Seminar September 22, 2017 Scotland

Programme

7:00 pm Tea and Coffee served

7:30 pm Melvin Grosvenor, of the UK Independent Noise Working Group (INWG) will introduce.

• “How Wind Turbines Create Infrasound” by Dr John Yelland, Independent Acoustician
• “Infrasound and Low Frequency Noise: A Public Health Nightmare” by Professor Mariana Alves-Pereira, Lusofona University, Lisbon, Portugal.

Q & A Session

Doors close at 10:00 pm

All Welcome; admission is £7.50 per person. Tickets and Registration at:
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/a-seminar-on-wind-turbine-noise-tickets-37006124314

Seminar Introduction:

The noise from wind turbines built close to homes may cause their occupants irritation and distress, but cannot possibly explain the serious adverse health effects that many communities are now experiencing. These include vertigo, nausea, fatigue, pounding in the head or chest, nose bleeds. There is already abundant evidence that the true cause of such symptoms is not the audible turbine noise at all; it is the very high levels of infrasound emitted by the turbines. The wind energy industry consistently denies this, and claims that wind farm neighbours allow the intensity of their dislike of turbines due to "non-acoustic factors" to psychologically cause them "enhanced annoyance". SSE (Scottish and Southern Electricity) have, by building even larger, more powerful wind turbines so close to the communities of Fairlie and Millport, provided even stronger evidence that the harm from wind turbine infrasound is physiological, not psychological.

Information about Dr John Yelland

Dr Yelland is an Oxford physicist and acoustician who has spent most of the current decade representing local communities at Council determination meetings, and has appeared as an expert witness at Planning Inspectorate Hearings and Public Inquiries. He is one of the few independent acousticians with the ability and facilities to defend local communities against inappropriate wind energy planning applications, not only by challenging flawed noise impact assessments but also by submitting compliant noise impact assessments. John is currently deeply concerned by the wind industry's continuing refusal to acknowledge the mounting evidence of the suffering and harm caused by wind turbine infrasound to local residents, and by the seeming inability, or unwillingness, of both local and central government to offer any useful mitigation or guidance. He is acoustic consultant to the UK Independent Noise Working Group, and often works with Melvin Grosvenor.

Information about Professor Mariana Alves-Pereira

Dr Mariana Alves-Pereira of the Lusofona University in Portugal has degrees in physics, biomedical engineering and a PhD in environmental science. Her team has been researching vibroacoustic disease since 1980 – initially focused on the low frequency noise (LFN) that impacted aeronautical technicians.

Late in 2013, Dr Alves-Pereira presented a case study from Portugal where a family was found to be exposed to LFN caused by the operation of nearby wind turbines (2006-2013). On-Off testing showed the increase in LFN inside the home was indeed associated with turbine operation. Medical tests showed the people who were living inside the home had impaired brain function in relation to responding to stimuli as well as their control of breathing.