Wind turbine syndrome is spread by scaremongers

New study: wind turbine syndrome is spread by scaremongers | Simon Chapman

A study of mine published last night delivers a double whammy to those who argue that wind turbines cause health problems in communities.

Earlier this week researchers at the University of Auckland published an experimental study showing that people primed by watching online information about health problems from wind turbines, reported more symptoms after being exposed to recorded infrasound or to sham (fake) infrasound.

The study provided powerful evidence for the nocebo hypothesis: the idea that anxiety and fear about wind turbines being spread about by anti-wind farm groups, will cause some people hearing this scary stuff to get those symptoms.

The double whammy for the scaremongers comes in the form of an historical audit of all complaints made about wind farm noise or health problems on all of Australia’s 49 wind farms. Australia’s first wind farm, which still operates today, started generating power in 1993 at Esperance in Western Australia. Twenty years on, our 49 wind farms have seen 1471 turbines turning for a cumulative total of 328 years.

In recent years, and particularly since 2009, we’ve heard a lot about health complaints involving wind turbines, thanks to the efforts of groups such as the Waubra Foundation (none of whose directors live in or near the Victorian town of Waubra) and the interconnected Landscape Guardians. And, just as the nocebo hypothesis would predict, the great bulk of health and noise complaints have arisen since 2009: 82% of complainants made their first complaint after that date.

There are some 32,677 people living within 5km of these 49 wind farms around Australia, and just 120 – or one in 272 – of them have ever made formal complaints, appeared in news reports or sent complaining submissions to government. Moreover, 81 (68%) of these are people living near just five wind farms, each of which have been heavily targeted by wind farm opponent groups.

For Full Article: https://theconversation.com/new-study-wind-turbine-syndrome-is-spread-by-scaremongers-12834

Comment by Anumakonda Jagadeesh

The irony is Energy critics say Nuclear - waste disposal; coal - pollution, wind - Noise and bird deaths, of late Solar Power - radiation effect,Biogas - mosquitoes . Is this criticism backed by authoritative studies? Are there technologies on earth without any side effect? Even the all pervaded Mobile Phones have their share of criticism. What is astonishing, those who make hue and cry on bird deaths due to wind turbines are Vegetarian?

Around 1.5 billion people, or more than a fifth of the world's population, have no access to electricity, and a billion more have only an unreliable and intermittent supply. Of the people without electricity, 85% live in rural areas or on the fringes of cities. Extending energy grids into these areas is expensive: the United Nations estimates that an average of $35 billion-40 billion a year needs to be invested until 2030 so everyone on the planet can cook, heat and light their premises, and have energy for productive uses such as schooling. On current trends, however, the number of “energy poor” people will barely budge, and 16% of the world's population will still have no electricity by 2030, according to the International Energy Agency.

How to meet the growing energy needs of the people around the globe? Constructive criticism is alright but continued criticism is not.