LETHBRIDGE- Wind turbines create enough energy to power more than one million homes a year in Canada, but for some living close by, it also creates a headache.
According to Health Canada, residents living in close proximity to wind turbine facilities have complained of headaches, sleep disorders, anxiety and depression.
An instructor in the Wind Turbine Technician program at Lethbridge College, Ron Papp, tells Global News, the devices don’t generate a lot of noise that you can hear, but it’s what you can’t hear that could be the problem.
“It’s call infra sound. It’s sub audible. Animals use this type of sound for communication like whales and elephants. Normal human hearing is 20 hertz to 20, 000 hertz, and this is below 20,” he adds.
Health Canada and Statistics Canada have now teamed up for a study to help determine whether exposure to those low frequency noises and vibrations have a negative impact on health.
Beginning in May, officials will visit roughly 2, 000 homes within 10 kilometers of a wind turbine.
They’ll conduct interviews, take noise measurements and study participants blood pressure and hair samples over a three month period.
Dr. David Michaud with Health Canada is leading the study and says it’s not often you hear about using hair analysis but is less invasive and is more efficient for this particular study.
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“The hair analysis allows us to get a picture of a long term stress response. So every centimeter of hair from the scalp outwards represents 30 days of cortisol,” he adds.
Industry expert’s stress the devices are a safe and green source of energy but the President of The Canadian Wind Energy Association says that doesn’t mean the study will fall on deaf ears.
In a statement Robert Hornung writes; “CanWEA will be taking more time to review the revised Health Canada study design in more detail before coming to any formal conclusion on its ability to contribute to a greater scientific understanding of these issues. While Health Canada has indicated that the revised design and study details have been posted for informational purposes only, we will not hesitate to bring to Health Canada’s attention any significant concerns that remain with the revised approach.”
Results of the study are expected to in by late 2014.
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