Comment 1005

By Allan (anonymous) | Posted September 21, 2006 at 08:22:55

It's not your fault you haven't heard of the noise issues here yet. Since the industry is new and the public unaware, they claim the noise issue is a "myth". Both the Canadian industry and Ontario government are advocating as little as 300 meter setbacks as sufficient for industrial turbines. (You are correct, this is where the issues are, not with the micro-generators available for home use.)

However in Europe, where there is much more saturation, experience and public awareness it is a different story. In England the UK Noise association is advocating 1 mile setbacks from homes (1600 meters), a French medical association is recommending 1500 meter setbacks and a German wind farm consulting firm recommends a 2000 meter setback. I think I see a trend here. What the public is being told here about industrial wind power would not fly there.

Unfortunately, I fear since we are a decade behind Europe with industrial wind power implementation, we are also going to repeat a decades worth of mistakes. Why? Because the perception of wind power, as you state, is benign. The reality is much different, but that is not where the "green" urban votes are.

I've been forced to deal with this issue for three years now. The marketing games played by the novice Canadian wind industry has turned me into a very cynical person. I do have faith that the truth will rise to the surface eventually...

Permalink | Context

Events Calendar

There are no upcoming events right now.
Why not post one?

Recent Articles

Article Archives

Blog Archives

Site Tools

Feeds