Wind-Pushers in Denial, to Avoid Being Held Accountable…Gov’t covers up for them.

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Wind farm impact ‘under-assessed’

2 July 2015 by Press Association

The impact of wind farm noise and appearance on residents living nearby is sometimes under-assessed by developers, a report said
The impact of wind farm noise and appearance on residents living nearby is sometimes under-assessed by developers, a report said

Developers are sometimes under-assessing the impact of wind farm noise and appearance on residents living nearby, according to new research.

The two-year study looked at how the visual, shadow flicker and noise impacts predicted by developers at the planning stage of ten wind farms across Scotland compared to the reality once operational.

The test sites included wind farms at Dalswinton in Dumfries and Galloway, Achany in the Highlands, Drone Hill in the Borders, Hadyard Hill in South Ayrshire, Little Raith in Fife and West Knock Farm in Aberdeenshire.

In some cases what was set out in planning applications did not match the actual impact, the research by climate change body ClimateXChange concluded.

It also found that efforts to engage with the public had not always adequately prepared residents for the visual, shadow flicker and noise impacts of a development.

The information was gathered through a combination of residents’ surveys and assessments by professional consultants.

The report said: “T here was a reasonable correspondence between the predicted impacts at application stage and the study team’s assessment of the as-built impacts.

“However, there were some instances in respect of each of the topics where impacts were under-assessed.

“This divergence between objective measurement and experience of impacts was evident from the residents’ survey which captured a range of responses.

“In respect of all three types of impacts considered by the study there were instances where no or limited impacts were predicted by the expert team, but residents reported experiencing adverse impacts.

“This finding points to the difficulties of predicting or assessing experiential responses.

“It is therefore important that the assessment process and subsequent consideration of applications by relevant authorities takes account of this.”

Researchers said this could be achieved through good project siting and design, rigorous impact assessments and improved public engagement.

Project manager Ragne Low said: “As the study has focused on issues relating to the planning process, we are confident that the findings will feed into improved practice in measuring the predicted impacts of proposed wind farms and in communicating this to decision-makers and those likely to be affected.

“The findings point to several possible improvements in planning guidance and good practice.

“Some have been implemented in the time between the case study wind farms being planned and built, and the present. The study will contribute to building on these improvements.”

Linda Holt, spokeswoman for the campaign group S cotland Against Spin, welcomed the findings.

She said: “For too long, people who have complained about wind farms have been dismissed as nimbies and we applaud the energy minister Fergus Ewing for commissioning this work.

“The recommendations show that the planning system is ill-equipped to address potentially adverse impacts on wind farm neighbours and we urge the Scottish Government to lose no time in implementing them.

“For too long, decision-makers on wind farms have been asked to determine applications while blind-folded about the true impacts of placing enormous industrial machines near people’s homes.”

A spokesman for Scottish Renewables said: “This study highlights the high standards of guidance available for those planning an onshore wind farm in Scotland, and we were pleased to see the sector has been putting these into practice.

“The industry has long worked with government and its agencies to put these high standards in place and this report demonstrates how much we have continuously improved, while identifying areas for further improvements for future schemes.”

A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: ” We welcome the publication of the wind farm impacts study report which is the first of its kind in the world and presents the findings of a two-year study involving a wide-range of interest groups.

“The report shows improvements have already been made in our planning system, which is rigorous and ensures appropriate siting of wind farms, and studies like this will make sure this improvement continues, and we look forward to considering the recommendations carefully.

“Our policy on wind farm applications strikes a careful balance between maximizing Scotland’s huge green energy potential and protecting environmental interests and residential amenity.”

Absolutely Wonderful News, for the Brits!

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Deliverance for Brits: David Cameron Empties Subsidy Trough & 250 Wind Farms Get Scrapped

July 2, 2015 by 7 Comments

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The wind industry isn’t powered by wind; it’s fuelled by massive and endless subsidies. If ever that proposition needed support, then events in the UK since David Cameron’s election win provide plenty.

250 onshore windfarms will be scrapped as taxpayer subsidies are axed
Daily Express
John Ingham
22 June 2015

LARGE swathes of the British countryside are to be spared the blight of windfarms by the axing of taxpayer subsidies, Energy Secretary Amber Rudd has revealed.

She said about 2,500 proposed turbines in 250 projects are now “unlikely to be built”.

The Renewables Obligation subsidy for new onshore wind farms is being scrapped a year early from April next year.

Ms Rudd said this would save consumers cash by avoiding a surplus of state-funded windfarms and by helping newer green technologies compete.

Ms Rudd, who has also announced plans to give local communities the final say over windfarms, said: “We are reaching the limits of what is affordable, and what the public is prepared to accept.”

But critics said taxpayers still face a soaring bill for subsidies to costly offshore windfarms.

Benny Peiser of the Global Warming Policy Forum, which argues that many anti-climate change measures are too costly, said: “This announcement is a move in the right direction but it is a bit schizophrenic.

Tory Chris Heaton-Harris said many of his Daventry constituents had been so alienated by backers of windfarms who had “destroyed people’s faith in renewable energies as a whole”.

But Shadow Energy Secretary Caroline Flint accused Ms Rudd of causing “confusion and concern”.

She said: “Despite the Prime Minister’s warm words on tackling climate change in this most important year of global negotiations, this Parliament has hardly begun but already the cheapest form of renewable energy is under attack and other renewable investors are worried that they are next.”

Earlier Ms Rudd had explained that Britain is on course to exceed its 2020 target of 30 per cent of the UK’s electricity from renewables.

She said Britain is also on course to meet its targets for electricity from windpower which means the impact of subsidies on domestic bills will grow.

She said that Britain currently has about 8.3GigaWatts of electricity from onshore wind – enough to power the equivalent of over 4.5 million homes.

But the ending of subsidies means another 7.1GW will not now go ahead.

She said: “Consumer bills will not rise because of this change. Indeed, those onshore wind projects unlikely now to go ahead would have cost hundreds of millions of pounds.”

RenewableUK’s Deputy Chief Executive Maf Smith disputed Ms Rudd’s figures.

He said: “She is wrong to say that we have enough onshore wind in the pipeline to meet our legally-binding 2020 renewable energy target.

“Government has today put us on a trajectory to undershoot this target because renewable heat and renewable transport fuel are behind on their own targets, which means renewable electricity is expected to make up the shortfall.”

He added: “It’s unfortunate that the Energy Secretary has again failed to grasp the importance of onshore wind. It’s our best option for keeping the lights on and keeping our bills down. It already costs less than nuclear and other renewables, and by 2020 will be competitive with new gas. It’s a mystery why she’s chosen to disregard the high level of public support for this technology, which remains consistently at two-thirds of the population; much higher than for alternatives being championed by Government.”

“The Government is phasing out subsidies for onshore wind but they are still subsiding offshore turbines which are twice as expensive.

“This will not reduce the overall cost for renewables because that was agreed by the coalition Government a year ago.

“Under the Levy Control Framework subsidies for renewables will double from £4billion now to about £8billion in 2020.

“So while many rural communities will celebrate the scrapping of onshore wind subsidies, offshore farms will continue because there are no voters to object.”

The axing for onshore support was welcomed by some Tory MPs including John Redwood who said his party was the only one that cared about the consumer and sought to get energy bills down.
Daily Express

amberrudd

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The guff about wind power “powering” 4.5 million homes and providing an “answer” to “climate change” (the apparently apocalyptic threat, formerly known as “global warming”) is, of course, patent nonsense:

Wind Industry’s Bogus Claims about “Powering” Millions of Homes Scorched

There’s Only One Problem with Claims that Wind Power ‘Kills Coal’: and that’s the Wind

Why Coal Miners, Oil and Gas Producers Simply Love Wind Power

But it’s the fact that wind industry shill, Caroline Flint is accusing Amber Rudd of causing “confusion and concern” that has STT grinning.

You see, the propaganda parrots that spruik the “wonders” of wind power have been telling us for years now that it’s a “product” with all the admirable characteristics of the REAL stuff, that’s so cheap it should be jumping off the shelves. Those from the wind industry’s more deluded fringes even run the ludicrous claim that wind power is (now) actually cheaper than coal-fired power – see this piece of twaddle from ruin-economy, for example.

RenewableUK’s head spruiker, Maf Smith – like his equivalents elsewhere – ties himself in knots, trying to turn fantasy into reality. He’s not alone – the same pitch has been run all over the globe.

Here, the wind industry, its parasites and spruikers – like The Climate Speculator’s, Tristan Edis (see our post here) – keep telling us, over and over again, how cheap wind power is by comparison with conventional power sources – a story pitched up in order to counter the recent challenge to the Large-Scale Renewable Energy Target and its insane cost to power consumers.

Having boasted about the wonders of their product – and its ability to “compete” with the big boys – in the very next breath, these subsidy leeches start wailing – like crazed little brats – at the prospect of there being so much as the slightest interference with a stream of subsidies, so massive that their scale makes Croesus look like a penny-pinching pauper.

Either wind power is economically viable, or it isn’t? If the former, then there’s no need for mandated subsidies and/or massive penalties, at all.

Trouble is, the conduct of the actors – as is usually the case – reveals the teensy, weensy flaw in their ‘case’.

If, as Maf Smith claims, onshore wind “already costs less than nuclear and other renewables, and by 2020 will be competitive with new gas” then wind power outfits have no need for subsidies, mandated targets, or guaranteed, fixed-price government contracts at all.

In which event, instead of developers pulling the plug on 250 threatened wind farms, they’d be spearing those 2,500 turbines all over Ol’ Blighty as fast as they could – wouldn’t they? So what’s all the fuss about?

STT thinks it all boils down to the quality of the “product” on offer. Break down the terms on which wind power is “supplied”, and the “deal” reduces to this:

  • we (“the wind power generator”) will supply and you (“the hopeful punter at the end of the line”) will take every single watt we produce, whenever that might be;
  • except that this will occur less than 30% of the time; and, no, we can’t tell you when that might be – although it will probably be in the middle of the night when you don’t need it;
  • around 70% of the time – when the wind stops blowing altogether – we won’t be supplying anything at all;
  • in which event, it’s a case of “tough luck” sucker, you’re on your own, but you can try your luck with dreaded coal or gas-fired generators, they’re burning mountains of coal and gas anyway to cover our little daily output “hiccups” – so they’ll probably help you keep your home and business running; and
  • the price for the pleasure of our chaotic, unpredictable power “supply” will be fixed for 25 years at 4 times the price charged by those “evil” fossil fuel generators.

It’s little wonder that – in the absence of fines and penalties that force retailers to sign up to take wind power (see our post here) and/or massive subsidies (see our post here) – no retailer would ever bother to purchase wind power on the standard “irresistible” terms above.

There is NO market for electricity that cannot be delivered on demand – wind power has NO commercial value for that very obvious reason. The “demand” that exists is nothing more than legislated policy artifice – in the absence of mandated fines, penalties and/or endless subsidies the wind industry would have never got going at all.

Any policy that is unsustainable will either fail under its own steam; or its creators will eventually be forced to scrap it. Endless streams of massive subsidies for a meaningless power source fits the “unsustainable” tag to a T.

The wind industry has been telling the world it’s almost ready to stand on its own two feet for over 30 years (see our post here).

To the horror of the wind industry, its parasites and spruikers, David Cameron, Amber Rudd & Co have offered it the chance to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the big boys. We wish it the best of luck.

turbine impsaCollapse

Those Wonderful Aussies are at it again!~ Love them! Fighting the Wind Scam!

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Senator Bob Day Aims the Blowtorch at the Great Wind Power Fraud

July 1, 2015 by 4 Comments

blow-torch_01

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Bob Day is the Family First Senator for South Australia. He’s one of the good Senators sitting on the Senate’s Inquiry into the great wind power fraud; and he gets it.

Here’s a recent press release from Bob which requires no further introduction or comment from us.

WIND TURBINES NOW FACE OVERDUE SCRUTINY
Wednesday 24 June 2015

Family First Senator for South Australia Bob Day marked the end of the contentious Renewable Energy Target (RET) debate by welcoming new government commitments on wind turbines: “For a long time Family First has been receiving complaints about wind turbines.

When I was elected to the Senate in 2013 it became apparent that something needed to be done about this, so together with a number of Senate crossbenchers, I moved to establish a Senate inquiry. I have been deputy chair of this inquiry which has held hearings all over Australia,” he said.

“In at least fifteen (15) countries around the world, people from all walks of life have come forward complaining about the health impacts of wind turbines – nausea, blurred vision, vertigo, tachycardia, high blood pressure, ear pressure, tinnitus, headache, exacerbated migraine disorders, sleep deprivation, motion sensitivity and inner ear damage.

Many of these people initially welcomed turbines into their area. It has been found that the principal cause of these symptoms is ‘infrasound’ or low frequency noise which is emitted by wind turbines.

People living up to 10 kilometres from turbines have been affected. Acoustics experts, biologists, engineers, farmers, doctors, nurses, sleep experts, pharmacists and others have all come forward from throughout Australia and the world testifying about the impact that wind turbines have had on people’s lives.

Only now are non-English speaking countries finding voice about the impact of turbines in their backyards. Yet the wind turbine industry and its environmental supporters all claim this is either a conspiracy driven by anti-wind activists or it’s all psychological and have at times treated these victims in an offensive, dismissive and uncompassionate fashion.

To add insult to injury, wind turbines have had negative impacts on property values, have driven up power prices, compromised local shire councils and divided what were once friendly & harmonious communities.”

“After receiving evidence from well over 500 people all over the nation so far, the inquiry tabled an interim report which made several recommendations. Key among these were to:

  1. Improve scientific knowledge about the health impacts of wind turbines;
  1. Appoint a wind farm commissioner to provide independent assistance with complaints about wind turbines; and
  1. Ensure the government finance corporation responsible for funding renewable energy will stick to its charter of supporting new technologies rather than established technology like wind.

These measures put the brakes on the out-of-control wind turbine juggernaut so, at last, some oversight, scrutiny and accountability can be imposed on this damaging mass-scale energy experiment.”

“South Australians have been asking for these reforms on wind turbines. I have endeavoured to secure them.”

Senator Bob Day
24 June 2015

Senator Bob Day: determined to bring an end to the madness.

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Now, while STT feels no need to add to Bob’s solid presentation of plain, old common sense, we’re moved to allow STT Champion, Annie Gardner to respond in terms that can only turn up the heat. As soon as it hit the network, Annie forwarded Bob’s Press Statement to all and sundry among our political betters and journos, along with this pointed missive.

Dear All,

I am forwarding to you all, Senator Bob Day’s recent Press Release, which outlines what the Senators have learnt since the Senate Inquiry into wind farms began hearings on 30th March 2015, in Portland.

To date, I am aware at least seven hearings have been held, with another in Sydney next week, with no doubt more disturbing revelations which have till now been denied, and swept under the carpet.

We thank Senator Day and his Senate Inquiry colleagues very much, for listening to so many rural Australians impacted by acoustic emissions from wind turbines, and for issuing, to begin with, the Interim Report from the Senate Inquiry, and for this Press Release, which really tells the TRUTH about what’s happening to thousands of innocent, hard-working rural Australians, the backbone of this country.

No matter what the outcome of the Senate Inquiry, whether it is acted upon, or deliberately ignored due to close association or direct pressure from the wind industry, the evidence is “out there” that there definitely are health impacts caused by the acoustic emissions from wind turbines.

We seize on Senator Day’s description of wind power as an energy “experiment”.  We have heard wind power described in this manner on several occasions previously, and the impacted families here at Macarthur align this description as an “experiment,” side by side with the Nuremberg code.

We are of the opinion we have been the “guinea pigs” with the “experiment” of AGL’s Macarthur wind energy facility, as have so many other rural Australians been used, in similar situations. Seehttp://waubrafoundation.org.au/resources/video-health-windfarms-experimentation-people/

Googling the Nuremberg Code Section 1, I read as follows –

“The voluntary consent of the human subject is absolutely essential. This means that the person involved should have legal capacity to give consent, should be so situated as to be able to exercise free power of choice, without the intervention of any element of force, fraud, deceit …..”

Section 4 reads –

“The experiment should be so conducted as to avoid all unnecessary physical and mental suffering and injury.”

However, we DID NOT GIVE OUR INFORMED CONSENT to this energy “experiment” at the Macarthur Wind Factory. We had NO CHOICE in the matter.

We request that this experiment ceases IMMEDIATELY and that in particular, as we have requested of AGL hundreds of times to no avail, the wind turbines are TURNED OFF AT NIGHT, so we can sleep, just as Justice Muse ordered in the Falmouth Court case in the USA:

http://waubrafoundation.org.au/resources/falmouth-mass-judge-muse-decision-shut-down-wind-turbines-causing-irreparable-harm/

The Amended Renewable Energy Target passed in the Senate last week will ensure possibly double the amount of wind turbines constructed during the next four years, in order to reach this new target. As a result of this, thousands more rural Australians will be sentenced to a life of pain and suffering (without their consent) particularly as these new turbines will be considerably higher than the monsters here at Macarthur, and have far greater generating capacity, emitting far greater infrasound.

Those persons impacted as a result of this “energy experiment” will suffer ongoing sleep deprivation, as our families suffer constantly. Our sleep deprivation is most likely to increase with the most probable construction (thanks to the new RET deal) of yet another enormous wind farm to the north and east of our properties (Penshurst), literally surrounding our homes and farming properties with 365 monster turbines of at least 3, and possibly 4 megawatts (4 mw turbines never having been used in Australia before).

Sleep deprivation is recognised as TORTURE, by the UN Committee against Torture.

“The Committee against Torture (CAT) has noted that sleep deprivation used for prolonged periods constitutes a breach of the CAT, and is primarily used to break down the will of the detainee. Sleep deprivation can cause impaired memory and cognitive functioning, decreased short term memory, speech impairment, hallucinations, psychosis, lowered immunity, headaches, high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, stress, anxiety and depression.”

The truth is emerging ….. countries such as the United Kingdom and Germany realise this and are taking action, whilst Australia is foolishly forging ahead with the very damaging Amended Renewable Energy Target, despite being warned ….. the consequences will be disastrous, both physically and financially, opening the door for what would appear to be, inevitable litigation.

Ann Gardner

Annie Gardner

Institute for Energy Research Tells the Truth About Renewables…

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One more time–fossil fuel based (coal fired) energy is the most affordable/efficient and it is clean

Posted on June 30, 2015 by  

You say could evil coal be clean enough–well it is.

And there is no air pollution risk that justifies the economic and human welfare damage that attaches to stupid renewables.

Nuke, Hydro, gas fired, coal in rank for emissions.

For affordable the ranks are hydro, coal, gas fired coal, gas, then the silly renewables like biomass, wind, with solar a dead last.

http://instituteforenergyresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/ier_lcoe_2015.pdf

The Beginning of the End….For the Corrupt Wind Industry!!

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Scots Go on the Offensive: Wind Power Outfits to be Sued & Wind Farms Shut Down Using Independent Noise Data

June 29, 2015 by

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As we pointed out in this recent post, the Scots are a tenacious bunch of lads and lassies:

Subsidies Scrapped: Scots Rejoice at Wind Industry’s Demise – Time for a Wee Highland Fling

Delighted with David Cameron’s win – which heralds the demise of the wind industry in the UK – Highlanders have turned their claymores on the calamity presently existing.

Thousands of bat-chomping, bird slicing, blade-chucking, pyrotechnic,sonic-torture devices have been speared across Scotland – destroying the ability of Scots to live in, use and otherwise enjoy their humble homes. Now, Scots are all set to turn the tables on their wind weasel tormentors – their weapon of choice: noise numbers.

Here’s a wee report from The Press and Journal on the Scots’ latest, and final, offensive.

Noise data new weapon in war on windfarms
The Press and Journal
Iain Ramage
22 June 2015

Protesters in the north are warning windfarm operators that some schemes could be shut down for breaching noise limits.

Highland activists are preparing to follow the lead of counterparts in England and Ireland who have collated extensive data they say proves that planning conditions have been flouted at a number of windfarms.

Campaigners in the north believe similar gauging of the industry in Scotland could open the floodgates for legal action against offending operators.

Sound estimates are usually carried out by developers as part of the groundwork for planning applications to give an indication of anticipated noise levels.

But there is currently no obligation to carry out monitoring once a scheme is built — at which stage councils merely respond to individual complaints about noise.

Residents living near a turbine development in Cambridgeshire have compiled what is thought to be the most comprehensive sound history of any UK windfarm.

Monitoring has taken place over two-and-a-half years, using industry-standard recording equipment to reveal what they claim have been regular breaches at the Cottonfarm scheme at Gravely.

Highland campaigners have seen the equipment operate and now plan to instal similar devices in the north. Bev Gray, 71, who worked in renewable energy before retiring, stopped holidaying in Scotland due to the spread of windfarms.

As an adviser to a residents’ group, he claims his local wind scheme – Cotton farm – is “one of the noisiest in the world”, based on data he gleaned by installing a £16,000 machine to measure the decibel output.

Residents there now want the equipment installed at every windfarm, at the owners’ expense, as part of planning conditions.

Mr Gray said: “Developer data is never tested because it’s always taken as being accurate.

“From a month’s worth of monitoring they take a minute’s worth of the lowest noise level to produce a figure.

“It’s part of the smoke and mirrors of an illusion that allows them to build windfarms close to homes.”

The Cotton farm scheme was taken over by a City of London investment group.

Spokesman Tom Rayner said: “Greencoat UK Wind has worked with the local environmental health officer to monitor noise levels and will continue to do so as required.”

Mr Gray said his data had been taken on board by the local authorities in south Cambridgeshire and would allow people to use “accurate information” as a basis for legal action.

“We’re gradually bringing the wind industry to account,” he said.

“At the moment they can do what the hell they like. Nobody can prove them wrong because the authorities aren’t monitoring things.”

Prominent Highland anti-windfarm campaigner Lyndsey Ward, from Beauly near Inverness, has visited Cambridge and Ireland to witness communities’ monitoring of various schemes. She said the move was prompted by plans tabled by ABO Wind for a turbine scheme at Allt Carach, south-west of Beauly.

She said: “The potential devastation on our lives from ABO Wind’s proposed 25-turbine development has forced us to research the noise issue in more depth.

“Our home would have the prevailing wind in direct line from the turbines. This is not just for us, but for others across Scotland.

“Sleep deprivation can lead to more serious illnesses. Why there’s no legislation to compel developers to constantly monitor their operations beggars belief.”

Tom Harrison, project manager with Inverness-based ABO Wind UK, said: “Allt Carach is still under investigation, therefore its planning submission is uncertain. We would always comply with any noise legislation or planning condition set by the relevant planning authority.

“Should a community have concerns over noise, after consultation with that relevant community, a decision as to whether noise monitoring equipment is required would be considered.”

On the plus side: Complaints ‘will be investigated’ and projects get ‘rigorous’ checks

Highland Council said last night it would investigate any complaints about noise levels at turbine developments.

An industry body insisted all projects were subjected to “rigorous” examination at the planning stage. A spokesman for the local authority said: “We seek to ensure that noise levels at a particular house nearby any turbine does not exceed minimum levels.

“Where there is a complaint this is investigated and, if necessary, a resolution sought to any breach of planning condition.”

Joss Blamire, of trade body Scottish Renewables, said: “All wind energy projects in Scotland go through a rigorous planning process that assesses the noise impacts of developments. Only those with acceptable impacts will be consented.”

Huntingdon District Council in Cambridgeshire plans to measure noise levels at Cottonfarm Windfarm after receiving a flood of complaints from residents in surrounding villages. The decision was prompted by evidence recorded by equipment installed by residents.

Locals argue the 413ft tall turbines were built too close to homes.

The sound of the turbines has been likened to that of an aircraft or helicopter in flight.
The Press and Journal

Before we turn to the tenacity and temerity of our Scottish brothers and sisters, we can’t help but notice the drivel pitched up by wind weasel advocate, Joss Blamire, where he blurbs about wind farm operations satisfying “rigourous planning processes”.

While it’s possible to refer to any “planning process” as “rigourous”, STT thinks that, in the general, we’re dealing in matters of degree, rather than absolutes. But when the benchmarks have been written by the applicant’s own team, the concept of “rigour” disappears, absolutely.

The wind industry has known about the debilitating impacts of incessant turbine generated low-frequency noise and infrasound for 30 years – getting its own to write noise ‘standards’ that deliberately excluded low-frequency noise and infrasound – allowing it to spear turbines within a stone’s throw of homes, and to run them around-the-clock:

Three Decades of Wind Industry Deception: A Chronology of a Global Conspiracy of Silence and Subterfuge

And, in that time, the wind industry has spent $millions pumping up pet acoustic consultants to lie, deceive and otherwise obfuscate the obvious – incessant night-time industrial noise kills a neighbour’s ability to sleep, which is itself an adverse health effect:

SA Farmers Paid $1 Million to Host 19 Turbines Tell Senate they “Would Never Do it Again” due to “Unbearable” Sleep-Destroying Noise

Sleep Deprivation the Most Common Adverse Health Effect Caused by Wind Turbine Noise

Wind Turbine Noise Deprives Farmers and Truckers of Essential Sleep & Creates Unnecessary Danger for All

Much easier to jump the hurdle, when you get to set the height of the bar.

Now to the Highlanders’ offensive.

With the rollout of more giant fans at an end, the Scots can now concentrate their forces on crushing their enemy where it stands. So much easier to destroy your adversary when the size of its force can no longer grow; its ‘supply’ lines have been cut; and it can no longer be reinforced.

In this battle, the good and righteous have always been outgunned: done in by political patsies, greased up by the beneficiaries of an endless stream of subsidies doled out by them. Now, however, the political tide has turned; the subsidies have been pulled to a halt; and the leeches have lost their subsidy-succour.

In their weakened state, wind power outfits will make easy prey for a group of dedicated, clever and rightly angry people.

When the malign and callous are called to account, their victims hold the choice between outright vengeance and mercy. The balance exercised depends on just how merciless were their antagonists when they held the whip hand.

In this case, it will only be the grace and inherent goodness of those whose lives have been wantonly destroyed that favours any kind of mercy.

Litigation is inevitable; compensation too. Injunctions will be granted and enforced – turbines will be shut down or removed.

Highlanders – like hard-pressed rural communities around the globe – have well and truly had enough.

Defence has turned to attack; outright victory is within reach. Wherever you are, no matter how dark the horizon seems, follow the Scots’ lead – keep fighting for what is rightfully yours. Never surrender.

Robert Browning pitched it right in Prospice: “For sudden the worst turns the best to the brave,”

winston-churchill-quotes

Bill Gates Admits that Wind & Solar are Not Suitable As An Energy Source… Spend $ On R&D!

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Switch green subsidies into R&D

It is interesting that there is no US media coverage of this perspective from Bill Gates.  This article comes from the UK.  The UK doesn’t utilize direct taxpayer subsidies like the USA, but instead has forced a “Feed-in Tariff” on the grid, forcing electricity costs to skyrocket.  This, in turn, has led to poor and working class people to endure what has been termed “energy poverty” such that they must sacrifice heavily on other things to try to keep the lights on.

Excerpts from the article:

“Retired software kingpin and richest man in the world Bill Gates has given his opinion that today’s renewable-energy technologies aren’t a viable solution for reducing CO2 levels, and governments should divert their green subsidies into R&D aimed at better answers.”

Gates refers to the cost of meeting electricity needs on renewables as “beyond astronomical”

“In Bill Gates’ view, the answer is for governments to divert the massive sums of money which are currently funneled to renewables owners to R&D instead. This would offer a chance of developing low-carbon technologies which actually can keep the lights on in the real world.”

Bill Gates scorns those ideologues who want to end all fossil fuels and run the world on wind & solar power in this interesting article.  Here is the link:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/06/26/gates_renewable_energy_cant…

Courageous Aussies Fighting The Windweasels….and Winning!

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Real concerns about turbines left blowing in the wind

Credit:  By Graham Lloyd, Environment Editor | The Australian | June 27, 2015 | www.theaustralian.com.au ~~

Each morning fine-wool grower Ann Gardner broadcasts her wind farm woes to an unreceptive world.

Politicians, shock jocks, journalists and anyone Gardner hopes will listen are included as recipients of uncomfortable missives that outline the “torture” of living next door to Australia’s biggest wind farm at Macarthur, Victoria.

Gardner is used to being ignored, unlike her neighbours, Hamish and Anna Officer, who routinely are quoted as model wind farm devotees.

Last week, as the deadline counted down for the revised renewable energy target agreement to be finally approved in federal parliament, the Officers again were displayed prominently on the front page of Fairfax newspapers rebutting the comments of Tony Abbott that wind farms were noisy.

As the Officers’ immediate neighbour, Gardner thinks she, too, should have been asked by Fairfax papers about the noise.

If she had been, the Fairfax reports could have disclosed that the Officers receive an estimated $480,000 a year for 25 years for hosting 48 turbines.

And, a Senate inquiry has been told, after spending lavishly on renovating their Macarthur homestead the Officers will soon be moving on and leaving their wind turbines behind.

The Officers, no doubt, have good reasons for moving. And the facts can easily be construed to suggest Gardner is simply jealous about the good financial fortune of her neighbours thanks to big wind.

But other evidence to the Senate inquiry from wind turbine hosts Clive and Trina Gare, who say they bitterly regret their decision to host turbines because of noise, undermine the widespread claims that only jealous neighbours have a problem with wind farm noise and health.

Gardner contends the failure to report the plight of the Gares or the full picture for the Officers is typical of the one-sided treatment the wind turbine issue has received.

She says much of the media has shown itself willing to misconstrue findings from the National Health and Medical Research Council and suggest research had cleared wind turbines of ill effects.

In fact, the NHMRC said only limited, poor-quality research was available and the issue of wind farms and health remained an open scientific question.

The NHMRC has called for tenders for targeted research with a particular focus on low-frequency noise and infrasound.

After receiving evidence from more than 500 people, the Senate inquiry, chaired by John Madigan, this month released an interim report recommending urgent steps to improve scientific knowledge about the health effects of wind turbines. This includes the creation of an independent expert scientific committee on industrial sound to provide research and advice to the Environment Minister on the impact on human health of audible noise (including low frequency) and infrasound from wind turbines.

The Senate committee also calls for a national environment protection (wind turbine infrasound and low frequency noise) measure.

It says to get access to the billions of dollars’ worth of renewable energy certificates, wind farm projects would have to adhere not only to the national wind farm guidelines but also with the National Environment Protection Measures.

In its deal to secure passage of the revised RET through the Senate, the federal government agreed to some of the Senate committee’s key interim demands.

Federal Environment Minister Greg Hunt says the agreement with the crossbench senators includes the appointment of a wind farm commissioner to receive complaints, make inquiries and to make appropriate findings.

The Clean Energy Council says it is “disappointed about moves to introduce further red tape on the wind sector, given the stringent and robust regulatory framework already in place for wind energy in Australia”.

However, CEC chief executive Kane Thornton says the industry will “work closely with the gov¬ernment to ensure these measures genuinely improve the regulatory framework and are developed based on credible scientific research by independent expert bodies”.

The issue of wind farms and health is not confined to Australia. The executive board of the German Medical Association is considering a motion from this year’s national congress calling for research on infrasound and low-frequency noise-related health effects of wind farms.

Like the NHMRC, the German Medical Association congress motion says there are no reliable and independent studies.

“Consequently, there is no proof that these emissions are safe from a health perspective,” it says.

Japanese researchers who have measured the brain waves of people exposed to noise from wind turbines have found “the infrasound was considered to be an annoyance to the technicians who work in close proximity to a modern large-scale wind turbine”.

And a new study by researchers from Oxford University’s Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine have found “the odds of being annoyed appear significantly increased by wind turbine noise”.

The research, published in Environment International, has found wind turbine noise significantly increases the odds of experiencing sleep disturbance, and results in lower quality of life scores.

The evidence flies in the face of wind industry claims that complaints have been confined largely to Australia and English-speaking countries where vocal lobby groups have reinforced each other’s dissatisfaction.

In fact, as Australia prepares to ramp up construction of thousands of new wind turbines to satisfy the RET, governments elsewhere are cutting back because of concerns about the cost and social cohesion.

The Finnish Energy Industries Association says the incoming government there effectively has “shut the door” on new wind farms.

Britain’s conservative government has pulled the brake on the UK’s onshore wind industry by closing its subsidy scheme a year early.
The move reportedly will stop about 2500 proposed turbines in 250 projects from being built.

Family First senator Bob Day, deputy chairman of the Senate committee that is undertaking public hearings, says in at least 15 countries people from all walks of life have come forward complaining about the health effects of wind turbines.

The complaints include nausea, blurred vision, vertigo, tachycardia, high blood pressure, ear pressure, tinnitus, headache, exacerbated migraine disorders, sleep deprivation, motion sensitivity and inner ear damage.

Current thinking is that the low-frequency noise impact from wind turbines is felt most acutely by people who are susceptible to motion sickness.

Publicly, the wind industry has an army of supporters ever ready to rubbish claims that wind farms can have any effect on health. But there is evidence the wind industry has known about the impact of infra¬sound for more than two decades.

The first documented complaints were made in 1979 by residents living 3.5km from an old model wind turbine in the US.

The residents described a “feeling” or “presence” that was felt rather than heard, accompanied by sensations of uneasiness and personal disturbance. The “sounds” were louder and more annoying inside the affected homes, they said.

NASA researchers found the wind turbine operation created enormous sound pressure waves and the turbine was redesigned from downwind to upwind, swapping the blade location on the tower.

The author of the NASA research, Neil Kelley, tells Inquirer modern turbines could have the same issues under certain conditions.

In September 1982, the results of NASA research on human impacts was provided to the wind industry. In 1985 the hypothesis was developed for infrasound-induced motion sickness and major NASA research on community annoyance from wind turbines was released.

But over the following decade wind farm noise regulations were developed that specifically avoided measuring low frequency noise.

This is despite the NASA research and the fact the harmful effects of low-frequency noise from other industrial sources have been firmly established and are well understood.

A federal Department of Resources, Energy and Tourism report into airborne contaminants, noise and vibration, published in October 2009, says “sound in the frequency range below 20 hertz is normally defined as ‘infrasound’ and can be heard (or felt) as a pulsating sensation and/or pressure on the ears or chest”.

The common sources of low-frequency noise and infrasound are large pumps, motors or fans and crushing circuits and screens.

The report says low-frequency noise can be particularly annoying and result in complaints many kilometres away from the source.

And because low-frequency noises between 20Hz and 200Hz propagate with minimal attenuation across large distances and transmit easily through building fabric, “it can be quite prominent inside residences”.

The report does not refer to wind turbines but it accurately describes many of the complaints that are being made.

Hunt says the federal government will act in good faith on the Senate inquiry recommendations when the final report is made public in August.
Done properly, the Senate committee recommendations should go to the heart of complaints being made by wind farm neighbours such as Gardner.

They want real-time monitoring of noise, including low frequency and infrasound. And if limits are exceeded they want the turbines shut down, particularly at night.

One thing is certain: when the wind farm commissioner takes up the position there is a good chance they will be receiving plenty of correspondence from Gardner.