produce digitised noise maps showing where traffic noise and volume is greatest. "[The research] all supports work going on at the moment to manage traffic noise, which is driven by the environmental noise directive," said Ms Stevens.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2007/aug/23/sciencenews.uknews