Infrasound is sound with a frequency too low to be heard by the human ear – in general it is bass waves with a frequency below 20 Hz to 22 kHz.

We are surrounded by and have evolved within an environment of naturally occurring infrasound — ocean waves, wind, earthquakes, pounding surf, waterfalls, hurricanes, thunderstorms, and anything that produces a naturally occurring slow oscillation of the air.

And of course, there is a whole lot of human generated infrasound – from slow speed fans to engines, cars, buses, trains, motorcycles, airplanes, explosions, and machinery.

Yet the fuzzy connection between wind turbine infrasound and risk to human health continues. It hinges on the idea that high levels of low frequency noise excite the body to vibrate, most notably in the chest, and that profoundly deaf humans perceive noise through vibrations in their bodies. But the thinking is circular to claim that wind turbines generate inaudible infrasound that “can be felt but not heard” and that this infrasound vibrates the chest with dire health risks.

To begin with, the noise frequency levels that produce body vibrations are well above the hearing threshold. You would hear the explosion, crash, or band speakers cranked to their maximum loudness as well as feel them, unless you were profoundly deaf. So the idea that unperceived wind turbine infrasound is pounding your body and making you sick – is another one of those “we don’t want wind turbines” myths.

On the other hand the “problem noise” that does come from wind turbines is the fluctuating swish sound of the blades passing the tower, which does irritate some people who are highly sensitive to fluctuating sound.

The problem is that wind project objectors use acoustic terms like infrasound incorrectly. They indicate that ‘infrasound’ is a generalized health problem for all people living near a wind turbine. It is something they cannot hear, but they can all feel it and that their health is at risk.

What we do need to note is that the turbine swish noise might be problematic for some people and when those affected by fluctuating sounds appear, we do need to pay attention. But if scores of people in an area start claiming that the blade swish sound is affecting them negatively – be skeptical. Intermittent sound fluctuation really only affects some very sensitive people – not everyone. It is a real problem – just not a really pervasive one.

For more on the infrasound and turbine issue, click here:
Infrasound from Wind Turbines – Fact, Fiction or Deception by Geoff Leventhall.

And click here for:
Do wind turbines produce significant low frequency sound levels?  by G.P. van den Berg

Click here for information on tubine noise assessments in other posts on my site:
A sound by any other name…

Special thanks to Appalachian State University for publishing the Leventhall and van den Berg papers in the Reports section of its very informative website.

Then along came SWIFT.

“The SWIFT Wind Turbine design solves many of the challenges of previous residential and commercial scale wind turbines: it registers as a whisper on decibel charts, it’s efficient, it’s safe and it’s clean,” states Cascade Engineering’s Michael Ford, on their new SWIFT Wind Turbine system.

Available in the US and Canada, the SWIFT Wind Turbine system provides businesses and homeowners an effective solution to lower energy bills and reduce carbon emissions. The unique design of the SWIFT system lies in the outer ring that connects to the turbine blades. As the wind travels down the blades and is dispersed along the outer ring, the outer ring acts as a diffuser eliminating noise and keeping the turbine quiet.

It is the first very quiet rooftop mounted wind turbine for domestic, community and industrial use. And it generates electricity by harnessing wind energy both quietly and safely. The SWIFT Wind Turbine incorporates safety features that meet IEEE safety standards and has achieved the Underwriter Laboratories (UL) certification by MET Laboratories, Inc., a global symbol of safety.

Optimally sited this turbine will produce approximately 2000 kWh of electricity per year in a good wind location. This is about 20% of an average home’s needs. The initial cost of $10,000 to $12,000 per system can generally pay for itself in about 3 years and multiple units can be used at one location to supplement industrial and commercial needs. The SWIFT system has a 5 year manufacturer’s warranty and is designed for a 20 year life.

Click here for more information.

The SWIFT Wind Turbine has been designed to be environmentally sustainable. The product produces more energy in its lifetime than is incorporated in the material and processes used to manufacture it – it is therefore “harm neutral.”

Tunnel vision is a real hazard of community wind power organizing. When you are passionate about wind power, your view of every thing around it can get mighty hazy. You might hear what you want to hear, see what you want to see and pooh-pooh competing information. The problem is that YOU may not see/hear alternative viewpoints, but others in your community will not be so blind or deaf. And, your credibility can be gained or lost if you are not well prepared with real information…. information on both sides of the wind power vista.

Arguments based on incomplete information, personal bias, hearsay, and ill-conceived assumptions are a danger. Like the game “gossip” we played as children, the information that gets passed along to the next person tends to change with each new telling. You have to do your own homework.

You must gather all the information you can to support your own focus, but that’s not enough. You will not be successful if you research only your side of an issue without fully understanding the many other sides that also make up The Big Picture in which your issue is embedded.

You must also be prepared for opposition and objections. There will always be opposition and objections. No matter how absolutely “right and justified” you believe wind power to be, someone will be negatively impacted by it. You have to put on the hat of the person who stands to lose something. Understand what is important to them, and work hard to find a way so that you both can win.

As Daniel Patrick Moynihan is credited with saying:
“You are entitled to your own opinion. But you are not entitled to your own facts.”

Elsewhere on this website under the Issues: Strategies and Tactics link, you will see some of the key issues raised against wind power projects. If you are working on a wind power project that is facing resistance, you can be absolutely sure that those who do not want your project will raise every single issue (relevant or not) to try to block your project, and any new issues as soon as they emerge. It is vital that you stay on top of information related to the typical issues against wind power, but that you also keep your eyes peeled constantly for the next, New Argument.

Take for example, the latest slam to wind power projects based on fear of dire health consequences.

Dr. Nina Pierpont of Malone, N.Y., coined the phrase and has written a book on “wind turbine syndrome“  –  what she says happens to some people living near wind energy farms. Pierpont’s research (piqued by a wind farm being built near her upstate New York home) suggests that low-frequency noise and vibration generated by wind machines can trigger: headaches, sleep disorders, ringing in the ears, learning and mood disorders, panic attacks, irritability, disruption of equilibrium/concentration/memory, and childhood behavior problems.  (What? No EDS?)

Based on her study of only TEN families living near wind turbines built since 2004 in Canada, England, Ireland, Italy and the United States (A total of 10 families in 5 countries; is that 2 families per country?), she’s now written a book (due out in September).  Wind Turbine Syndrome will provide yet one more bullet for the anti-wind factions, and send fear enough through the public to seriously delay wind power projects and wind power support with yet one more issue that you will have to research and debunk to win approval.

If you take some time to read Dr. Pierpont’s Testimony before the New York State Legislature Energy Committee about “wind turbine syndrome” you can see some of the emotional factors that drove her findings and that this is NOT a widespread “syndrome” that should be allowed to stop or delay wind farm development.

However, a quick search on Google will show you that the anti-wind folks are already embracing “wind turbine syndrome”. And Dr. Pierpont has moved her two provocative “wind turbine syndrome” photos and a small handful of support letters from her  personal website to a wind turbine syndrome website, complete with “buy the book” links.

As one of the Republican conservative news blogs crowed just this week, “Now, maybe this condition has no scientific basis and represents only a new market for the tort industry. But either way, it’s not good news for wind power.”

Be prepared. The media is already picking up “wind turbine syndrome” and treating it as fact. And book sales are book sales, especially if you are a tiny Santa Fe NM publisher and a well educated rural country doctor who runs her medical practice out of a room in her home.

Do your homework -  early, deeply, and continuously!