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“This is a sad picture of me in the garden, which is about 1360 feet from one of the turbines. Gardening used to be fun and relaxing. Now it creates tenseness, anger, anxiety and nausea”—Gerry Meyer

—Gerald Meyer, Brownsville, Wisconsin (nowindforme@fastbytes.com)

Our family lives on County Road Y in Brownsville, Wisconsin.

• Turbine # 4 is 1560 feet behind my house.
• Turbine # 3a is about 500 feet mostly east and a little north of turbine #4.
• Turbine #6 is about ¾ of mile to the northwest of our home.
• Across the road, mostly south and slightly west is turbine #73 at a distance of 2480 feet.
• Down the hill to the west is turbine #74a which is about ¾ of a mile away.

We can hear all five of these turbines, which first went online in March 2008, at various times.

The following is a log of our experiences with wind turbine noise for the last several days of February 2009.

February 25, 2009—5:30 AM I did not sleep well at all last night. There were turbine sounds in the bedroom. I felt a little nauseated.

I woke up several times and I was just plain restless. Yes, I’m sure this is from the 5 industrial turbines 1560 feet to three quarters of a mile from our house. Wind out of the south, 8 knots, dbA 45.8, dbC 71.3.

Loud jet sound from Turbines 4, 3a, 73 & 6 in order of loudest.

Hats off to our town officials who supported this without regard to the health and safety of its residents in the name of money. This also goes to the county, state and Public Service Commission. I believe the Department of Natural Resources had a hand in this, as this agency is co-author of the environmental impact statement.

After I wrote this entry my wife was up and told me she did not sleep well. She was up due to the sound and or low frequency noise, and read a book for part of the night. She said it was really loud in the back room.

I don’t always include my wife’s testimony. She has problems every night sleeping. 

11:25 AM Wind out of the south, 12 knots, 18.3 rpms. Misting. Loud jet sound. I just got home from Chicago O’Hare Airport and heard the sound like a low flying helicopter lifting a heavy load. In the house there are thumping sounds everywhere, especially upstairs in the sewing room. Very tense and sickening.

February 26, 2009—6:30 AM Wind out of the south. Jet sound. My wife said she had a restless night. Our 14 year old son also said he did not sleep well. That is not a surprise, as the turbines sounds were loud last night when we went to bed.

9:30 AM wind out of the north at 20 knots, gusts to 27. I can hear the turbines over the sound of the strong wind.

9:10 PM I hear turbine thumping coming from the east side of the house. That could be because the outside air is just plain saturated with sound and vibration or because the only turbine east of the house is 7/8 mile away and unusually loud.

11:05 PM. I’m still hearing the thumping sound of the industrial wind turbines from inside our house.

February 27, 2009—6:50 AM Wind out of the north, 18.3 rpms. Loud jet sound even over the strong wind.

9:40 AM loud thumping sound upstairs where I [Mrs. Meyer] am trying to sew even with a portable radio 16″ from my foot.  Not a relaxing atmosphere while trying to sew.

9:45 PM Wind out of the northeast. Loud jet sound. It was this way all day.

February 28, 2009—6:40 AM Wind from the north, 8 knots, 11 rpms. Fairly quiet whooshing sound, yet certainly audible and having an effect on the body.

10:15 AM Wind from the north, 11 rpms. Fairly quiet sounds.

5:10 PM Wind from the north, calm. No turbines turning.

For those tuning in to reading my daily diary, when the turbines are not turning there is a whole different feeling from when they are turning slow or at 11 rpms. At 11 rpms there still is low frequency noise, or a vibration, that still affects a person’s body and health and well being. When there is more wind and more rpms the noise is much louder and often over 50 decibels (A) and, more important, 75 decibels (C).  The C-weighting measures the low frequency sound that often is not heard yet felt by your body. Those times are next to unbearable.

The only time there is peace and a good feeling and the mood to smile is when no turbines are turning for awhile. Those times are extremely rare in winter.

Winter is worse than summer because there are no leaves on the trees to suppress or absorb the sound. Snow is hard and reflects the sound to make conditions worse. Don’t believe the statement, “Snow is an insulator and will absorb the sound.” Snow insulates the ground, but does not absorb sound. 

The worst days in winter are after freezing rain is on the trees and ground. On those days the  air is filled with loud turbine sounds, worse than any other day.

While working outside late this afternoon I felt really good and uplifted. I noticed all 86 turbines were not turning.

8:50 PM Wind from the north, 13.6 rpms. Sound is like that of a motor under a heavy load.

Click on Brownsville Diary (PDF) for the entire diary, beginning March 2008 through April 2009.