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 Wind turbines have become more common in recent years as a source of
clean renewable energy that doesn't cause air pollution or
contribute to global warming. But as more wind farms dot the
landscape, some residents in surrounding communities have complained
that noise from the turbines negatively impacts their quality of
life, researchers note in the Journal of the Acoustical Society of
America.
Yet while respondents who live closer to wind turbines did report
lower ratings for environmental quality of life, researchers
couldn't tell whether these individuals were dissatisfied before the
wind turbines were installed, study co-author Sandra Sulsky told
Reuters Health by email.
"The wind turbines might have been placed in locations where
residents were already concerned about their environmental quality
of life," said Sulsky, who works for Ramboll Environ US Corporation,
an engineering company that helps plan and construct wind farms.
"This study provides no evidence that exposure to wind turbines
impacts human health."
For the current study, a team of researchers from the University of
Toronto and Ramboll, which funded the work, set out to investigate
how residential distance from the wind turbines impacts quality of
life by reanalyzing data collected by the Canadian government in
2012 and 2013.
The government sent surveys to all homes within 600 meters (1,969
feet) of wind turbines in Ontario or Prince Edward Island and also
surveyed randomly selected homes up to 10 kilometers (6.2 miles)
away from wind turbines.
An earlier study based on these surveys didn't find a direct link
between residents' proximity to wind turbines and sleep problems,
high blood pressure, or stress.
In the current study, researchers took a closer look at data from
this survey that touched on several indicators of so-called
environmental quality of life, including financial resources, pain,
daily activities, social support, sexual health, self-esteem,
memory, and the ability to fall and remain asleep.
In the new analysis, researchers found that people living closer to
wind turbines did report lower ratings for a variety of physical
health factors that can influence quality of life.
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The further from the turbines they lived, the higher their scores on
the environmental health quality of life scale.
But the researchers didn't find a connection between wind turbine
noise and physical health.
The study wasn't a controlled experiment designed to prove whether
or how living closer to wind turbines might impact human health.
Another limitation is that researchers lacked raw noise data and
relied instead on simulated models of wind turbine sound.
People who agreed to participate in the original survey might also
have had stronger feelings about wind turbines than individuals who
declined the invitation, researchers also note.
"It is possible that the annoyance can affect your general health,"
said Dr. Jesper Hvass Schmidt, a researcher at the University of
Southern Denmark who wasn't involved in the study.
"It is well known that poor general health in itself also leads to
lower quality of life scores," Schmidt said by email. "If you are
annoyed, you will most likely also score lower on the quality of
life scores."
The negative health impacts of fossil fuels are well documented,
though, and make it important to consider wind turbines and other
clean renewable energy resources, said Dr. Robert Younghusband
McMurtry, a researcher at the University of Western Ontario who
wasn't involved in the study.
"Climate change is real and there is sufficient evidence to
implicate fossil fuels as part of the problem," McMurtry said by
email. "
"Clean energy is a worthy goal," McMurtry added. "It can provide
cleaner air which would reduce risk factors adversely affecting
health that exist with the use of coal and other fossil fuels."
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/2lYeyS3 Journal of the Acoustical Society of
America, online June 5, 2018.
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