Manuel Francisco Cifuentes

Summary:

Wind turbines, though useful as a renewable source of energy, has the drawback of being very noisy when active. This study, called “Wind Turbine Noise, Annoyance and Self-Reported Health and Well-Being in Different Living Environments.” by Eja Pedersen and Kerstin Persson Waye, investigates how the noise pollution is affecting the nearby residents in specific areas of Sweden.

The data was collected by sending a questionnaire to over 1000 people living within 7 areas in radius of noise pollution by a wind turbine. Some of these areas were more rural than urban, and some had much steeper landscapes instead of completely flat areas. This was taken into account when measuring data. The amount of responses returned and the demographics of each individual were also noted. Lastly, outside noise was also taken into account when recording the data.

Through the questionnaire, the researchers figured out that the higher the noise of the wind turbine, the easier it is to detect from the residents home. Rural areas were more susceptible to detecting the noise from the wind turbine and being annoyed by it than urban areas, and rocky terrain more than flat terrain. However, perception of any noise was very little across each area, and only 31 people (around 3% of those surveyed) actually seemed bothered by the noise.

This may be my own slight misreading of the article, but the analysis heavily relies on that 3 to 4% to enforce how many are sleep deprived and are losing health due to the noise of the air pollution. Therefore the analysis became about the statistics out of those 31 individuals in comparison with the rest of the data set. For example, although 36% of the individuals are sleep deprived due to noise out of the annoyed group, compared to 9% in the group which doesn’t mind the noise, the number of people in the annoyed group are a lot smaller than the bigger group, making 36% of that group still be smaller than the larger group’s 9%.

In conclusion, not many people were affected by the noise, however careful consideration of noise pollution caused by the wind turbine in relation to residents must be needed before adding one.

 

Citation: Pedersen, Eja, and Kerstin Persson Waye. “Wind Turbine Noise, Annoyance and Self-Reported Health and Well-Being in Different Living Environments.” Occupational and Environmental Medicine, vol. 64, no. 7, 2007, pp. 480–486. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/27732960.