Chapter 7
Introduction | Discussion of Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 | Chapter 11 | Chapter 12 | Conclusion | Appendix
Chapter 7: Noise, shadows and flicker. This chapter includes a reasonable explanation of the main sources of acoustic sound from wind turbines, therefore it is sad that Etherington again resorts to emotional language. ‘As the developers have grabbed the remote lands of Britain, so their flailing blades perforce creep closer to habitations’*. He fails to state that acoustic noise measurement and prediction is a major factor in planning applications and that noise already in the environment, especially from road traffic, is also a key comparative factor. He enters the area of quasi-science when he tackles ‘low frequency sound’, which by definition cannot be heard, but can, in principle, be felt as vibrations in the body. The main example he gives is of a case where careful measurement and diary records by independent assessors have failed to support the complaint.
Consideration of shadows and sunlight flicker caused by rotating blades is reasonable and not emotive, with the implied conclusion that such effects are unlikely to cause annoyance, and if they do, amelioration is relatively easy. Nevertheless, Etherington has trawled the literature to quote instances of contrary conclusions.