Monday, February 14, 2011

PROVINCE BLINKS ON WIND FARMS

Saturday's K-W Record carrys the following story "Offshore wind farms on hold". The Ontario Minister of the Environment, Brad Duguid, claims that the science regarding health issues is lacking on off shore wind farms whereas it is clear for on shore wind farms. According to him there is 30 or 40 years of science stating that there is no on shore health issues with wind farms. Fortunately a growing number of Ontario residents understand both that there is science and there is science and also that sometimes politicians have been known to lie. Personally it seems to me that onshore wind farms are more likely to be responsible for human health issues whereas I'd be more concerned about migratory birds being affected by off shore farms.
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4 comments:

  1. KatieFebruary 14, 2011 at 1:58 PM

    Well, I know a lot of researchers who have worked on migratory birds and wind turbines and the evidence seems to be that they're affected only in very specific cases. Off-shore, most migratory birds fly much much higher than wind turbines (they can tap into better winds when they're higher up). The problem is wind turbines that are placed where migratory birds would be coming in to rest and feed, and that tends to happen in very narrowly-defined corridors (e.g. Long Point here in Ontario).

    As far as human health is concerned, I have yet to see credible evidence that health is directly impacted by wind turbines. Yes, there are concerns about annoying sound and yes turbines should be located away from dwellings. But there is absolutely no evidence (aside from people wanting to sell you stuff) that low frequency sound from wind turbines is any different than low frequency sound from say...a highway.

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  2. AlanFebruary 14, 2011 at 6:37 PM

    Thanks Katie for the info especially on offshore birds. I'm guessing that a lack of scientific evidence to date in regards to onshore wind farms may be do a shortage of unbiased studies. If however you are aware of any good studies that I can get my hands on please let me know. Thanks Dad

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  3. KatieFebruary 15, 2011 at 7:21 AM

    I'll take a look today.

    You know, I just heard the minister of the environment on the radio this morning saying that he's putting a moratorium on offshore wind farms in the Great Lakes because we don't know a lot about what happens in fresh water and the Great Lakes are an important drinking water source.

    That's fair enough I think. The thing that bothers me is that we know that coal powered plants cause huge health problems. How can we get away from that? Solar isn't powerful enough, geothermal is too expensive... nuclear has its own problems.

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  4. AlanFebruary 15, 2011 at 1:03 PM

    For a start: It would be cheaper to install the underground piping for geothermal in brand new subdivisions BEFORE the houses are built, then hook up the pipes to the basement afterwards. A modest government subsidy might partially offset the upfront increase to the new homeowner. Also the new homeowner plus the rest of us will benefit from their lower use (& cost) of gas forever more.

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