Wind power and human health

As the number of wind farms increases, people have become concerned about possible health effects, particularly from wind turbine sounds. The West Michigan Wind Assessment project team at Grand Valley State University has issued a report to address concerns about flicker, noise and air quality.

Erik Nordman, principal investigator of the project and assistant professor of biology at Grand Valley, said there are two main health challenges, flicker and noise.

“Wind turbines can create a flickering shadow on a building when the sun is low in the sky and just behind a rotating turbine,” he said. “This can be a concern for people who suffer from a rare condition called photosensitive epilepsy and experience seizures in response to certain environmental triggers.”

Nordman said flicker can be addressed in a variety of ways including landscaping to block the shadows or stopping the turbines during sensitive times.
 
West Michigan residents are also concerned about the noise of wind turbines. “Studies show a single, modern, utility-scale wind turbine produces sounds at about the same loudness as a normal conversation, at a distance of 100 feet from the turbine,” said Nordman. “Most scientific reviews conclude that infrasound at the levels produced by wind turbines does not pose any direct human health risk. It is a topic of ongoing scientific investigation.”

Nordman said studies suggest if 10-percent of West Michigan’s electricity production was replaced with non-polluting sources like wind, 29 premature deaths, 270 cases of serious illness and more than 15,000 cases of minor illness could be avoided each year.

The West Michigan Wind Assessment is a Michigan Sea Grant-funded project which is analyzing the benefits and challenges of wind energy development in coastal West Michigan.

For more information, contact Erik Nordman at (616) 331-8705, or Grand Valley News and Information Services at (616) 331-2221.

For more information on this study visit www.gvsu.edu/wind or www.gvsu.edu/wind/project-documents-3.htm