Wind Turbines

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Wind Turbines
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Noise - Video Clip

• MUST WATCH WTS!
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vNFc3Jsu7fSo

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Noise

• Although wind turbines dont create pollution,
  they do produce a lot of noise. This is the
  reason why wind farms are built away from
  residential areas. People who live near wind
  farms often complain about a huge amount of noise
  from the metal structures.
• Newspaper Article about Wind Farm Noise
• http//www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/energy/windpower/
  9653429/Wind-farm-noise-does-harm-sleep-and-health
  -say-scientists.html

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Noise

• Most wind turbines are constructed 300 metres
  away from residential areas. At this distance,
  they produce approximately 43 decibels, the
  equivalent of a loud refrigerator.

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Noise

• WTS Wind Turbine Syndrome
• More recently, many people have reported health
  problems being caused by wind turbines. So many
  health problems have been reported that
  researchers have now named the problem WTS or
  Wind Turbine Syndrome. Side effects of the
  problems include heart disease, panic attacks,
  sleep problems, migraines and inner ear problems.
  
• Read the following newspaper report to find out
  more or watch the video clip
• http//www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-277
  5222/Could-living-near-wind-farm-make-DEAF-Low-fre
  quency-hum-damage-inner-ear-experts-warn.html

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Threat to Wildlife
Bald Eagle
Egyptian Vulture

• Despite being an essential renewable energy
  source, wind turbines do pose a threat to
  wildlife. Not only does the construction of wind
  turbines disturb the environment where birds and
  other creatures live, it is also a direct threat
  to their health.
• Every year in Spain, between 6 and 18 million
  birds and bats are killed by wind farms. The
  turbines kill approximately twice as many bats as
  birds and are beginning to pose a real threat to
  certain species with a possibility that some
  could even be wiped out, altogether. This means
  that on average, 110 330 birds are killed each
  year and 200 670 bats each year!
• Due to the fact wind farms are built on uplands
  (hilly areas), where there are good upward
  currents of warm air, they also kill a large
  number of raptors (birds of prey). In Australia,
  the Tasmanian wedge-tailed eagle has been
  threatened with global extinction due to wind
  farms. In North America, wind farms have killed
  tens of thousands birds of prey including golden
  eagles and Americas national bird, the bald
  eagle. In Spain, the Egyptian vulture is now
  threatened along with the Griffon vulture 400 of
  which were killed in one year at the site of
  Navarra, a wind farm. These constructions pose a
  serious threat to bird and to natures food
  chain. Some environmentalists have argued that
  offshore wind farms are less threatening to
  wildlife. However, they are just as bird and are
  dangerous for seabirds and migratory birds who
  fly in a flock towards the blades. Again, some
  environmentalists claim that birds will learn to
  avoid the wind turbines. However, for hundreds
  and thousands of birds, they dont get the chance
  to learn, having been struck by a blade spinning
  200mph.

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Threat to Wildlife

• The threat to wildlife is also created by the
  construction of wind farms. Clearing a vast area
  of land in order to build the wind turbines
  destroys the habitat of many, many species. Even
  an offshore wind farm would involve destroying
  the mud flats which have existed for centuries.
  Environmentalists, keen to construct the wind
  farms, claim that the habitats can be recreated
  elsewhere. But, of course, for so many species
  their habitat has taken hundreds of years to
  create and can not be simply reconstructed over
  months. When their habitat is disturbed many
  creatures starve to death, unable to locate their
  primary food source and distressed by the
  commotion. Loss of habitat is the single biggest
  cause of species extinction. Wind farms not only
  reduce habitat size but create population sinks
  areas which attract the animals but then lead
  to their death. The biggest threat to a species
  is the threat wind farms pose to bats!
• Bats reproduce very slowly, live a long time and
  are easy to wipe out. They have evolved with very
  few predators and up until now their nocturnal
  living has helped them survive well. However, the
  modern world is extremely dangerous for them! A
  recent study in Germany by the Leibniz Institute
  for Zoo and Wildlife Research discovered that
  bats killed by German wind turbines have flown
  from over 1000 miles away. The annual death toll
  for bats at wind turbines is 200,000 per year,
  meaning that wind turbines are not only reducing
  the population of bats from all over the world
  but could very soon be responsible for the
  extinction of this species.
• Could it be that species of animals who have
  survived 10 to 20 ice ages, seen sea-levels rise
  far more dramatically than we have ever
  experienced, be wiped out by a design created by
  humans? A design that was supposed to save the
  world? Climate change wont drive these species
  to extinction well meaning environmentalists
  might.

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Unreliable

• Wind Can Never Be Predicted  The main
  disadvantage of wind energy is that wind can
  never be predicted. The average wind turbine only
  produces energy at approximately 34 of its full
  capacity in comparison with 90 capacity for coal
  and gas.
• The problem is that its hard to know when the
  wind will turn up. When the blades of the turbine
  are spinning, they are producing energy. However,
  it might be that there is high demand in the
  evening as many homes switch on their lights.
  However, the wind may have stopped which means
  that if you were dependent upon wind energy, you
  would be sat at home in the dark! For this
  reason, the Grid will always depend upon energy
  from other sources, including solar and
  geothermal.

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The View
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