Climatide

Jess Bidgood/WGBH

Falmouth's Wind One (foreground) has been dogged by complaints from abutters about adverse health impacts.

Some wind turbines spend their lives spinning in peace, while others generate more complaints than electricity. So what differentiates the troublesome turbines? As yet, there’s no good answer for that question. And that’s what Steve Ambrose says has him so interested.

Last spring, Ambrose and fellow acoustic engineer Robert Rand conducted a brief study of sounds produced by a privately-owned wind turbine in Falmouth, MA. One neighbor has complained vehemently about the turbine, which is of the same make and model as the embattled town-owned turbines located less than a mile away at the wastewater treatment plant.

Of course, there have been previous sound studies. Two consultants – one hired by the town, and one hired by disgruntled abutters – conducted sound studies of Falmouth’s Wind 1 in fall of 2010. But those studies, as with most sound studies, focused on audible sound (in tech-speak, A-weighted sound or dB(A)). Meanwhile, the debate about whether and how wind turbines cause the health woes of nearby neighbors has largely come to focus on the possible role of infrasound, sound waves that are too low-frequency to be heard by most people.

So Ambrose and Rand set out to measure the low-frequency sounds generated by one of the turbines. They set up shop at the home of Sue Hobart, who has been vocal in her complaints about the privately-owned turbine near her house, and prepared to spend a couple of long, fairly mundane (they’ve done this plenty of times before, mind you) days and nights with their equipment. Instead, they almost immediately began to suffer symptoms similar to motion sickness – headaches, nausea, lethargy, and anxiety – that they say made it difficult to even do the job they came to do.

Much of the report, released in late December, focuses on the personal experiences of Ambrose and Rand, and that is what has generated the most comment from both sides of the debate (see here and here for examples). But, in the end, what I found most interesting – potentially game-changing – were their sound data.

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Andrew Magill / Flickr

Could cold hard cash help allay tensions about the impacts of wind turbines on their nearest neighbors?

Last Wednesday, the New England Wind Energy Education Project held a webinar entitled “Wind Power as a Neighbor: Experience with Techniques for Mitigating Public Impacts.” For those already embroiled in controversies over existing turbines (a thinly veiled reference to the situation here in Falmouth, MA, as well as a handful of other communities around New England) there were few revelations on offer. But a recurring theme – one that has not, to my knowledge, featured prominently in wind development deals around the Cape – was the power of money.

Nothing made this point more clearly than John Knab’s story of wind energy development in Sheldon, NY, where he has served seven terms as Town Supervisor. Much of what Knab had to say wasn’t terribly applicable to southeastern Massachusetts. Sheldon is a town of 2,550 and “twice as many dairy cows.” There’s lots of space to work with – not a common situation hereabouts. To give you an idea of the difference in scale, a private developer installed 75 turbines in Sheldon; some of the larger proposals on and around the Cape have involved seven or eight turbines.

But the interesting part was the financial arrangement the town negotiated with the developer. Not to be crass, but they milked Invernergy good – a huge up-front payment to the town, annual payments to neighbors, school and park improvements, the list went on and on – and still Knab says he thinks they should have pushed harder for more money from the developer! Town officials everywhere, are you listening?

But back to the webinar. Charles Newcomb, from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, provided an overview of impact mitigation strategies for the pre- and post-installation phases, while Nils Bolgen from the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center went over several case studies in New England, including Falmouth. Together, they provided a nice picture of what is and isn’t working.

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I just signed up for a webinar next Wednesday afternoon and am thinking about live-blogging it. It’s being hosted by the New England Wind Energy Education Project, and the topic is “Techniques for Mitigating Public Impacts.” Sounds like something Falmouth could use … right?

Here’s what NEWEEP says the three scheduled speakers will cover:

• Technical and non-technical approaches to minimize, eliminate, or compensate for direct or indirect impacts during the planning, construction, and operation of a wind power project
• Lessons learned on the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of available mitigation techniques and how specific techniques helped produce better outcomes
• The process of negotiation to achieve public acceptance, and what concessions communities should (and shouldn’t) expect from project proponents
• The key to successful siting through balancing mitigation of impacts with project economic viability
• Where current strategies fall short and what additional research is needed to fill the gaps

I’m a little skeptical that the event will hold any major revelations, in large part because I’d hope that either town officials or affected residents in Falmouth would already have found any silver bullets that might be out there … and they haven’t. Still, it should be an interesting two hours, if for no other reason than to see where the rest of New England is on this problem.

You can register for the webinar here (it’s free). And let me know if you’d be up for a live blog (whether or not you’re watching the webinar) … if there’s interest, I’ll do it.