Green | July 06, 2009 | 21 comments

Wind power may have its own environmental problems

source: http://www.physorg.com/news166022416.html

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el_chivo
Shinjuro Kondo, 76, who moved into his Japanese neighborhood 17 years ago, said, "Stiff shoulders, headaches, insomnia, hand tremors... Since February last year, soon after the test operation of windmills started, I developed various kinds of symptoms."

Kondo's neighborhood is about 350 meters away from a group of windmills.

More than 20 percent of about 100 neighbors also complain of similar physical disorders. They said their symptoms become less severe when the windmills stop due to mechanical troubles and other reasons.

Currently, the relationship between such physical disorders and the windmills is not clear. But infrasonic waves generated by the windmills' rotors is suspected to be the cause.
  1. groups:
    Green,   Psychology
  2. tags:
    Green,  Psychology,  Wind Power
  3.     
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21 comments // Wind power may have its own environmental problems

  • leahl
  • mememine69
    • 0
      mememine69  

    • The scientists and consultants dressed up in lab coats are now telling us that the wind turbines may now be changing the natural and fragile wind cycles that life forms of all kind depend on to live. We should prepare for what may or could or possibly could happen and put ourselves in drip fed comas to lessen our impact on our poor helpless 5 billion year old planet earth that humans are in charge of. Move over God. Move over Mother Nature. We human monkeys are in charge.

    • 2 years ago
  • leahl
  • leahl
    • 0
      leahl  

    • I guess the moral of the story is that there are too many of us and that anything we do to continue to maintain the current energy usage is going to be out of balance? Blasted! That's always a tough pill to swallow.

    • 2 years ago
  • larrysnotes
  • bombastinator
    • 0
      bombastinator  
    • larrysnotes:

      low frequency specifically. like infrared light. It generally refers to the character of vibration though rather than the actual pressure. I'd be curious what a high sensitivity barometer does in the presence of these things.

    • 2 years ago
  • bombastinator
    • 0
      bombastinator  

    • Reminds m of the "brown note" thing on mythbusters. Personally I'd be more likely to suspect air pressure changes messing with people's inner ears. We already know they can explode the lungs of bats.

    • 2 years ago
  • simplecj
    • 0
      simplecj  

    • Oh shit, I almost forgot!! The same technology is used in almost EVERY form of power generation.

      In a coal plant, coal heats water and turns it to a super heated vapor that is used to turn a turbine which in turn rotates huge magnetic devices that give us the power that we use every day.... geothermal, natural gas, even solar thermal power generation; ALL of it uses magnetic fields to push and pull electrons through the electric grid, only difference is what is providing the rotational power and how big of a generator you are turning.

    • 2 years ago
  • ras_menelik
  • bombastinator
  • MissAmanda
    • 0
      MissAmanda  

    • i hope they figure out the real cause behind these symptoms soon. I believe that wind power could help the earth out alot in terms of what people have done to it, and i would hate to see this technology ruled out because of health factors found in people without solid, concrete evidence that it is the culprit.

    • 2 years ago
  • simplecj
    • 0
      simplecj  

    • Next they'll be telling us that our alternators in our cars are making us sick... LOL...

      Seriously, you ride in your car only a few feet from pretty much the same mechanism that's in those turbines, only smaller.

    • 2 years ago
  • TabulaRasa
  • simplecj
    • 0
      simplecj  

    • I call bullshit... if we can string 70,000 volt AC lines across the country without serious effects, I really fail to see how simple magnetic power generation could do anything significant.

      Most likely these people are suffering from other environmental factors, perhaps water quality.

      As it clearly states, there is no apparent explanation... thus they have no evidence only coincidental factors that are being linked with no support.

      I must add that anyone who knows anything about magnetic fields and the strength of said fields should know that 350m is far beyond the effective range. Magnetic fields while still somewhat mysterious, have an exponential degradation of intensity similar to light which follows the radius squared rule. For every unit of distance away from the source, the intensity is reduced by the second root of the original intensity. You would need a terribly large and powerful field to have any effect at 350m.

      PS - I am a recent engineering grad and am pretty familiar with physics, including magnetic fields.

    • 2 years ago
  • el_chivo
    • 0
      el_chivo  
    • simplecj:

      Why are you talking about magnetic fields? I think the article talks about infrasonic waves. You know, like the people who live near airports and have blood pressure problems.

    • 2 years ago
  • simplecj
  • futuregen
  • futuregen
    • 0
      futuregen  
    • Image

    • "I have no doubt in my mind that at the present time the greatest polluting element in the earth's environment is the proliferation of electromagnetic fields. "

      - Robert O. Becker, M. D., Orthopedic Surgeon

      In Dr. Becker's 1990 book, Cross Currents, The Perils of Electropollution, Dr. Becker showed how our human bodies and immune systems are being adversely affected by man-made electromagnetic fields from power lines, radar, microwaves, satellites, ham radios, video display terminals, and even electric appliances. In his book, Dr. Becker pointed out that radiation once considered safe,is now correlated with increases in cancer, birth defects, depression, learning disabilities, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Alzheimer's Disease and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome."
      -------------------------------------------------------------------
      Electromagnetic radiation. Also in all the electric cars. Check out your environment. Cross Currents by Robert O. Becker, MD. The EPA is aware of this pollution. They fired employee whistleblowers in the past who tried to get the word out to the public. 60 minutes or some other news show covered this in the early 80's. I believe Dan Rather covered the story.

    • 2 years ago
  • bombastinator
  • sarahlane
    • 0
      sarahlane  

    • Hi there, I removed the "tech" tag from this story but the "green" tag is perfect, thanks!

      I've never heard of wind power-related disorders before. How weird, and awful if that's indeed what's making these people sick.

    • 2 years ago
  • Motzie
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