The interest and development of wind power has soared in recent months. Wind farms have gained a great deal of media attention as well as the controversy some have ignited. Another battlefield has emerged as interest in small wind projects to provide energy for homeowners has increased.
A conflict has arisen in a suburb of Minneapolis over a homeowner’s right to erect a wind turbine in a residential area. Neighbors have objected to its construction, which may be nothing new. However, an unexpected barrier to developing wind power has surfaced with city officials and local ordinances. City officials find themselves in the uncharted waters of the legality of small wind projects based on current city codes.
These types of battles threaten to increase as more individuals take charge of their own energy needs. Similar legal fights have occurred in Door County, Wisconsin and Logan County, Ohio. In the later case, state law left the matter to local officials because the size of the operation did not meet a minimum threshold to involve the state.
The questions regarding large-scale wind farms have been tossed back and forth. The development of small wind projects, however, demands more scrutiny regarding human health impacts because of the proximity of wind turbines to dwellings. These questions must be answered before development proceeds.
The Logan County case raised three human health concerns regarding wind power: audio impacts, visual impacts and physical impacts. A literature review by the Ohio Department of Health revealed compelling evidence of negative human health effects.
While some information is anecdotal, the concerns are valid. Perhaps the most striking evidence comes from the a 2006 National Academy of Medicine in France report, which recommended that wind turbines be located no less than one mile from dwellings.
Researchers should heed the controversy stirred by small wind projects as a direction for future development that addresses human health concerns. Aesthetics and wildlife impacts aside, these questions represent a formidable barrier to deployment of wind energy that validates the doubts expressed by local officials. If wind energy is to be viable on a small-scale, the industry must take the lead with assuaging these fears.
