Green MLC tests wind farm sleep effects
05-06-2013
A Greens Member of the Legislative Council in South Australia has spent a night sleeping in a controversial wind farm, in response to complaints from local residents that the sound generated by the turbines overnight was a sleep depriving noise pollution. Mark Parnell, who is a member of a parliamentary wind farm monitoring group, slept in a tent in the Waterloo wind farm and reported his experience the following day.
Some residents in the township gave objected to the renewable energy instalment, complaining that the turbines create excessive noise and vibration.
“In some ways it reminded me of camping down at Port Elliot and places by the sea where you have got this constant drone of noise in the background,” Mr. Parnell told 891 Breakfast. “I don't doubt for one minute the experience that these people have, the symptoms that they feel, the lack of sleep, the buzzing in their head. What is problematic is trying to ascertain whether there is medical evidence that these symptoms are caused by wind farms. What we do need to do is make sure that when new wind farms are being sited, they're located in a way to minimise adverse impact."
Residents have invited Mr. Parnell to spend a further night in the township, in a house that has been abandoned by a resident due to the purported effects of the wind farm.
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