Wind Turbines

Noise - Video Clip MUST WATCH – WTS! 3Jsu7fSo

Noise Although wind turbines don’t create pollution, they do produce a lot of noise. This is the reason why wind farms are built away from residential areas. People who live near wind farms often complain about a huge amount of noise from the metal structures. Newspaper Article about Wind Farm Noise Wind-farm-noise-does-harm-sleep-and-health-say-scientists.html

Noise Most wind turbines are constructed 300 metres away from residential areas. At this distance, they produce approximately 43 decibels, the equivalent of a loud refrigerator.

Noise WTS – Wind Turbine Syndrome More recently, many people have reported health problems being caused by wind turbines. So many health problems have been reported that researchers have now named the problem ‘WTS or Wind Turbine Syndrome’. Side effects of the problems include: heart disease, panic attacks, sleep problems, migraines and inner ear problems. Read the following newspaper report to find out more or watch the video clip: make-DEAF-Low-frequency-hum-damage-inner-ear-experts-warn.html

Threat to Wildlife Despite being an essential renewable energy source, wind turbines do pose a threat to wildlife. Not only does the construction of wind turbines disturb the environment where birds and other creatures live, it is also a direct threat to their health. Every year in Spain, between 6 and 18 million birds and bats are killed by wind farms. The turbines kill approximately twice as many bats as birds and are beginning to pose a real threat to certain species with a possibility that some could even be wiped out, altogether. This means that on average, 110 – 330 birds are killed each year and 200 – 670 bats each year! Due to the fact wind farms are built on uplands (hilly areas), where there are good upward currents of warm air, they also kill a large number of raptors (birds of prey). In Australia, the Tasmanian wedge- tailed eagle has been threatened with global extinction due to wind farms. In North America, wind farms have killed tens of thousands birds of prey including golden eagles and America’s national bird, the bald eagle. In Spain, the Egyptian vulture is now threatened along with the Griffon vulture 400 of which were killed in one year at the site of Navarra, a wind farm. These constructions pose a serious threat to bird and to nature’s food chain. Some environmentalists have argued that offshore wind farms are less threatening to wildlife. However, they are just as bird and are dangerous for seabirds and migratory birds who fly in a flock towards the blades. Again, some environmentalists claim that birds will learn to avoid the wind turbines. However, for hundreds and thousands of birds, they don’t get the chance to learn, having been struck by a blade spinning 200mph. Bald Eagle Egyptian Vulture

Threat to Wildlife The threat to wildlife is also created by the construction of wind farms. Clearing a vast area of land in order to build the wind turbines destroys the habitat of many, many species. Even an offshore wind farm would involve destroying the mud flats which have existed for centuries. Environmentalists, keen to construct the wind farms, claim that the habitats can be recreated elsewhere. But, of course, for so many species their habitat has taken hundreds of years to create and can not be simply reconstructed over months. When their habitat is disturbed many creatures starve to death, unable to locate their primary food source and distressed by the commotion. Loss of habitat is the single biggest cause of species extinction. Wind farms not only reduce habitat size but create ‘population sinks’ – areas which attract the animals but then lead to their death. The biggest threat to a species is the threat wind farms pose to bats! Bats reproduce very slowly, live a long time and are easy to wipe out. They have evolved with very few predators and up until now their nocturnal living has helped them survive well. However, the modern world is extremely dangerous for them! A recent study in Germany by the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research discovered that bats killed by German wind turbines have flown from over 1000 miles away. The annual death toll for bats at wind turbines is 200,000 per year, meaning that wind turbines are not only reducing the population of bats from all over the world but could very soon be responsible for the extinction of this species. Could it be that species of animals who have survived 10 to 20 ice ages, seen sea-levels rise far more dramatically than we have ever experienced, be wiped out by a design created by humans? A design that was supposed to save the world? Climate change won’t drive these species to extinction; well meaning environmentalists might.

Unreliable Wind Can Never Be Predicted : The main disadvantage of wind energy is that wind can never be predicted. The average wind turbine only produces energy at approximately 34% of its full capacity in comparison with 90% capacity for coal and gas. The problem is that it’s hard to know when the wind will turn up. When the blades of the turbine are spinning, they are producing energy. However, it might be that there is high demand in the evening as many homes switch on their lights. However, the wind may have stopped which means that if you were dependent upon wind energy, you would be sat at home in the dark! For this reason, the Grid will always depend upon energy from other sources, including solar and geothermal.

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