Webinar: Comparing Strongly Annoyed Individuals with Symptoms near U.S. Turbines to Those in Surveyed European Communities

Fourth in a four-part series on results from a Berkley Lab-led effort to characterize and help explain attitudes toward local wind power projects in the US.  Data were collected randomly from 1,705 homeowners living within five miles of 250 U.S. wind power projects across 24 states with a focus on individuals within close proximity of the turbines (e.g., < 1 mile) who often evade data collection because they are so few in number. These data represent the first nationwide survey of wind power project neighbors in the United States and the largest such survey conducted in the world to-date.

This webinar will focus on: an investigation of individuals that are “strongly” annoyed (i.e., annoyed with symptoms), and compare results between this U.S. study and other studies in Europe, to examine differences and correlates.

Strongly annoyed respondents are individuals who are very, moderately or somewhat annoyed and report having symptoms. The symptoms include “being in a bad mood,” “anger,” “lack of concentration,” “difficulty falling asleep,” and “otherwise not sleeping well”, which must have a frequency of at least monthly and be attributed to the turbines. This “strongly annoyed” group is compared to four other groups: cannot hear the turbines, not at all annoyed by sound, slightly annoyed, and somewhat annoyed (i.e., annoyed without symptoms). Compared to the other groups, strongly annoyed individuals have more negative attitudes toward the local wind project, and more chronic health problems (not related to the wind turbines). They are less satisfied with the planning process and more annoyed by it. They live near larger wind projects. The strongest predictors, when combining them in a regression, are “present attitude toward the local wind project” and “annoyed by planning process”. Distance from the nearest turbine, A-weighted sound levels (dBA), and stated noise sensitivity are not correlated. A similar mean level of annoyance to sound is found in European results.

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