The Impact of Wind Farms in Australia

You might be forgiven for thinking that the social and environmental impact of wind turbines has been done to death over the last four decades. But as long as the pro-fossil fuels/nuclear/anti-wind lobby continue to agitate then research companies will be queuing up to embark on a slice of “new” research for a fee. They’ve been carried out in most countries where wind farms exist already, but it seems there’s an insatiable appetite for more subjective/objective date.

Australia is the latest country to seek advice- but there’s a twist in this tail: Secrecy. The Australian federal government will be forging ahead with what they call “an independent program” to study the impact (real or supposed) on human health from wind farms as it emerged that a report on the issue has been presented to the government but…withheld from public release. The usual suspects are present- climate change sceptics claiming that wind farms cause sleep disturbance from low-frequency noise and infrasound and “wind turbine syndrome” illnesses, including  “vibroacoustic disease” and ”visceral vibratory vestibular disturbance”.

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VAD and VVVD may be real or imagined, but living as I have in the past just next to a busy main road, I know that any and every obstacle to a good night’s sleep can be resolved. A number of international and Australian studies have already cast significant doubt on these wind sicknesses.  The Australian  National Health and Medical Research Council began its review of evidence about the effects of wind farms for the government in September 2012. Its conclusions have been sent to the ministers of health, industry and environment and will be released publicly at some point. Why not now?

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said this month that research should be refreshed “from time to time” to consider whether there were “new facts that impact on old judgements”. He also said: “It is some years since the NHMRC last looked at this issue. Why not do it again?” Some may answer that by saying no- because when you have researched something thoroughly in the past and come to a logical conclusion on the evidence gathered, to revisit the issue is a waste of time and money. Unless it’s a political move. A spokesman for the PM declined to clarify whether he knew of the council’s latest study when calling for the council to reopen the issue.

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75% of eastern Australia’s power comes from coal.  So why is this new investigation into a subject already fully investigated warranted? Or to be fair, why shouldn’t one be commissioned in parallel to see the effects of carbon on the environment from all that coal-burning?

The Australian wind industry is concerned that the prospect of yet another study is the latest sign governments are turning against renewable energy. Mr Abbott has blamed Australia’s  Renewable Energy Target for pushing up power prices. Their modest goal- to be generating just a fifth of all electricity from renewable sources by 2020, is to be reviewed this year.

It seems that the Australian Government is succumbing to short-term popularity boosters at the expense of long-term plans to reduce global warming.  Will your children and your children’s children thank you for that Mr Abbott?