Health Study – No Link to Wind Turbine Noise and Health Effects

A Health Canada study has found no link between exposure to wind turbine noise and negative health effects in people. While the closer people lived to wind turbines, the more irritated they became with nuisance of the noise, Health Canada concluded in their Wind Turbine Noise and Health Study that wind turbine noise did not have any measurable effect on illness and chronic disease, stress and sleep quality.

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This was a comprehensive $2.1-million study, conducted with Statistics Canada in southern Ontario and Prince Edward Island, that began two years ago. In 2012, groups such as Wind Concerns Ontario had alleged that growing numbers of wind turbines were making people ill. There are a number of wind turbines on Prince Edward Island and in Southern Ontario and that’s why the study concentrated on these areas of Canada.

Canada has embraced wind power enthusiastically this century: According to the Canadian Wind Energy Association, there are now enough wind turbines installed across the country to generate up to 8.5 gigawatts of energy, a 62-fold increase since 2000.

How was the study conducted? It involved an adult in each of more 1,238 households at varying distances from wind turbines. The participants gave their answers to a standard questionnaire in person and health measurements were taken, including blood pressure, heart rate, measures of sleep quality and even levels of the stress hormone cortisol in hair samples. The principal investigator of the study was David Michaud of Health Canada’s health effects and assessment division. It also involved an expert committee that included more than two dozen government, academic and industry experts in fields ranging from acoustics to neurology and included four international advisers.

The study also measured 4,000 hours of wind turbine sound in order to record and calculate indoor and outdoor noise levels at different homes in the study.

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There were found to be no effects on a wide range of health issues, including symptoms such as dizziness and migraines, chronic illnesses such as heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes, stress levels through heart rate and blood pressure and the reported quality of sleep.

Health Canada said:

“While some people reported some of the health conditions above, their existence was not found to change in relation to exposure to wind turbine noise. Detailed analysis and results will be shared with Canadians and the international scientific community over the next several months with updates provided on the Health Canada website.

However the study did find that as levels of wind turbine noise increased, people reported being more annoyed by three aspects of the turbines; the noise itself,  the aircraft warning lights on top of the turbines and the way they caused shadows to flicker when the sun was low in the sky.

Health Canada said that the results of the study to provide advice on health effects of wind turbine noise to governments in making decisions, policies and advice related to the wind power development.

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Vestas technician Cory Campbell atop a Vestas V90 turbine. (Photo copyright The Guardian)