Effect of Wind Farm Noise on Local Residents' Decision to Adopt Mitigation Measures.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Botelho A
PROVIDER: S-EPMC5551191 | biostudies-other | 2017 Jul
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other
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Project description:The purpose of this paper is to provide a high level, holistic overview of the work being undertaken in the wind energy industry. It summarises the main techniques used to simulate both aerodynamic and structural issues associated with wind turbines and farms. The motivation behind this paper is to provide new researchers with an outlook of the modelling and simulation landscape, whilst highlighting the trends and direction research is taking. Each section summarises an individual area of simulation and modelling, covering the important historical research findings and a comprehensive analysis of recent work. This segregated approach emphasises the key components of wind energy. Topics range in geometric scales and detail, ranging from atmospheric boundary layer modelling, to fatigue and fracture in the turbine blades. More recent studies have begun to combine a range of scales and physics to better approximate real systems and provide higher fidelity and accurate analyses to manufacturers and companies. This paper shows a clear trend towards coupling both scales and physics into singular models utilising high performance computing system.
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Project description:Study objectivesTo investigate the association between self-reported and objective measures of sleep and wind turbine noise (WTN) exposure.MethodsThe Community Noise and Health Study, a cross-sectional epidemiological study, included an in-house computer-assisted interview and sleep pattern monitoring over a 7 d period. Outdoor WTN levels were calculated following international standards for conditions that typically approximate the highest long-term average levels at each dwelling. Study data were collected between May and September 2013 from adults, aged 18-79 y (606 males, 632 females) randomly selected from each household and living between 0.25 and 11.22 kilometers from operational wind turbines in two Canadian provinces. Self-reported sleep quality over the past 30 d was assessed using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index. Additional questions assessed the prevalence of diagnosed sleep disorders and the magnitude of sleep disturbance over the previous year. Objective measures for sleep latency, sleep efficiency, total sleep time, rate of awakening bouts, and wake duration after sleep onset were recorded using the wrist worn Actiwatch2® from a subsample of 654 participants (289 males, 365 females) for a total of 3,772 sleep nights.ResultsParticipant response rate for the interview was 78.9%. Outdoor WTN levels reached 46 dB(A) with an arithmetic mean of 35.6 and a standard deviation of 7.4. Self-reported and objectively measured sleep outcomes consistently revealed no apparent pattern or statistically significant relationship to WTN levels. However, sleep was significantly influenced by other factors, including, but not limited to, the use of sleep medication, other health conditions (including sleep disorders), caffeine consumption, and annoyance with blinking lights on wind turbines.ConclusionsStudy results do not support an association between exposure to outdoor WTN up to 46 dB(A) and an increase in the prevalence of disturbed sleep. Conclusions are based on WTN levels averaged over 1 y and, in some cases, may be strengthened with an analysis that examines sleep quality in relation to WTN levels calculated during the precise sleep period time.
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