Monthly Archives: December 2016

Cost Benefit, Direct Effects, Turbines & Property Devalue

Electricity Costs Kills Belgium Hall

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You Wynne We Lose. Sign outside Delhi Belgium Hall

Electricity Costs bring down Delhi Community Hall

It is claimed wind projects bring many economic benefits in a green economy to society but in reality they are killing the economic viability for many community groups. Expensive renewable energy contracts are a driving force pointed at as responsible for escalating the costs of electricity beyond sustainability.  Green ideology tearing apart the binding fabric of our communities one after another and another.

Club gives tip of the hat to Premier Wynne

By Monte Sonnenberg, Simcoe Reformer Thursday, December 29, 2016 6:15:22 EST PM

There will be no more banquets, wedding receptions, concerts, trade shows or public meetings at the Delhi Belgian Hall for the foreseeable future.

However, the Shields & Friends Lounge in the lower level of the sprawling complex will continue receiving patrons and serving drinks into 2017.

That according to the bar’s manager Kim Starling. Starling was hired in October soon after the Belgian Club announced it was pondering its future in the face of punishing utility bills and declining rentals.

In late October, the club executive announced that its financial problems were insurmountable and that the historic property would be sold.

They weren’t bluffing. Today, a sign is posted out front advertising the 30,000-square-foot building for sale. The asking price, according to the realtor’s website, is $899,000.

There is also a second sign out front expressing the club’s bitterness over skyrocketing electricity prices and what that has done to the hall’s viability as a community centre.

The sign says: “Hydro One 2016: $49,559. You Wynne, We Lose.”

Some of the hall’s monthly hydro bills this year were as high as $5,700. Even with 1,200 members, the club concluded it can’t go on carrying a burden like this.

The timing of the hydro whammy is especially unfortunate. The hall’s heating-ventilation-air conditioning system needs to be replaced. The building’s electrical system also needs updating.

If the club finds a buyer, Starling hopes the hall can continue forward in its current format.

“That would be nice,” she said Friday. “That’s how I’d like it to be. I’d hate to see the building go.”

In its promotional literature, realtor CBRE Ltd. of London says the 1.78-acre package has a lot of potential uses.

CBRE notes that 360 James Street has a service commercial zoning. In Norfolk County, this allows for a wide range of commercial applications.

The property, CBRE adds, comes with a “large lot with plenty of excess land for parking or further development.”

The Belgian Hall was founded in 1948 as a meeting place for the wave of Belgian families that settled in this part of southern Ontario after the Second World War. The hall earned a reputation in southern Ontario in the 1970s as a premier showcase for up-and-coming rock bands.

Acts that performed at the Belgian Hall include Ronnie Hawkins, Rush, Lighthouse, The Stampeders, April Wine, Max Webster, Blood, Sweat & Tears, and Bachman-Turner Overdrive.

MSonnenberg@postmedia.com

READ AT: http://www.simcoereformer.ca/2016/12/29/club-gives-tip-of-the-hat-to-premier-wynne

Fighting the NRWC Wind Project, Green Energy, Media stories...

Boralex buys out Enercon in Niagara Wind

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60BE1C5E-4CA2-4E53-ABDD-BC0778470EF3Who now owns Niagara Wind? That is a constantly evolving answer.  Boralex has bought out Enercon Canada’s interest in the Niagara Wind project located in West Lincoln, Haldimand and Niagara region.  The deal was recently reported in the December 28, 2016 Financial Post article titled “Analysts bullish on Boralex Inc after wind farm deal” http://business.financialpost.com/investing/trading-desk/analysts-bullish-on-boralex-inc-after-wind-farm-deal?__lsa=e557-003e

 

 

Cost Benefit, fighting big wind., Green Energy, Unite the Fight!

Big Oil turns on to wind power

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swindle-bus-311Big oil and its relationship to wind power is not new for opponents of wind turbine projects. Community groups opposing harmful impacts of wind power will enviably face inaccurate accusations they are puppets funded by big oil masters. Careful examination of parent companies of wind facilities in Ontario find the limited partnerships are often cleaved from entities using fossil fuel power generation as its principle source for profit making. Electricity made in these companies power plants is done mainly by using fossil fuels (such as natural gas). It has been claimed that the big oil incorporations not only follow the lure of subsidies but they also helped to create the current political stage and renewable energy policies.  This in turn fuels the spin of green energy money markets. Following the money it is clear making money remains the primary goal. Managing the marketing of big oil’s image held by consumers makes how electricity is generated just an after thought.

“It remains unclear if offshore wind can be a steady moneymaker without government support, which besides tax credits and minimum rates can include guaranteed access to power grids.”

Oil producers turn to wind power 

Credit:  Zeke Turner, Sarah Kent | Dow Jones | December 27, 2016 | www.theaustralian.com.au ~~

The Netherlands wants to build the world’s largest offshore wind project, and an unlikely company is helping: Royal Dutch Shell.

The oil-and-gas giant is facing shareholder pressure to develop its renewable business. Add in falling construction costs for such projects, and Shell has decided to join a handful of other oil companies aiming to leverage their experience drilling under punishing conditions at sea.

Norway’s Statoil is already building its third offshore wind farm, in the Baltic Sea, and is developing the world’s first floating wind farm off the east coast of Scotland. Denmark’s state-owned Dong Energy – once a fossil-fuel champion – is now the biggest player in the offshore wind market.

A Shell-led consortium won a bid this month to build and operate a portion of the Netherlands’ giant Borssele wind project in the North Sea. Once complete, the Shell-built section will generate enough power for roughly a million homes at a price of €54.5 ($A79.20) per megawatt hour – a customer rate approaching that of cheaper power sources like coal or gas.

Offshore wind’s competitiveness is highly subject to local power prices and government measures, including tax credits, subsidies and rate guarantees. Nonetheless, in European markets, the wind industry had thought near parity was years away.

“Right now the offshore wind project is competitive with any power source,” said Dorine Bosman, Shell’s manager developing its wind business.

Offshore windpower projects involve driving steel foundations into the sea floor for towers that support building-size turbines with propellers wider than the wingspan of an Airbus A380. Though historically more expensive to build than onshore wind farms, offshore projects can take advantage of less restricted space and stronger, more consistent winds.

The technological arms race to build these complex projects economically is so heated that many companies, including Shell, won’t disclose how much they are investing, treating their commitments like a trade secret.

Fossil-fuel companies’ push into wind reflects their growing sensitivity to global efforts to limit climate change and how that will affect consumer demand for their main offering: oil and gas.

France’s Total wants 20 per cent of its portfolio to consist of low-carbon businesses within the next 20 years. Shell established a new division this year focused on investing in sources such as wind, solar and biofuels. Statoil has a $US200 million fund for projects such as wind technology and batteries.

Investments by big European oil companies in wind and other renewable energy sources remain small – around 2 per cent of their overall capital-spending budgets, according to McKinsey. The industry is cautious about betting big on alternatives after getting burned in the past.

It remains unclear if offshore wind can be a steady moneymaker without government support, which besides tax credits and minimum rates can include guaranteed access to power grids.

“It should be the ambition of everybody to not have subsidies,” Ms Bosman of Shell said.

Lower costs – brought on by technological improvements, economies of scale and low interest rates – are helping move the sector in that direction. Earlier this year the windpower industry was targeting a price of €100 per megawatt hour by 2020; subsequently three auctions of project rights this year in the Netherlands and Denmark settled on rates below that level.

Shell previously pulled back from involvement in offshore wind that proved unprofitable and says it will be primarily an oil-and-gas supplier for decades to come. But the improving economics of wind power have prompted the company to dip its toe back in the water, joining others in crowding the heavily subsidised specialists that once dominated the sector.

Dong Energy has sold off a large portion of its fossil-fuels business, including five Norwegian oil and gas fields, and now has 29 per cent of the world’s built offshore wind capacity, according to spokesman Tom Lehn-Christiansen. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. took an ownership stake in Dong Energy in 2014, and the company went public in June.

Statoil has invested $US2.1 billion since 2010, or about 20 per cent of a single year’s capital budget, in offshore wind parks. After two years of whipsawing oil prices, offshore wind’s relatively stable prices are dreamlike for oil executives, said Irene Rummelhoff, Statoil’s executive vice president for renewables.

Even Exxon Mobil, which hasn’t put the same emphasis on renewables, has dabbled with the technology, with the idea of using floating wind turbines to help power its offshore oil and gas platforms.

Although solar power is expected to be the fastest-growing renewable energy source over the next five years, the International Energy Agency forecasts offshore wind capacity will triple by 2021. While that will remain below 1 per cent of global capacity, the growth prospects are particularly attractive in regions such as Northern Europe where sunlight is in short supply for half the year.

Japan, China, India and Taiwan are all poised to place bets on offshore wind now that its cost is coming down, according to the industry group Global Wind Energy Council.

In the US, President-elect Donald Trump has been sceptical of wind power, warning of its cost, unsightliness and risks to wildlife. However, Texas was a forerunner of onshore wind energy in the US under the watch of former governor Rick Perry, Mr Trump’s pick to lead the Energy Department.

Offshore wind in the US got a boost this month when the country’s first park went online off the coast of Block Island, Rhode Island. Days later, Statoil won a bid for a potential project in the Atlantic Ocean south of Long Island – its first offshore wind lease in the US.

Jeffrey Grybowski, CEO of Deepwater Wind, which developed the Block Island project, said the oil companies will face a tougher landscape in the US compared with Europe because of bureaucratic hurdles and fewer incentives.

“We think our competitors are going to have a lot to learn,” he said.

Dow Jones Newswires

Source:  Zeke Turner, Sarah Kent | Dow Jones | December 27, 2016 | www.theaustralian.com.au
Direct Effects, Health, Noise

Wind Turbine Noise Conference 2017

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noise-sensitive

Noise made by industrial wind turbines will be generating a lot of discussion at the upcoming international conference May 2017 in Rotterdam.

noise-wave

Wind Turbine Noise 2017

Abstracts Accepted 2017

Here is a list of abstracts submitted for WTN 2017 in alphabetical order of lead author.

Presentations will be either oral, poster or part of a workshop session. The type of presentation will be notified when the full paper is accepted.

You can also download a PDF here

Managing tonality during the planning, design and construction of a wind farm. Justin Adcock, Christophe Delaire, Daniel Griffin, Alex Morabito.

Noise measurement on a Small Wind Turbine preliminary results. Mariano Amadio.

Trailing edge serrations – effect of their flap angle on flow and acoustics. Carlos Arce León, Roberto Merino-Martínez, Daniele Ragni, Stefan Pröbsting, Francesco Avallone, Ashish Singh, Jesper Madsen.

An investigation into the effect of wind shear on the noise emission of modern wind turbines. Payam Ashtiani, Duncan Halstead.

Airfoil noise reduction using active flow control. Mahdi Azarpeyvand, Mate Szoke, Weam Elsahhar, Yannick Mayer.

Investigation of Amplitude Modulation Noise with a Fully Coupled Noise Source and Propagation Model. Emre Barlas, Wei Jun Zhu, Wen Zhong Shen, Kaya Dag, Patrick Moriarty.

Windfarm noise assessment methodologies comparison: UNI 11143-7 and ISPRA guidelines. Different approaches, results, features. Andrea Bartolazzi, Michela Spizzichino.

Pre-construction Site Prediction Tool for Wind Farm AM – Do We Now Know Enough?. Jeremy Bass, Andrew Birchby.

Wind turbine noise – an overview of current knowledge and perspectives. Andrea Bauerdorff, Steffen Körper.

Coupled wind turbine noise generation and propagation – A numerical study. Franck Bertagnolio.

Wind turbine noise prediction using Olive Tree Lab. Alexis BIGOT, Panos ECONOMOU, Costas ECONOMOU.

The influence of aero-elastic coupling on rotor sound predictions. Remy Binois, Thomas Klemme, Sascha Erbsloeh.

Annual analysis of sound propagation from a boreal wind park. Karl Bolin, Ilkka Karasalo, Esbjörn Olsson.

Developing and presenting a unique and innovative acoustic installation template to offer a spatial, frequency and calibrated reproduction of a wind turbine noise to the public.. Dominique Bollinger, Xavier Falourd, Lukas Rohr.

Efficient tools for assessing the emergence, audibility and masking potential of wind turbine noise by background noise. Dominique Bollinger, Xavier Falourd, Romain Feuz, Patrick Marmaroli.

An Investigation into Short-Term Fluctuations in Amplitude Modulation of Wind Turbine Noise. Ian Bonsma, Nathan Gara, Brian Howe, Nick McCabe.

Wind turbine noise measurement in controlled conditions. Koen Boorsma, J.G. Schepers.

Use of the Acoustic Camera to accurately localise wind turbine noise soiurces and their Doppler shift. Stuart Bradley, Michael Kerscher,, Torben Mikkelsen.

The Challenges and Benefits of Long-Term Noise Monitoring of Wind Farm Sites. Ethan Brush, James Barnes, Marc Newmark, William Yoder.

Characterizing the acoustic noise from wind turbines by using the divergence of the sound pressure in the ambient. Valentin Buzduga, Alexandru Buzduga.

An Experimental Parametric Study of Airfoil Trailing Edge Serrations. Thomas H. CAROLUS, Farhan A. MANEGAR (Univ Siegen) ; Elodie THOUANT (ECL) ; Kevin VOLKMER (Univ Siegen) ; Isabelle SCHMICH-YAMANE (EDF).

A scoping study on assessment practices for noise impacts from renewable technologies in Scotland. Matthew Cassidy, Susanne Underwood (Land Use Consultants), Nick James (Land Use Consultants). .

Numerical Prediction of DU96 Airfoil Self Noise using Detached Eddy Simulation. Kenan Cengiz, Yusuf Özyörük.

Application of the UK IOA Method for Rating Amplitude Modulation. David Coles, Tom Levet, Matthew Cand.

Sound propagating from wind turbines in winter conditions. Kristina Conrady, Anna Sjöblom, Conny Larsson.

Variation in wind turbine sound power measurements. Jon Cooper, Tom Evans.

Using long term monitoring for noise assessment of wind farms. Eugène de Beer. . Australian Criteria for C-weighted Wind Farm Noise Levels. Christophe Delaire, Justin Adcock, Daniel Griffin, Lachlan Deen.

The different evaluation-methods of the wind farm noise in Switzerland – computer models/in-situ measurements. Victor Desarnaulds, Ronan Fécelier, Dimitri Magnin.

Comparison of Sound Propagation Models for Offshore Wind Farms. Guangsheng (Sam) Du, A.D. Lightstone, Joseph Doran.

Perceptual aspects of wind-turbine noise. Pierre Dutilleux.

Wind turbine noise assessment by regression tree analysis.. David Ecotière.

Wind turbine noise at neighbor dwellings, calculations versus measurements.. Rune Egedal, Lars Sommer Søndergaard, Morten Bording Hansen.

Wind turbine noise: Sound power level measurements 3.0. Leon Eilders, Eugène de Beer.

Vertical directivity observations based on statistics of low frequency tonal components measured at downwind and upwind locations.. Xavier Falourd, Dominique Bollinger, Romain Feuz, Patrick Marmaroli.

Effects of Individual Pitch Control on Amplitude Modulated Noise. Chris Feist, Matt Lueker, Bill Herb, Peter Seiler, Daniel Ossmann.

Modeling and localizing low frequency noise of a wind turbine using an array of acoustic vector sensors. Daniel Fernandez Comesaña, Krishnaprasad Ramamohan and David Perez Cabo.

Investigation of turbulence interaction noise generated in wake operation. Andreas Fischer, Helge Aagaard Madsen, Franck Bertagnolio.

Assessment of WTN by separating residual noise without the farm shoutdown. Luca Fredianelli, Paolo Gallo, Gaetano Licitra, Diego Palazzuoli, Stefano Carpita.

Comparison of the IOA method and Japanese F-S method for quantitative assessment of amplitude modulation of wind turbine noise – A study based on the field measurement results in Japan. Akinori Fukushima, Hideki Tachibana.

Low-frequency micro-seismic radiation by wind turbines and it’s interaction with acoustic noise emission. Theodore V. Gortsas, Zieger, Toni; Triantafyllidis, Theodore; Kudella, Peter; Ritter, Joachim; Polyzos, Demosthenes

Comparison of Measured and Modelled Wind Turbine Noise in Indian Terrain. ARIVUKKODI GUNASEKARAN, Dr.S.Gomathinayagam, Dr. S.Kanmani.

An investigation into correlation between stron wind turbine amplitude modulation and environmental conditions. Duncan Halstead, Payam Ashtiani, Adam Suban-Loewen.

The occurrence of nocturnal wind farm rumbling noise. Kristy L Hansen, Branko Zajamsek, Colin H. Hansen.

Annoyance caused by amplitude modulated wind turbine noise, a study carried out with real far- field recordings of amplitude modulation. Morten Hansen, To be determined.

LOW FREQUENCY TONES AND BUILDING ELEMENTS. Malcolm Hayes.

Human response to wind turbine noise: infrasound and amplitude modulation. William Herb, Peggy Nelson, William Herb, Matt Lueker, Jeff Marr, Noah Stone, John Wachtler.

Low-frequency noise incl. infrasound from wind turbines and other sources. Lorenz Herrmann, U. Ratzel, O. Bayer, K.-G. Krapf, M. Hoffmann, J. Blaul, C. Mehnert.

Predicted and Measured Trailing-Edge Noise Emission for a 2.3 MW Wind Turbine. Cordula Hornung, Christoph Scheit, Christian F. Napierala, Matthias Arnold, Andree Altmikus, Thorsten Lutz.

The Institute of Acoustics Reference Method for Rating Amplitude Modulation. Gavin Irvine. .

Epidemiological Study on Long-Term Health Effect of Low-Frequency Noise Produced by Wind Power Stations in Japan. TATSUYA ISHITAKE, KUNIO HARA, YOSHITAKA MORIMATSU, TATSUHIKO KUBO, YOSHIHISA FUJINO.

Partial masking and the perception of wind turbine noise in ambient sounds. Anders Johansson, Karl Bolin.

Wind Turbine Rotor Noise Prediction and Reduction for Low Noise Rotor Design. Mohammad Kamruzzaman, Jeremy Hurault, Kaj Dam Madsen.

Comparison of measured and calculated noise levels in far distances of wind turbines. Ulf Kock, Arno Trautsch.

International Legislation and Regulations for Wind Turbine Shadow Flicker Impact. Erik Koppen, Mahesh Gunuru.

Cotton Farm Wind Farm long term community noise monitoring 3 years on: testing compliance and AM control methods.. Sarah Large, Stigwood, Mike; Stigwood, Duncan.

Long-term experimental campaign on an operating wind turbine for trailing edge serrations verification. Irene Lauret-Ducosson, Albert ALARCON, Isabelle SCHMICH YAMANE.

Why do some people feel that they are “made ill” by wind turbine noise. Geoff Leventhall.

Frequency Content of Measured Wind Farm Noise Levels in Comparison to Background Noise Levels. Tom Levet. . Presenting insights from shadow flicker compliance monitoring. Peter Longbottom.

Putting the IOA preferred AM assessment method and the penalty into practice – an outlook for future developments of wind farms in the UK. Krispian Lowe, Sylvia Broneske.

ASSESSMENT OF THE ERROR BETWEEN MEASURED AND PREDICTED NOISE LEVELS FROM WIND FARMS. Luc SCHILLEMANS Luc SCHILLEMANS, Marc VAN CAILLIE, Colin LE BOURDAT, Simon COURRET

Simulated low frequency wind turbine noise from wake operation. Helge Aagaard Madsen, Franck Bertagnolio, Andreas Fischer.

High Fidelity Airfoil Trailing Edge Noise Predictions via Lattice-Boltzmann Simulations. Farhan Ahmed Manegar, Thomas Carolus, Sascha Erbslöh.

Perceptual confusion between an 8-Hz tone plus 125-Hz tone mix and an 8-Hz amplitude- modulated 125 Hz tone. Torsten Marquardt.

Development of an Airfoil Inflow Noise Prediction Tool. Alexandre Martuscelli Faria, Marcos de Mattos Pimenta.

Accurate Prediction of Noise from Aerofoils with Serrated Trailing Edges. Yannick Mayer, Benshuai Lyu, Hasan Kamliya Jawahar, Mahdi Azarpeyvand.

A COMPREHENSIVE HAMILTONIAN RAY TRACING TECHNIQUE FOR WIND TURBINE NOISE PROPAGATION UNDER ARBITRARY WEATHER CONDITIONS. Sterling McBride, Ricardo Burdisso.

Acoustic measurements of a wind turbine cambered airfoil with flow-misaligned serrations in a closed wind tunnel test section. Roberto Merino-Martinez, Wouter van der Velden, Francesco Avallone, Daniele Ragni.

Measurement Techniques for determining Wind Turbine Infrasound Penetration into Homes. Andy Metelka, Andy, Metelka.

A single aggregated exposure response relationship for all magnitudes of annoyance toward multiple wind turbine features. David Michaud, Leonora Marro.

Evaluation of Wind Turbine Noise in Japan. Mimi NAMEKI, Hitomi KIMURA: Hiroya DEGUCHI: Nobuo MACHIDA; Hideki TACHIBANA.

Analysis of sound emission by using amplitude modulation components of wind turbine noise. Yasuaki Okada, Shinya Hyodo, Koichi Yoshihisa, Teruo Iwase.

Wind Turbine Noise Dose Response – Comparison of Recent Studies. Isaac Old, Kenneth Kaliski.

The Variation of WTN Limits Across the United States – Should there be a Bright Line. Christopher Ollson.

A Rigorous Method of Addressing Wind Turbine Noise. William (Bill) K.G. Palmer.

Addressing a management strategy of Wind Farms Noise Control in Chile. José David Parra Cuevas, Igor Valdebenito, Víctor Hugo Lobos.

Assessment of commercial codes for the prediction of wind turbines noise. José David Parra Cuevas, Enrique Suárez.

Background Noise Variability Relative to Wind Direction, Temperature, and Other Factors. Patricia Pellerin, Kristjan Varnik, Erik Kalapinski, Kevin Fowler.

A REVIEW OF RESEARCH INTO THE AMPLITUDE MODULATED COMPONENT OF WIND TURBINE NOISE AND DEVELOPMENT OF A CONTROL METHOD FOR IMPLEMENTATION IN THE UK. RICHARD PERKINS, Michael Lotinga, Bernard Berry, Colin Grimwood, Stephen Stansfeld.

Acoustic Directivity Pattern of Multi-Megawatt Wind Turbines. Benoît Petitjean, Drew Wetzel, Roger Drobietz, Jonathan Luedke, Kevin Kinzie.

Impact of noise from suburban wind turbines on human well-being. Fei Qu, Jian Kang, Aki Tsuchiya.

MEASUREMENT OF NOISE IN WINDFLOW. Per Rasmussen.

Real atmospheric propagation makes blade passage harmonics audible. Werner Richarz, Harrison Richarz.

The development and limits of the German shadow flicker guidelines. Peter Ritter.

A new characterization of wind turbine noise from Life Cycle Assessment. Andrea Rivarola, Pablo Arena, Héctor Mattio. Aeroacoustic simulation of multiple wind turbine source interaction. Xavier Robin, Cesar Legendre, Diego Copiello.

Variation of wind induced non-turbine related noise due to position, shelter, wind direction and season. Lars Sommer Søndergaard, Rune Egedal, Morten Bording Hansen.

Verification and Validation of the QBlade Airfoil Trailing-Edge Noise Prediction Module. Joseph Saab, Marcos de Mattos Pimenta, José Roberto Castilho Piqueira, David Marten, Geoarge Pechlivanoglou, Christian Navid Nayeri, Christian Oliver Paschereit

iEar dynamic acoustic windfarm curtailment. Jérémy SCHILD, Vincent CHAVAND.

Origin, Transfer and Reduction of Structure-Borne Noise in Wind Turbines. Lukas Schneider.

Wind turbine sound predictions: Literature survey, model assessment and case study on the effect of blade elasticity. Leonard Schorle, Thomas Carolus, Sascha Erbslöh.

Wind farm design including noise contraints. Javier Serrano González, José Miguel Riquelme Dominguez, Jesús Manuel Riquelme Santos, Manuel Burgos Payán.

Modelling activities in wind turbine noise generation and propagation at DTU Wind Energy Wenzhong Shen, Wei Jun Zhu, Emre Barlas, Harald Debertshauser, Jens Noerkaer Soerensen, Franck Bertagnolio, Andreas Fischer, Helge Aagaard Madsen.

Wind turbines in hilly terrain – response of residents to sound disturbance related to sound and meteorological measurements. Anna Sjöblom, Conny Larsson, Kristina Conrady.

Tonal noise mitigation on wind turbines. Jutta Stauber, Brett Marmo, Donald Black, Mark-Paul Buckingham.

Experience of reviewing wind farm noise assessments for Scottish local authorities and the implementation of the IOA Good Practice Guide to the Application of ETSU-R-97 for the Assessment and Rating of Wind Turbine Noise. Steve Summers, Graham Parry.

An Update on the Prediction, Assessment and Compliance of Wind Farm Noise in Australia. Peter Teague.

A case study of how to involve impacted neighbors in measuring and characterizing windfarm noise. Sveinulf Vagene.

A ‘social review’ of wind turbine noise. Frits van den Berg, John Bolte.

Variations in measured noise emission of wind turbines due to local circumstances. Wim van der Maarl, Eugène de Beer.

Small Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine: Aeroacoustic and Aerodynamic Optimization of Airfoil and Blade. Kevin Volkmer, N. Kaufmann, T. Carolus.

Extended simulations of wind noise contamination of amplitude modulation ratings. Sabine von Hunerbein, Paul Kendrick; Trevor Cox.

Influence of Harmonic Phases on Subjective Response to Periodic Infrasonic Pulses. Bruce Walker, Joseph Celano.

Computational Aeroacoustics of Small Vertical Axis Wind Turbines by Applying a Hybrid Approach. Johannes Weber, Matthias Tautz, Andreas Hüppe, Stefan Becker, Manfred Kaltenbacher.

Objectify wind turbine noise complaints by longterm sound measurements. Friedrich Wilts, Thomas Neumann.

The visual effects of wind turbines in Japan. Takashi Yano, Sonoko Kuwano, Hideki Tachibana.

An Amplitude Modulation Noise Measurement and Analysis for IEEE P2400 Standard Project. Xiang Ye, Dr. Xue, Yu.

Subjective experiments on the perception of tonal component(s) contained in wind turbine noise. Sakae Yokoyama, Tomohiro Kobayashi, Hideki Tachibana.

HEARING AT LOW FREQUENCIES IN THE PRESENCE OF INFRASOUND. Branko Zajamsek, Peter Catcheside, Gorica Micic, Kristy Hansen, Colin Hansen.

MORE INFORMATION: https://www.windturbinenoise.eu/content/conferences/1-wind-turbine-noise-2017/2017-abstracts/

Contracts Cancelled, Cost Benefit, Green Energy, Ontario Wind

Ontario Christmas Lights

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Do you like my Christmas lights? 

black-background

Oh Sorry.  I live in Ontario and can’t afford to turn them on.

D’Amato: Hydro woes will finish Liberals

Dec 14, 2016 Waterloo Region Record   By Luisa D’Amato 

 “Do you like my Christmas lights?” asks the latest joke circulating on social media.

The sentence is written in white on an imposing inky-black background. It’s puzzling for a moment as you stop to ask yourself where the lights are.

But then you get it. At the bottom of the black square is the punchline: “Oh sorry, I live in Ontario and can’t afford to turn them on!”

What is it with fuel and the Liberals, anyway? The political career of former Premier Dalton McGuinty was dashed by his party’s decision five years ago to cancel planned natural-gas plants in Oakville and Mississauga, costing Ontarians more than a billion dollars.

Today, high electricity prices are doing the same thing to the political career of Premier Kathleen Wynne. Out-of-control prices have put a chokehold on small businesses, the engines of job creation. Moreover, some families are forced to use dangerous portable heaters because they don’t have access to their electricity. It’s a crisis.

Politicians in power devote a lot of time and energy toward pretending that nothing is wrong, when it really is. But when you watch televised newscast clips of Wynne (whose approval rating is now at the lowest of any premier in Canada, at 16 per cent), you can see how rattled she seems to be.

While it’s touching that she takes responsibility, the politicians don’t quite seem to understand the significance of what’s happening. In one videotaped interview I saw, Energy Minister Glenn Thibeault agreed it must be “disconcerting” to have the power cut off because you can’t pay.

Not exactly, minister. “Disconcerting” is when someone else beats you to those prized theatre seats in front row mezzanine. Not being able to pay your hydro bill is a whole different thing. It’s crushingly stressful. It’s soul-destroying.

The opposition gets it. Both the Conservatives and New Democrats regularly pound the Liberals on this topic in the Ontario Legislature. New Democratic Party leader Andrea Horwath was in Cambridge on Tuesday to meet with a woman who struggles to pay hydro bills.

Think about why costs are soaring and you encounter the fatal flaw of the 13-year-old Liberal government. It meant well. But there’s a big difference between having a grand visionary outlook and actually being able to manage something.

Give McGuinty credit for dreaming up the idea that we could put people back to work and help save the environment. He thought it would create jobs for Ontario to produce wind turbines and solar panels. As an incentive, the government offered lots of money to buy the power back. That’s part of what put prices up so high, so quickly.

There’s more. The difference between low market prices and the higher prices promised to these new producers of wind and sun energy is called the “global adjustment charge.” Between 2006 and 2015, we paid an unnecessary $50 billion subsidizing this vision, Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk says.

That subsidy accounts for 70 per cent of consumers’ electricity rates in 2013. But the difference between the market price — what we would be paying if the Liberals had left well enough alone — and the global adjusted rate isn’t clear on our bills. Lysyk says it should be. The government, unsurprisingly, wants to leave it murky. Because obfuscation is all they’ve got left.

ldamato@therecord.com

READ AT: http://www.therecord.com/opinion-story/7018820-d-amato-hydro-woes-will-finish-liberals/#.WFoJO-S5h8k.twitter

Corruption, ERT Appeal, fighting big wind., Government Misrepresentation, Green Energy

Falsified Dates for FOI Requests

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vive-a-la-resistance-2One of the skills  acquired in fighting  wind turbines is how to obtain and extract information held by the Ontario government using Freedom of Information (FOI) requests.  Information that should be freely accessible without obstruction but is not.  Knowledge is power and who controls the data controls the known story.

Details of wind projects, bird and bat kills by wind turbines, negative impacts to environment, and  even how many people have filed complaints about adverse health effects are within the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change’s jurisdiction. Information and data held, protected and only released reluctantly in bits and pieces with persistent repeated requests. The process is convoluted, bureaucratic and most importantly time consuming.   The time involved enables strict time lines applied in appeal hearings at the Environmental Tribunal Review.  The government has an expected service response time of 30 days and if not met the delay must be given with a justified explanation.  That is not what has happened.

“…auditors concluded dates “were systematically adjusted by staff” in the FOI office to show completion of requests within the 30-day requirement period.”

A recent audit shows the MOECC failed in its duties and has been changing the dates of FOI requests. The government has lied by falsifying the dates. MOECC has now been caught begging the question what else has also been falsified?

Ontario environment ministry deliberately falsified dates on FOI requests: https://www.thestar.com/news/queenspark/2016/12/19/ontario-environment-ministry-deliberately-falsified-dates-on-foi-requests.html

Commissioner Beamer’s Response December, 19, 2016

 

Contracts Cancelled, Cost Benefit, Green Energy, Ontario Wind

Is the FIT really Dead?

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zombie.pngThe flames of political fires are blowing hot shifting winds of change creating a scorching backdraft for Ontario’s renewable energy program. The Minister of Energy’s latest directive spells out the end of FIT application procurement (feed -in -tariff). FIT 6 is to be pronounced dead as of  the end of December.

“The final FIT application period will be held in 2016. The IESO shall cease accepting applications under the FIT program by December 31, 2016 and any unallocated procurement target at the end of that procurement process will remain unallocated”

A tiny step heading in the right direction. It is never too late to do the right thing and is on the right path of cancelling wind contracts.

Minister of Energy- Glen Thiebault’s December 16, 2016 Directive:

 

 

Animals and turbines, Destruction from turbines

Wind Deaths Deplorable

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birds-and-turbines-1

Regarding the article Raptor kills exceeded by wind project (Dec. 16), so there are specific numbers of deaths of birds, bats and raptors that constitute “acceptable” losses? Collateral damage? Just a cost of doing business in pursuit of green energy? Cripes!

Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change? What a sick, oxymoronic joke that is. Are these flying creatures not part of the environment, and therefore worthy of protection? Almost everything this careless government does now shocks and saddens me, but none of it surprises me because I have come to expect the worst of people presently in positions of authority.

Dave Plumb

Published -Letters to the editor: Dec. 19  The London Free Press: http://www.lfpress.com/2016/12/18/letters-to-the-editor-dec-19

Bird & Bat Mortality Reports-Ontario Wind Projects: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B24A4SH_cewXV0VhTENxTGp3LVk

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Red Tail Hawk Killed at a Haldimand Wind project
Cost Benefit, Green Energy, The problem with Wind Turbines, Turbines run on Subsidies

Ontarians Are Not Confused

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mackay-cartoon-dec-15-16
Mackay  Editorial Cartoons

http://mackaycartoons.net/2016/12/14/thursday-december-15-2016/

December 14, 2016
Hamilton Spectator

OEB actions paternalistic

Last month, the Ontario Energy Board decided to protect rate payers from knowing how much the Liberal government’s cap-and-trade policy would add to their monthly gas bills.

Now the OEB has decided to relieve us of the burden of knowing how much the government’s electricity policies are affecting our monthly hydro bill.

The OEB, it seems, is worried that too much information may confuse the average Ontario taxpayer. At least that’s how they responded to Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk’s request that hydro bills be changed to increase “the awareness and transparency” of the impact of the so-called “global adjustment charge.”

The global adjustment is an extra charge that is levied to cover the gap between the guaranteed prices the Liberal government promised electricity generators in 20-year contracts and the actual market rates.

Lysyk has estimated that global adjustment accounted for 70 per cent of consumer electricity rates in 2013. If so, that’s something that should be plainly disclosed on every hydro bill.

For the OEB to contend that further transparency would only confuse ratepayers is highly paternalistic, if not down right arrogant.

Give us the information. If we get confused, we can call and ask for clarification.

Liberal Energy Minister Glenn Thibeault has again refused to intervene on behalf of the auditor general or the taxpayer on the basis that the OEB is an independent quasi-judicial regulatory body.

That’s very convenient. Thibeault may not have the power to order the OEB to change their ways … but perhaps he can at least ask. He has the power to do that.

As it is, it’s getting harder for the public to take the claim of OEB independence seriously.

Who could possibly benefit from burying the cost of the Liberal’s questionable energy policies … other than the Liberal government?

Graham Rockingham

Hamilton Spectator: http://www.thespec.com/opinion-story/7020499-oeb-actions-paternalistic/

Adverse Health Effects, Health, Health effects from wind turbines, Noise

Researchers respond to paid wind consultants

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dscn1004
Carmen Krogh presenting her research at a Primary Health Care provider conference

Independent researchers Carmen Krogh and Dr McMurtry  provide a detailed response in the December 2016 edition of  Noise & Health publication to Dr McCunney’s et al critical commentary of the peer reviewed and published paper- Diagnostic criteria for adverse health effects in the environs of wind turbines.

“The content of the article by McCunney et al. suggests that its authors may not have understood the procedure presented for diagnosing patients suffering from ‘annoyance’ and the ‘well-known stress effects of exposure to noise’. While this response does not address all the weaknesses contained in the analysis by McCunney et al., it is our hope it will help clarify understanding of this diagnostic tool. We invite readers to explore the work of McMurtry and Krogh, and as always we welcome constructive commentary.”

Response to McCunney et al.: Wind turbines and health: An examination of a proposed case definition.  http://www.noiseandhealth.org/article.asp?issn=1463-1741;year=2016;volume=18;issue=85;spage=399;epage=402;aulast=McMurtry

Diagnostic criteria for adverse health effects in the environs of wind turbines. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25383200

McCunney RJ, Morfeld P, Colby W D, Mundt KA. Wind turbines and health: An examination of a proposed case definition. Noise Health 2015;17:175-81; http://www.noiseandhealth.org/article.asp?issn=1463-1741;year=2015;volume=17;issue=77;spage=175;epage=181;aulast=McCunney