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Talking about Wind
CanWEA recognizes the importance of answering questions with respect to wind energy. As an industry, our mandate is to promote the responsible and sustainable growth of wind energy in Canada.
Please find below a resource collection of peer-reviewed studies, reports, statements, and published articles related to wind turbines and sound. This library will be updated regularly as new information is made available.
Wind Turbine Sound and Health Effects: An Expert Panel
An international panel of experts jointly established by CanWEA and AWEA has released a report based on a review of a large body of scientific literature on sound and health effects, and specifically with regard to sound produced by wind turbines.
Property Values
CanWEA contracted the services of Canning Consultants Inc. and John Simmons Realty Services Ltd., to prepare a report that evaluates the effect of wind turbines on real estate values in the Municipality of Chatham-Kent. The study was prepared in accordance with the Canadian Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice for the Appraisal Institute of Canada, and applied a statistical Multiple Regression Analysis (MRA) model using real property transaction data, in arriving at its conclusions.
The CanWEA Property Value Study, finds that there is no statistical evidence to demonstrate that wind farms negatively affect rural residential market values in the Chatham-Kent area.
A major new report released by the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory finds that neither the view of the wind facilities nor the distance of the home to those facilities is found to have any consistent, measurable, and statistically significant effect on home sales prices. Although the analysis cannot dismiss the possibility that individual homes or small numbers of homes have been or could be negatively impacted, it finds that if these impacts do exist, they are either too small and/or too infrequent to result in any widespread, statistically observable impact.
Statements by Regional Authorities on Wind Turbines and Safety
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Statement by Dr. Isra Levy
Medical Officer of Health, Ottawa Public Health
In this memo to the Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee, Dr. Isra Levy, Medical Officer of Health from the Ottawa Public Health, states that “The Ontario government has fulfilled the request by Ottawa City Council to conduct a comprehensive review of the available peer-reviewed medical literature regarding wind turbine related health issues. The review did not find evidence of health effects that would warrant public health interventions at this point in time. Ottawa Public Health will continue to follow the work of experts and provincial ministries tasked with studying this emerging issue.”
Click here to view the document.
- Wind turbines and public health (available in French only)
A summary of knowledge
By : L’Institut national de santé publique du Québec (INSPQ)- [Quebec national Institute of public health]
This report was produced in order to provide regional public health authorities with the most complete information. The subjects addressed herein were identified in accordance with the health concerns indicated by the public during public hearings or in requests for information received by public health authorities, or based on potential problems perceived by committee members. These subjects include the social and community effects related to implementation of wind farms. The report states that, according to the current scientific knowledge, “Wind turbine generated infrasound does not seem to be of sufficient intensity to cause health problems or annoyance.” Click here to read INSPQ’s report (available in French only).
View the key conclusions and recommendations from the report (translated by CanWEA).
- Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Arlene King, stated in an October 2009 memorandum to Medical Officers of Health and Environmental Health Directors throughout Ontario: “… there is no scientific evidence, to date, to demonstrate a causal association between wind turbine noise and adverse health effects.”
- The Niagara County Statement – September 2009
Report by Public Health and Social Services Committee on wind turbine sound
Wind Turbine Sound
Low Frequency and Infrasound
Human Health
Other links and resources:
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Fact Sheet – Wind Power Realities
Putting Wind Power Myths into Perspective
Produced by Tim Weis, Director of Renewable Energy for the Pembina Institute
As new opportunities emerge to develop wind-power generation in communities across Canada, they raise reasonable questions about the social, environmental and economic impacts of large-scale wind power production. This fact sheet aims to help answer those questions, and to distill the realities of wind power from the myths and misconceptions.
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Danish system operator hits back at US think tank claims over wind power
Electricity sold or exported from Denmark at any one time cannot be said to emanate from any specific source of generation, says Denmark's power system operator, Energinet.dk. For that reason it is impossible to claim that electricity from any particular source is being sold for a specified price. The company's statements were made in response to a report released last month by a Danish right-wing think tank, the Centre for Political Studies (Cepos), in collaboration with the Institute for Energy Research (IER), an American oil and coal lobby group.
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Why so much noise about wind?
Life is full of choices, four doctors argue, and wind turbines are more healthy than the alternatives
Click here to read the recent article in The Globe and Mail
- Comparison of reported effects and risks to vertebrate wildlife from six electricity generation types in the New York/ New England Region
This report, from Pandion Systems Inc. compares effects on vertebrate wildlife from electricity generation by coal, oil, natural gas, nuclear, hydro, and onshore wind. The focus is on electricity generating sources that are important the NY/NE region of the US and their effects on birds, mammals, fish, reptiles, and amphibians. A literature review was conducted to provide the basis for a Comparative Ecological Risk Assessment of the known and documented effects of electricity generation on vertebrate wildlife. Wind certainly is presented very favourably in comparison to other sources of generation.
The focus was on peer-reviewed literature and scientifically accepted and published reports or documents regarding wildlife effects from electricity generation.
Click here to view the executive summary
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