Wind Farms

I received an E-mail today asking for help, I repeat it here hoping that some members may be able to offer advice or help.

Good day to you, I run a care facility just outside of Vredenburg where I care for 47 intellectually disabled adults, a substantial number of which are Autistic.

We have just been informed of a developer who is proposing to erect a wind farm on the property bordering ours with 45 wind turbines up to 154 metres high.

I am very concerned about the impact of this proposed project on my sensitive Residents and would be pleased if you could guide us as to any medical papers relating to the impact that these turbines spinning 24 hours a day as well as the associated noise from them would have on our Residents. Please note that these spinning turbines will take up 250° of our horizon so those affected by these turbines will be seeing them on two thirds of their total horizon – currently, our view is 360° farmland and sea.

We need medical proof of the negative impact of these turbines in order to provide the authorities with reasons for refusing to allow the developer to site their turbines on neighbouring property and force them to select alternative sites out of the line of sight of our Residents.

Your assistance would be invaluable.

I have enclosed the Environmental practitioners’ executive summary of the project. If you refer to the map, our facility is just south of the green site marked 3 (we are at the dot marked “Nieuwe Rust”)

I would appreciate your assistance as I fear that this project is going to impact on our facility to the degree that we will lose Residents and eventually have to close down.

John Robinson

Phone – 022 715 3510

Cell – 073 811 6400

Fax – 022 713 2900

P O Box 11

Vredenburg

7380

e-mail – info@trevelynlodge.co.za

Website – http://www.trevelynlodge.co.za

That’s all I got, no attachments and no other info, if members wish to assist John Robinson as to the pros and cons you may contact him directly, he does sound pretty desperate.

I don’t know Mr. Robinson nor have I heard of this facility, it was sent to me via ASA (Autism South Africa) and I assume that the appeal, if endorsed by ASA is in good faith.


21 thoughts on “Wind Farms”

  2. I can understand his concerns, Soutie.

    I know very little about the science, but I wouldn’t want one near to me; I loathe them.

    I hope his appeal gives him some ammunition to fight this.

  3. This is an anti-turbine http://visitwalesnow.org.uk/centre-for-alternative-technology.htm and may need to be read, balanced with other views. It will on the distances, but

    “There is well-documented evidence that for some people the low-frequency vibrations, which are not measured by wind farm developers, are very disturbing and cause a recognised health problem known as “wind turbine syndrome” or vibro-acoustic disease (VAD).” may be of interest.

  4. Soutie – A couple of years ago some charlatans and snake-oil salesmen proposed to the local authorities that they be allowed to build one of these ghastly eyesores (fifteen turbines) on the hills in front of The Cave.

    Considerable public opposition ensued and the application was eventually refused. The main reason for this was that the proposal/application was found to be riddled with lies, half-truths and omissions about how effective these things are (or aren’t as the case proved to be), potential environmental impact, cost and suchlike.

    Mr. Robinson woulld be advised to organise a dedicated opposition, find some friendly experts and start digging.

    OZ

  5. Well Soutie:

    I wish I could join with the opponents to the wind farm, I hate the things and as an engineer consider them a total waste of the energy required to build them. However there is some evidence that low frequency sound therapy (of the type typically produced by spinning wind turbines) may be beneficial to those suffering from Autism and ADD.

    Here’s a couple of websites

    http://www.autism.com

    If you scroll down to research you will find this

    http://www.berardaitwebsite.com/PracList.htm

    The research is questioned by the Autism organization as is indicated, but all involved are feeling their way in a dark place here. I have no association with any of these organizations.

    They are both commercial sites, the “official” Autism website as I am sure you well know is:

    http://www.autism.org

    Best wishes.

  6. I don’t know enough abot this to be really helpful. It is the case, however, that infra-sound has been researched as a disabling weapon.

    Christopher, while you’re checking the journals, you might also look at the ‘strobe’ effects produced by the spinning blades.

  7. Most electricity producing generators and alternators spin at certain revolutions per minute, this is called the “Frequency” …. in Australia it is between 50Hz and 60Hz.

    Although these frequencies are not supposed to be harmful to humans, its inventor, Nikola Tesla wanted them to spin at 240Hz where they would have been completely unheard by the human ear, engineers overruled him on it.

    Coupled with wind speeds there is a possibility the frequency may change somewhere between the 40 Hz to 50 Hz zone where they do indeed not only affect the internal workings of the brain, they also interrupt sleep patterns and may even cause epileptic fits ( very rare)

    They are also so noisy that farmers are never told of these noise problems until they have signed on the dotted line and it is too late to renege on the contracts.

    They hum like crazy.

    The guy would be better off researching wave frequencies that affect the brain then coupling this research with his complaint about wind farms.

  8. PS: On very quiet nights the hum can be heard for many miles from the source, drives farmers and cows “nuts” 😦

  9. Bravo’s comment makes perfect sense

    “Christopher, while you’re checking the journals, you might also look at the ‘strobe’ effects produced by the spinning blades.”

    cuckoo! 🙂

  10. Good morning everybody (well it’s morning here and raining …..yay!! :))

    Some interesting comments and links, thank you.

    Vibro-acoustic disease (VAD) now there’s something I’d never heard of, mind you I don’t have a wind farm for 100’s of kilometers near me so why would I have?

    I’m no fan of wind farms just because they are so darn unsightly, if they could build them out at sea over the horizon I might just be happy, but only just!

    I’ve forwarded a link to this post to Mr Robinson and invited him to either comment here, or send any replies through me.

  13. Grrrr,

    Believing in wind turbines is no different from sporting a tin foil titfer or giving away all your worldy goods because some whacco has convinced you the world is about to end.

    While I think of it, what possible use did these Rapture morons think the beneficiaries of their possessions were going to get? What with the impending utter destruction of planet earth.

    Back on topic furry, these monstrosities are uber expensive, provide very little electricity even when the wind is not too little or too much, they are a hazard to birdlife and when they explode (frequently) it is a helluva clean up job.

  16. Donald: I am afraid 240 Hz is right in the middle of the human audio range. I think it is close to B below middle C.

    I am not sure if there is any definite proof that there are detrimental audio effects to human health, but you could object on the grounds of cost ineffectiveness and inefficiency. However, you have to take on the highly subsidised corporate world to do that 😦

  17. FEEG – The range of human hearing is much more sensitive to sounds between 1 kHz and 4 kHz.

    A Hum is said to be a series of phenomena involving a persistent and invasive low-frequency humming noise not audible to all people (wiki)

    It is this hum which Nikola Tesla said could be harmful to humans, he tried to stop it but as you mentioned, corporate interests and financial matters won the day.

  18. We have a reply from Mr Robinson…

    Hello Soutie,

    Many thanks for your efforts. Reading the comments, it seems I am not the only one who hates these things, the only good they seem to serve is making fat profits for the suits! You do know, of course that these things have more to do with tax concessions, sale of carbon credits and soft loans than they have to do with generating electricity!

    I have found a lot of info on the internet and we are in the middle of a real dogfight. Our efforts have had a measure of success – the developer has been forced to do a complete review of their original documentation and also conduct more public meetings which gives me time to stoke the locals up!

    I will be following up all the links from the website you gave me.

    Thanks again

    Regards

    John Robinson

    Well done everybody https://i0.wp.com/planetsmilies.net/happy-smiley-541.gif

  20. Excellent! He’s got the b*ggers on the defensive now. When I wrote (#4) about ‘digging’, I meant that he needs to analyse every line of the proposed project and expose every error, omission, half-truth and downright lie.

    Best of luck, Mr. Robinson. 🙂

    OZ

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