National Wind Watch: Documents » Ireland http://www.wind-watch.org/documents http://www.wind-watch.org/nwwlogo-white-50.jpg National Wind Watch: Documents » Ireland http://www.wind-watch.org/documents 100 40 Industrial Wind Resource Library, from National Wind Watch Wed, 27 Aug 2008 12:07:50 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6 en Documents Wind power Wind energy Yvonne Sheehan’s daily diary 2008, Part 2 Thu, 01 May 2008 21:40:59 +0000 01 May 2008 Sheehan, Yvonne Noise diary update, Jan. 31 to Feb. 17, 2008, Rock Chapel, Co Cork, Ireland.

Download “Yvonne Sheehan’s daily diary 2008, Part 2″

Click here for Part 1.

]]> http://www.wind-watch.org/documents/yvonne-sheehan%e2%80%99s-daily-diary-2008-part-2/ http://www.wind-watch.org/documents/?p=847 Documents Wind power Wind energy Update: Yvonne Sheehan’s daily diary 2008 — Part 2 Tue, 19 Feb 2008 15:12:10 +0000 19 Feb 2008 Sheehan, Yvonne This continued report from Yvonne Sheehan’s nightmare includes many sound readings showing high levels of low-frequency noise.

January 31 — February 17, 2008

Download “Update: Yvonne Sheehan’s daily diary 2008 — Part 2″

Also see Yvonne Sheehan’s daily diary January 2008.

]]> http://www.wind-watch.org/documents/update-yvonne-sheehan%e2%80%99s-daily-diary-2008-%e2%80%94-part-2/ http://www.wind-watch.org/documents/update-yvonne-sheehan%e2%80%99s-daily-diary-2008-%e2%80%94-part-2/ Documents Wind power Wind energy Yvonne Sheehan's daily diary January 2008 Sat, 02 Feb 2008 22:24:24 +0000 02 Feb 2008 Sheehan, Yvonne List of illness that I am suffering:

Pain in ears and all down jaw. Hearing in right ear almost none. Pain in muscles and joints. Headaches. Dizziness. Vertigo. Loss of concentration. Stress. Depression. Very short tempered, Anger flare-ups. Pains in chest and excessive wind, (this causes me to be short of breath). Disturbed sleep. Constantly being woke at night. Unable to get to sleep. Very tired due to lack of sleep. No energy. Numbness and Tingling in the fingers and constantly dropping things. Lesions (see pictures). I need to empty my bowels about 5-6 times a day as opposed to my usual once per day. Some days I cannot function at all and it is an effort to just go to the toilet. Nausea, High-pitched whistle in ear, Blurred vision (new glasses have not rectified this problem). Results of blood test have shown up small amount of cholesterol and B12 deficient – This is my body not digesting the food and the reason why I am going to the toilet so often. …

Sample sound level readings both dbA and dbC, are included. “If the dBC is higher than dBA then there is a lot of low frequency.”

Download “Yvonne Sheehan’s daily diary January 2008″

Click here for Part 2.

Also see Ms. Sheehan’s introductory letter here at National Wind Watch.

]]> http://www.wind-watch.org/documents/yvonne-sheehans-daily-diary-january-2008/ http://www.wind-watch.org/documents/yvonne-sheehan%e2%80%99s-daily-diary-january-2008/ Documents Wind power Wind energy Turbine related illness Sun, 27 Jan 2008 21:17:37 +0000 27 Jan 2008 Sheehan, Yvonne To one and all,

My name is Yvonne Sheehan and I moved to Rock Chapel Co Cork Ireland 3-1/2 years ago. No planning of turbines in sight. Now I have to put up with 11 massive ones and am going through hell. My symptoms are as follows:

Headaches all the time, whooshing sound and pain in my ears and all down my jaw, nausea, dizziness, vertigo, tingling of the fingers, pain in muscles and joints, loss of concentration, tiredness due to lack of sleep, short tempered, depressed, constantly bumping into things (part of the dizziness), dropping things, burping. Blurred vision (new glasses have not solved the problem). My grandson who lives with me is suffering also — he now has a whooshing in the ears, blurred eye sight and lack of concentration. I have tried just about everyone I can think of and am now monitoring the noise myself as the council say there is no limit to the amount of noise they can make and low frequency noise my life is unbearable and my peace and quiet shattered. Does anyone out there know of a doctor who is willing to listen and to take action for and on my behalf I am desperate.

Many thanks for reading my story.

Yvonne Sheehan

See Ms. Sheehan’s January 2008 diary here at National Wind Watch.

]]> http://www.wind-watch.org/documents/turbine-related-illness/ http://www.wind-watch.org/documents/turbine-related-illness/ Documents Wind power Wind energy KLADEA documents on wind turbine impacts Tue, 15 May 2007 13:34:01 +0000 15 May 2007 Schorn, Brigitte Wind Energy is not free, clean and green energy, as we have been led to believe.
The minimal electricity contribution from wind turbines comes at a huge cost not just in financial terms, but also in terms of the immeasurable irreversible damage this industry does to:

  • People’s Health and Quality of Life (see all reports)
  • Wildlife (see Ireland and UK report)
  • Our environment (see all reports)
  • Property prices (see all reports)
  • Tourism (see Germany report)

From our extensive research conducted over the past 14 months, we have selected the attached reports describing the devastating effects of turbines in 4 different countries. The stories make for alarming reading.

[Brigitte Schorn represents KLADEA, Knockraha Leamlara and District Environmental Association, in County Cork, Ireland.

Download “KLADEA documents on wind turbine impacts”

]]> http://www.wind-watch.org/documents/kladea-documents-on-wind-turbine-impacts/ http://www.wind-watch.org/documents/kladea-documents-on-wind-turbine-impacts/ Documents Wind power Wind energy Windfarm Developments on Blanket Bog Fri, 29 Dec 2006 18:44:30 +0000 29 Dec 2006 Phillips, John A cautionary tale from Derrybrien, Co Galway, and pointers for safeguards needed when similar developments are proposed for the United Kingdom –

A substantial bogslide took place at Hibernian Wind Power’s 71-tower wind farm at Derrybrien, Co Galway on 16 October 2003 when nearly half a million tonnes of peat, boulder clay and vegetation slumped from an area of felled plantation forest. Two weeks later, following heavy rainfall, a stream in spate churned the peat into a mobile slurry and cascaded it into the nearby Owendalulleegh river. This carried it a further 15km into Lough Cutra, a Special Area of Conservation (SAC) and a Special Protection Area (SPA).

There were no casualties or damage to private property but roads were closed and bridges put at risk. The local Fisheries Board estimated that 50,000 fish in the SAC were killed by the slide. Reports commissioned by the local authority and the developer both highlighted construction activity as the main cause of the bogslide and the site’s developer and contractor were fined for pollution offences.

Following intervention by local environmentalists, the European Union’s Environment Commissioner is now prosecuting the Irish government for breaches of Directives explicitly related to the case.

… the author argues that it is not possible to construct an environmentally valid case for any industrial development, whether for electricity generation or other purposes, on blanket bogs.

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]]> http://www.wind-watch.org/documents/windfarm-developments-on-blanket-bog/ http://www.wind-watch.org/documents/windfarm-developments-on-blanket-bog/ Documents Wind power Wind energy Politics of Peat Fri, 29 Dec 2006 18:37:58 +0000 29 Dec 2006 Scottish Wind Assessment Project (SWAP) Lessons from the Derrybrien landslide

One of Ireland’s largest wind-power sites is the Electricity Supply Board (ESB) scheme on Cashlaundrumlahan, the highest, at 368m, of the Slieve Aughty Mountains in Co Galway. A 71-turbine, 60 MW project built on 850 acres of blanket bog, it lies about a kilometre north of Derrybrien, near Gort. …

Three months into the project, on October 16 [2003], about half a million tonnes of bog began to slide from a turbine base on the south of the site down the hillside towards the Portumna-Derrybrien road before coming to a halt two days later about 1.5 km from its point of origin. (See map, page 6.)

Following heavy rain on October 28, the displaced peat again began to move. Contractors moved in at dawn to erect check dams and tried to divert water from the slide channel but to no effect. Uprooting thousands of trees, the displaced peat continued to slide into waterways east of the village before pouring into the nearby Abhainn Da Loilioch river. This carried the debris about 15 km downriver into Lough Cutra. Several hundred acres of farmland were despoiled and the fishery authorities reported that 50,000 fish choked on the sludge.

In the aftermath, the ESB and the local authority published reports acknowledging that site construction activity was to blame. ESB’s engineering arm and the site contractor received small fines for pollution offences. Community campaigners, frustrated by what they saw as official indifference to the issues raised by the case, appealed to the European Union’s Environment Directorate-General to intervene. With a robustness that took many by surprise, the Commissioner has commenced legal proceedings against the Irish government, describing the incident in January 2005 as ‘an environmental disaster’. The case is ongoing. …

It is not generally understood even by many developers, that peat is an organic soil which, when disturbed, tends to dry out over time. This process releases significant quantities of CO2 to atmosphere. Opinions differ as to the extent of this oxidation but even conservative calculations suggest a conflict between the stated aims of wind-power development (reduction of CO2 emissions) and the reality of their construction on peatland.

Nor is it acknowledged that the extensive drainage without which the turbines cannot be erected on peat soils both reduces the stability of the habitat and leads to its degradation over time. As Lindsay & Bragg show, the attempt to construct Derrybrien without drainage failed and the site has since been aggressively drained. The experience was similiar at Cefn Croes (see pages 27-29). It is disappointing that environmental lobbyists
are reticent on this.

In a similar vein, strident denunciations in Holyrood and elsewhere of those who voice concerns about peatslide suggest a degree of possibly dangerous complacency on the part of some decision makers. They contrast with the proper public scrutiny that followed other landslides in Scotland in recent years.

Download “The Politics of Peat”

]]> http://www.wind-watch.org/documents/politics-of-peat/ http://www.wind-watch.org/documents/politics-of-peat/ Documents Wind power Wind energy Wind energy planning guidelines Fri, 22 Sep 2006 18:37:06 +0000 22 Sep 2006 Irish Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government These guidelines from Ireland outline the very many impacts to be considered in siting a wind power facility. Their recommendation for noise limits at neighboring residences is 5 dB(A) above the ambient level, or where the ambient level is below 30 dB(A) an absolute limit of 35-40 db(A). They suggest the limits be much lower at night.

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]]> http://www.wind-watch.org/documents/wind-energy-planning-guidelines/ http://www.wind-watch.org/documents/wind-energy-planning-guidelines/ Documents Wind power Wind energy Impact of Wind Power Generation In Ireland Fri, 11 Aug 2006 15:57:49 +0000 11 Aug 2006 ESB National Grid This study by the Irish grid manager finds that the benefits of wind-generated power are small and that they decrease as more wind power is added to the system. Their model generously assumes that all energy produced from wind facilities would be used and did not consider output fluctuations within time periods of less than an hour.

They describe three problems that mitigate the benefits of wind power:

» large amount of extra energy required to start up thermal generators that would otherwise not have been turned off
» mechanical stresses of more frequent ramping of production levels up and down
» increased prices of energy necessary to pay for any lower usage of thermal plants.

Wind plants add more capacity (requiring more infrastructure) with almost no reduction of non-wind capacity, the latter of which must be used more inefficiently than otherwise. As for CO2 reduction, the study concludes,

“The cost of CO2 abatement arising from using large levels of wind energy penetration appears high relative to other alternatives.”

Their model generously assumes that all energy produced from wind facilities is used and disregards output fluctuations within time periods of less than an hour. And they did not consider at all the environmental toll of expanded industrial wind development.

Download “Impact of Wind Power Generation In Ireland”

]]> http://www.wind-watch.org/documents/impact-of-wind-power-generation-in-ireland/ http://www.wind-watch.org/documents/impact-of-wind-power-generation-in-ireland/