Are wind farms causing harm to cognitive functioning? Balancing between health and clean energy

Wind turbine, Photo: Viniane6276, Pixabay

Wind farms are a substantial source of clean energy needed for green transformation. Is the noise they produce harmful for people and nature or not?

Clean energy from various renewables may decrease dependence on fossil fuels as a major energy course. There are several ways to get the so-called green electricity. One of them includes wind farms. These include large or small fans located in places with favorable weather conditions that stipulate strong enough and continuous wind. However, it does not mean they are completely oil-free as large turbines need some of this fuel or other power. Equally, the capacity, i.e, the amount of electricity produced by the single one substantially increased. Off-shore turbines work more effectively, but at the same time they are a challenge for migrating birds.

Differing noise tolerance

Yet, some time ago those fans’ turbines generating the electricity caused huge noise, in particular, when they were large at a specific speed of spin. This is why their location was and still is important, as too loud noise measured in decibels may cause health and functioning problems. The same speed of fans should be adequate to the strength of the wind. The height of the fan and the number of fans in the turbine, as well as the size of the entire wind farm, matter for birds. Although they have their migration paths rather stable, what makes it possible to locate a wind farm in a distance on the land, they still may feel confused due to the generated noise and thus lose their route more easily on the sea. Noise tolerance for humans and birds varies as there are larger and smaller seas.

Now, scientists of the University of Adam Mickiewicz in Poznań in a recent study published in the journal ,,Nature” call for a new approach in research on the impact of wind turbine noise on human functioning. Based on the most recent studies, it is impossible to conclude whether the impact of wind turbine noise on physical-mental health is objective or merely a socio-culturally constructed stressor. However, Poland-based scientists thought they managed to catch a sign of worsening of cognitive state dependent on the time of noise exposure.

The length of exposure

A deterioration in TBR by 0,04 has been observed (from 1.15 to 1.19, t = 2.273, df = 42, Tukey’s p = 0.028). TBR is s a widely recognized biomarker for cognitive control (EEG). What is a paradox, lower TBR indicates a higher level of attentional. Therefore, a decrease in TBR is indicative of an enhancement in cognitive functioning, whereas an increase in TBR suggests a decline in cognitive performance. However, the change in TBR over the entire measurement duration merely showed a trend (F1,42 = 3.296, p = 0.077, η²p = 0.073) toward worsening – according to scientists. Moreover, the longer is the time of measurement, i.e. exposure for noise, the deterioration of cognitive state could be, but not necessarily stronger.

The scientists analyzed a single wind turbine impact recorded outdoors at one of the wind farms located near Poznan, Wielkopolska Region in Poland. Participants of the study were not informed about the purpose of the experiment as scientists’ intention was to objectively asses the link between health and the noise. Scientists obtained approval for the experiment from The Ethics Committee of the Faculty of Educational Studies at Adam Mickiewicz University and adhered to the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki. The authors of the study include Agnieszka Rościszewska, Maciej Buszkiewicz, Gabriela Dobrzyńska-Kobylec, Anna Klichowska, Tomasz Przybyła, Blanka B. Nagy, Andrzej Wicher, Michał Klichowski.