Problem with wind energy: vacated homes linked to wind turbine nuisance

I am a lawyer (please keep reading anyway) with a long history in energy law. I recently finished an intriguing case involving wind turbines. I am creating this – my first Substack Post – to share what I learned, because I was surprised. You may be too. Here’s the TL;DR: when operating exactly as designed and planned, modern, industrial-scale wind power plants will lead to people vacating their homes, and some of them are likely driven out by impacts to . . .


https://www.wind-watch.org/documents/problem-with-wind-energy-vacated-homes-linked-to-wind-turbine-nuisance/

Industrial Wind Energy Quote

“Neighbors are far better acoustic analyzers for determining the quality of their life versus any acoustic instrument left unattended by an expert.” —Stephen Ambrose, Me., acoustical engineer


https://www.wind-watch.org/quotes.php?t=66

Industrial Wind Energy Quote

“One thing is clear: The environmental community must view wind power projects as they would any other type of industrial development. ” —Martha Frey, Executive Director, Otsego (N.Y.) 2000


https://www.wind-watch.org/quotes.php?t=238

Industrial Wind Energy Quote

“The idea of windmills conjures up pleasant images — of Holland and tulips, of rural America with windmill blades slowly turning, pumping water at the farm well ... But the windmills we are talking about today are not your grandmother’s windmills. Each one is typically 100 yards tall, two stories taller than the Statue of Liberty, taller than a football field is long.” —Lamar Alexander, U.S. Senate


https://www.wind-watch.org/quotes.php?t=222

Industrial Wind Energy Quote

“Any time citizen participation or regulatory review is called too onerous, rest assured that the process is working as it should.” —Editorial, Baltimore (Md.) Sun, March 9, 2007


https://www.wind-watch.org/quotes.php?t=212

Industrial Wind Energy Quote

“It’s like taking up smoking because you drink too much. And now you’re a smoker as well as a drinker.” —Frida Payle


https://www.wind-watch.org/quotes.php?t=105

Industrial Wind Energy Quote

“If we waste our efforts on symbolic solutions instead of practical ones, we will create bigger problems.” —Andrew K. Gentile, “What’s the cost of banning fossil fuels?”, Vt. Digger, November 16, 2023


https://www.wind-watch.org/quotes.php?t=11

Under the Radar | Under Radaren #DNK

This report examines how the green transition is experienced at close range by citizens, including how planning processes are circumvented and how considerations of democracy, civil rights, nature and local communities are set aside. Research and the number of citizen groups (>200) indicate that this is a systemic problem – not isolated cases. Researchers describe it as a “system error” and characterize the resistance as “societal self-defence”. Under the Radar brings together five cases, examined in depth. They are stories . . .


https://www.wind-watch.org/documents/under-the-radar-under-radaren/

Industrial Wind Energy Quote

“The wind, as a direct motive power, is wholly inapplicable to a system of machine labour, for during a calm season the whole business of the country would be thrown out of gear. Before the era of steam-engines, windmills were tried for draining mines; but though they were powerful machines, they were very irregular, so that in a long tract of calm weather the mines were drowned, and all the workmen thrown idle. ” —William Stanley Jevons, 1865


https://www.wind-watch.org/quotes.php?t=165

Industrial Wind Energy Quote

“Anybody trying to justify subsidies on the basis of jobs created is talking nonsense. Wind farms are not labour intensive.” —Anonymous “owner of several wind farms”, Telegraph, June 15, 2013


https://www.wind-watch.org/quotes.php?t=33

Industrial Wind Energy Quote

“A single 555-megawatt gas-fired power plant in California generates more electricity in a year than do all 13,000 of the state’s wind turbines. The gas-fired plant sits atop a mere 15 acres. The 300-foot-tall windmills impact over a hundred thousand acres to provide expensive, intermittent, insufficient energy.” —L. M. Schwartz


https://www.wind-watch.org/quotes.php?t=209

Direct Testimony of Jerry Punch, Audiologist

Q: What is the purpose of your testimony? A: I intend to describe the critical weaknesses in Invenergy’s Badger Hollow Wind (BHW) application, particularly with regard to its “noise analysis.” That analysis is grossly insufficient in reflecting the actual health risks to humans, as it focuses exclusively and extensively on audible noise, while willfully ignoring the inaudible components of the acoustic energy that will be emitted from its proposed 6.2 MW industrial wind turbines (IWTs). These inaudible components are increasingly being . . .


https://www.wind-watch.org/documents/direct-testimony-of-jerry-punch-audiologist/

Direct Testimony of Richard Jinkins: Spiked Pressure Pulses #WI

Q: Has your ability to occupy and use your property been affected by wind turbines? A: Yes. Q. How? A: We have moved out of our home. And when we are at our home and wind turbines are operating, it ranges from unpleasant to insupportable. Some of the personal effects that I and other members of my family have experienced and that I associate with the wind turbines are nuisances that range from mild to significant. These are things like . . .


https://www.wind-watch.org/documents/direct-testimony-of-richard-jinkins-spiked-pressure-pulses/

Industrial Wind Energy Quote

“Polls show most Scots unhappy with this heavily subsidised and only intermittent source of energy that causes huge damage to the environment.” —Tom Gallagher, The Atlantic, April 13, 2012


https://www.wind-watch.org/quotes.php?t=63

Industrial Wind Energy Quote

“If you lease, chances are one or more of your neighbors is going to have to deal with eminent domain. Now these are private, wind development companies; however, once they sell that power to a power purchaser, they can go to the energy commission and as in Butler County (Kan.): in two weeks and a little bit of paperwork ... they had the power of eminent domain to go across adjacent landowners’ property with power lines, with trenches, with no public hearing.” —Rose Bacon


https://www.wind-watch.org/quotes.php?t=219

Direct Testimony of Jerry Punch, Audiologist

Q: What is the purpose of your testimony? A: I intend to describe the critical weaknesses in Invenergy’s Badger Hollow Wind (BHW) application, particularly with regard to its “noise analysis.” That analysis is grossly insufficient in reflecting the actual health risks to humans, as it focuses exclusively and extensively on audible noise, while willfully ignoring the inaudible components of the acoustic energy that will be emitted from its proposed 6.2 MW industrial wind turbines (IWTs). These inaudible components are increasingly being . . .


https://www.wind-watch.org/documents/direct-testimony-of-jerry-punch-audiologist/

Direct Testimony of Richard Jinkins: Spiked Pressure Pulses #WI

Q: Has your ability to occupy and use your property been affected by wind turbines? A: Yes. Q. How? A: We have moved out of our home. And when we are at our home and wind turbines are operating, it ranges from unpleasant to insupportable. Some of the personal effects that I and other members of my family have experienced and that I associate with the wind turbines are nuisances that range from mild to significant. These are things like . . .


https://www.wind-watch.org/documents/direct-testimony-of-richard-jinkins-spiked-pressure-pulses/

Problem with wind energy: vacated homes linked to wind turbine nuisance

I am a lawyer (please keep reading anyway) with a long history in energy law. I recently finished an intriguing case involving wind turbines. I am creating this – my first Substack Post – to share what I learned, because I was surprised. You may be too. Here’s the TL;DR: when operating exactly as designed and planned, modern, industrial-scale wind power plants will lead to people vacating their homes, and some of them are likely driven out by impacts to . . .


https://www.wind-watch.org/documents/problem-with-wind-energy-vacated-homes-linked-to-wind-turbine-nuisance/

Industrial Wind Energy Quote

“It’s very simple. They don’t work and never can. Here’s why: 1) no energy density; 2) not dispatchable; 3) not reliable; 4) can’t store electricity. And they are ruining the environment and making people very, very sick. It’s a mania driven by a torrent of tax subsidies. The developers are all opportunists who don’t give a damn. It’s a scourge.” —Eric Bibler, Maine


https://www.wind-watch.org/quotes.php?t=53

Industrial Wind Energy Quote

“This will divide the town for 25 years.” —Jack Simons, planning commissioner, Sheffield, Vt.


https://www.wind-watch.org/quotes.php?t=248

Problem with wind energy: vacated homes linked to wind turbine nuisance

I am a lawyer (please keep reading anyway) with a long history in energy law. I recently finished an intriguing case involving wind turbines. I am creating this – my first Substack Post – to share what I learned, because I was surprised. You may be too. Here’s the TL;DR: when operating exactly as designed and planned, modern, industrial-scale wind power plants will lead to people vacating their homes, and some of them are likely driven out by impacts to . . .


https://www.wind-watch.org/documents/problem-with-wind-energy-vacated-homes-linked-to-wind-turbine-nuisance/

Economic Impacts of Utility-Scale Wind Turbines: What Rural Arkansas Counties Need to Know #AR

Across the U.S., roughly 97% of wind turbines are installed in rural areas. Considering this statistic, if utility-scale wind energy were to be introduced in Arkansas, rural communities would bear the direct impacts. This fact sheet contains projections of these impacts. The broad economic tradeoffs over time are listed below: Benefits of Wind Development County GDP increases by about 4%. Farmland values increase by 7%-8%. Costs of Wind Development Personal income falls by 0.5%-0.8%. Employment declines by about 1%. Population . . .


https://www.wind-watch.org/documents/economic-impacts-of-utility-scale-wind-turbines-what-rural-arkansas-counties-need-to-know/

Industrial Wind Energy Quote

“They are ugly!” —T. Boone Pickens, The Guardian (U.K.), Apr. 14, 2008


https://www.wind-watch.org/quotes.php?t=142

Winterbourne Wind Farm Noise Assessment – Peer Review #AUS

L Huson & Associates Pty Ltd has been commissioned by the Voice for Walcha to peer review the Winterbourne Wind Farm Noise and Vibration Assessment (NVA), report reference S6207C14 dated October 2022 that was prepared by Sonus Pty Ltd. The NVA is included in the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) dated 27 October 2022 as Appendix H that was prepared by Environmental Resources Management Australia Pty Ltd. Section 6.2 of the EIS summarises the NVA. This peer review considers the assessment . . .


https://www.wind-watch.org/documents/winterbourne-wind-farm-noise-assessment-peer-review/

Industrial Wind Energy Quote

“A dose-response relationship between calculated A-weighted sound pressure levels, and reported perception and annoyance was found. Wind turbine noise was more annoying than transportation noise or industrial noise at comparable levels, possibly due to specific sound properties such as a “swishing” quality, temporal variability, and lack of nighttime abatement.” —Eja Pederson et al., Response to noise from modern wind farms in The Netherlands, Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, August 2009


https://www.wind-watch.org/quotes.php?t=76

Unheard but Not Harmless: Public Health & Wind Energy Infrasound #BEL #EUR #DEU #SWE

24th March 2026 10:00-12:00 Spinelli 6G306, European Parliament Key note speaker Professor Ken Mattsson expert in scientific computing and numerical analysis at Uppsala University Additional intervention by Dr. Ursula Bellut-Staeck physician-scientist and internationally recognized expert in microcirculation With MEPs Fernand Kartheiser & Virginie Joron


https://www.wind-watch.org/alerts/2026/03/10/unheard-but-not-harmless-public-health-wind-energy-infrasound/

Industrial Wind Energy Quote

“[D]ie Wartungs- und Reparaturkosten von Offshore-Windkraftanlagen können sich im Laufe der Jahre zum Hundertfachen der Neubaukosten summieren. ([T]he maintenance and repair costs of offshore wind turbines can add up over the years to one hundred times the costs for new construction.)” —Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, press release, Feb. 1, 2016


https://www.wind-watch.org/quotes.php?t=136

Industrial Wind Energy Quote

“There should be a presumption against wind farms in the countryside where their scale, siting or cumulative effect would have a significant adverse impact on landscape quality and recreational enjoyment thereof.” —Countryside Commission, U.K.


https://www.wind-watch.org/quotes.php?t=227

Industrial Wind Energy Quote

“The mountains and moors, the wild uplands, are to be staked out like vampires in the sun, their chests pierced with rows of five-hundred-foot wind turbines and associated access roads, masts, pylons, and wires.” —Paul Kingsnorth, Orion, Jan./Feb. 2012


https://www.wind-watch.org/quotes.php?t=27

Under the Radar | Under Radaren #DNK

This report examines how the green transition is experienced at close range by citizens, including how planning processes are circumvented and how considerations of democracy, civil rights, nature and local communities are set aside. Research and the number of citizen groups (>200) indicate that this is a systemic problem – not isolated cases. Researchers describe it as a “system error” and characterize the resistance as “societal self-defence”. Under the Radar brings together five cases, examined in depth. They are stories . . .


https://www.wind-watch.org/documents/under-the-radar-under-radaren/

Solar and wind aren’t real power sources, they’re intermittent fuel-savers #USA

As a recent week of winter weather illustrated, solar and wind don’t replace reliable power sources—they just save them fuel, usually at great expense. We’re bombarded with supposed examples of solar/wind rapidly and cheaply replacing fossil fuel power: rapid rises in solar/wind “capacity” or “generation”; solar/wind credited for supplying most of a day’s electricity; stats claiming solar/wind is now cheaper than fossil fuels. Advocates of solar and wind replacing fossil fuel power downplay the obvious, glaring problem that the grid . . .


https://www.wind-watch.org/documents/solar-and-wind-arent-real-power-sources-theyre-intermittent-fuel-savers/

Industrial Wind Energy Quote

“Not being an alternative themselves, it is quite simply spurious to ask for an alternative to replace them.” —Mark Duchamp, Executive Director, European Platform Against Windfarms


https://www.wind-watch.org/quotes.php?t=64

‘Death of Baseload’ and Similar Grid Tropes

Anyone who has spent any amount of time in or near people who are really interested in energy policies will have heard proclamations such as that ‘baseload is dead’ and the sorting of energy sources by parameters like their levelized cost of energy (LCoE) and merit order. Another thing that one may have noticed here is that this is also an area where debates and arguments can get pretty heated. The confusing thing is that depending on where you look, . . .


https://www.wind-watch.org/documents/death-of-baseload-and-similar-grid-tropes/

Cumulative hydrodynamic impacts of offshore wind farms on North Sea currents and surface temperatures #ENG #DEU #NLD

Abstract. Offshore wind farms are increasingly shaping coastal ocean dynamics, yet their cumulative physical impacts remain poorly quantified. Using decade-long, high-resolution simulations of the North Sea, we show that large-scale offshore wind development can reduce current velocities by up to 20% and reshape local tidal energy distributions. Wind and tidal wakes exert distinct but interacting influences on ocean physics: wind speed anomalies drive far-field hydrodynamic impacts, while structure-induced drag intensifies local turbulence and mixing. Turbine spacing emerges as a key . . .


https://www.wind-watch.org/documents/cumulative-hydrodynamic-impacts-of-offshore-wind-farms-on-north-sea-currents-and-surface-temperatures/

Industrial Wind Energy Quote

“Increased development of wind turbines does not reduce Danish carbon dioxide emissions.” —Flemming Nissen, Head of Development, Elsam, Denmark


https://www.wind-watch.org/quotes.php?t=197

Under the Radar | Under Radaren #DNK

This report examines how the green transition is experienced at close range by citizens, including how planning processes are circumvented and how considerations of democracy, civil rights, nature and local communities are set aside. Research and the number of citizen groups (>200) indicate that this is a systemic problem – not isolated cases. Researchers describe it as a “system error” and characterize the resistance as “societal self-defence”. Under the Radar brings together five cases, examined in depth. They are stories . . .


https://www.wind-watch.org/documents/under-the-radar-under-radaren/

Aerodynamic Wind Turbine Emissions and Vestibulo-Cochlear Coupling: Impulsive Pressure Signatures and Their Health Relevance

Abstract: Wind turbine emissions are commonly interpreted within a classical acoustic framework, extending sound-based concepts into the infrasonic range. This study reframes wind turbine emissions as the result of discrete aerodynamic events rather than harmonic sound generation. Rotor-induced flow modulation produces temporally structured, non-harmonic pressure impulses whose periodic repetition yields spectral components without implying oscillatory behavior. These impulse-dominated signals form characteristic wind turbine emission signatures (WTES). Due to their temporal structure and low-frequency pressure gradients, WTES preferentially interact with the . . .


https://www.wind-watch.org/documents/aerodynamic-wind-turbine-emissions-and-vestibulo-cochlear-coupling-impulsive-pressure-signatures-and-their-health-relevance/

Industrial Wind Energy Quote

“En conclusion il faut refuser les éoliennes situées à moins de 5 km de toute habitation, à cause des risques produits par les infrasons. (In conclusion, wind turbines less than 5 km — 3.1 miles — from any residence, must be refused, because of the risks produced by infrasound.)” —Marjolaine Villey, France, “Éoliennes, sons et infrasons: effet de l’éolien industriel sur la santé des hommes” (Wind turbines, noise, and infrasound: effect of industrial wind power on human health)


https://www.wind-watch.org/quotes.php?t=173

Industrial Wind Energy Quote

“... it will be the equivalent of a water company only supplying tap water when it’s raining.” —Saiful Islam, U.K.


https://www.wind-watch.org/quotes.php?t=220

Industrial Wind Energy Quote

“Even if wind turbines were built in Hawaii, excess capacity would have to be built to handle peak loads in the event that the winds weren’t blowing or the islands would experience brownouts or blackouts. The fact that the periods of highest demands would coincide with a drop-off in wind speed means wind turbines cannot be counted on the meet peak load demands in Hawaii. So electrical generating capacity would have to be built twice, first as wind turbines and second as backup peak capacity protection.” —Don Newman, Grassroot Institute of Hawaii


https://www.wind-watch.org/quotes.php?t=175