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I just had to check this and with a bit of clicking around and searching I think I found most of the areas the article is writing about. If you really want to,

I just had to check this and with a bit of clicking around and searching I think I found most of the areas the article is writing about. If you really want to, click this link: https://overpass-turbo.eu/s/1fZE https://overpass-turbo.eu/s/1fZE (but be gentle because I don't know how well the overpass APIs scale...) Here you can see the northernmost turbine in the area, the one also closest to Petries, mentioned in the caption of the top picture: https://i.imgur.com/8rBjHbp.png https://i.imgur.com/8rBjHbp.png That's here: http://umap.openstreetmap.fr/en/map/mesure-distance_315118#16/38.3647/24.1850 http://umap.openstreetmap.fr/en/map/mesure-distance_315118#1... That's just about 660m away from the next village. That's starting to be uncomfortably close in terms of noise indeed. Way to make sure you'll have justified opposition right there. *sigh* I'm not very sympathetic to the visual complaints -- car infrastructure already ruins many a landscape, I actually don't mind the turbines -- but the noise argument I agree with; proper distance (adapted to the geography) must be maintained. Edited to fix overpass link

amatecha 5y ago
I was curious about this subject and found a video[0] of a couple whose house is about the same distance (1600 feet or 487 meters)... In this case the turbine even casts a shadow on their home and property which is SUPER jarring. I'm not sure people realize but wind turbines are pretty darn loud (check at 2:55 in the video), that's exactly what they sound like at times. There's honestly zero excuse to build something that loud anywhere within audible range of peoples' homes. [0] https://invidious.snopyta.org/watch?v=f7DQ3SgSg0c https://invidious.snopyta.org/watch?v=f7DQ3SgSg0c
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- pasabagi 5y ago
  How does that compare in dB to a road? PS: checked it out myself, from some light googling: Road decibel levels are about 55 dB (averaged over a day) for about 30% of the EU population. Wind turbines are supposedly 43 decibels if they are within a few hundred meters of a house. I guess it probably varies a lot depending on the turbine in question.
  - themaninthedark 5y ago
    Difference is that road noise would be varying and mostly abate at night. Wind turbine noise would be constant with wind speed at all hours.
    - pasabagi 5y ago
      On the other hand, roads are dirty, polluting, and occasionally kill your cat.
      - coldtea 5y ago
        On the other other hand, those islands and places didn't have any significant traffic. So, it's not like an additional similar noise to what they've been used to, just less polluting and dangerous for their cat. It's a new noise level they're forced to put up with.
      - mlac 5y ago
        Fans occasionally kill your birds and the neighborhood bald eagle.
  - coldtea 5y ago
    >How does that compare in dB to a road? Even if it compared it wouldn't make it much better, because those islands don't have any sizable traffic on roads - and almost insignificant near those villages. So, its like suddenly they have to put up with road-level noise (if not worse), on their remote village in some remote island - and not even from their own cars. At those distances it's like suddenly all around your village there's a airconditioner-level noise... Mighty annoying to people who have enjoyed mostly nature-level silence for all of their lives...
    - smileysteve 5y ago
      > its like suddenly they have to put up with road-level Not at all. Db is not linear, so "suddenly have to put up with" "about 1/4 of the noise." Would be more accurate. An example difference of 12db is a muffled idling compact car versus a consumer lawnmower at 10'.
- NobodyNada 5y ago
  That link didn't work for me (returned a 403), apparently it's just a weird YouTube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7DQ3SgSg0c&t=175 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7DQ3SgSg0c&t=175
  - amatecha 5y ago
    Yeah, Invidious[0] is an alternative front-end for YouTube so you can avoid ads & tracking. Another host: https://invidious.privacy.gd/watch?v=f7DQ3SgSg0c https://invidious.privacy.gd/watch?v=f7DQ3SgSg0c [0] https://invidious.io/ https://invidious.io/
    - tqi 5y ago
      ...to avoid tracking I should click on a sketchy download pop-up?
      - amatecha 5y ago
        "Sketchy download popup"? Not sure what you're talking about. I see no such popup (nor any popup/modal/interstitial/ad/interruption of any sort) on either site I linked. Viewed from two different OSes and browsers.
        tqi 5y ago
        iOS Safari, I get a popup that says "Do you want to download 'watch'?"
        amatecha 5y ago
        Hrm, strange. Tried on iOS and didn't encounter that. However, the fact it's trying to download "watch" (which is the path of the page in the URL) leads me to suspect there was a server issue that caused it to return the page as a file instead of actually serving it as a normal HTML page. /shrug
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- 8bitsrule 5y ago
  Found that video working on Youtube using the same 'v=' code. At one point (2:50) the video (attributed to the 'Allegheny Highlands Alliance'[0]; executive producer an M.D.) plays a sound labelled 'turbine noise during winter'. It's very loud ... I wouldn't spend an hour in that noise. But was the noise recorded near the turbine(s)? And considering the turbine(s) are 530 yards (almost 1/3 mile) away from the home, those shadows falling on the building could only occur briefly near sunrise and sunset. Here are some decibel readings at an equivalent distance from a turbine site in England. 4 to 6 dB is a lot less noisy than the AHA video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKgN2G9d0dc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKgN2G9d0dc [0] https://alleghenyhighlandsalliance.org/ https://alleghenyhighlandsalliance.org/
  - amatecha 5y ago
    Having gone offroading near wind turbines, depending on some conditions (I don't know if it's wind, temperature, or what), they really do sound like that, and for quite some distance. The one depicted in that video is WAY too close to any home. The fact it was approved/OK'ed absolutely blows my mind. I should dig up my videos of being up in the mountains near the wind turbines... though it's tough for any video to accurately convey the level of audible disturbance, of course.
  - msrenee 5y ago
    As far as the shadow, I don't care enough to do the math, but they are exceptionally tall. It's trippy when you stand under one. Google gives me about 90 meters tall for some of the modern ones. I'd imagine they could cast a shadow a pretty long distance.
phoinix 5y ago

amatecha 5y ago

I was curious about this subject and found a video[0] of a couple whose house is about the same distance (1600 feet or 487 meters)... In this case the turbine even casts a shadow on their home and property which is SUPER jarring. I'm not sure people realize but wind turbines are pretty darn loud (check at 2:55 in the video), that's exactly what they sound like at times. There's honestly zero excuse to build something that loud anywhere within audible range of peoples' homes. [0] https://invidious.snopyta.org/watch?v=f7DQ3SgSg0c https://invidious.snopyta.org/watch?v=f7DQ3SgSg0c

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
pasabagi 5y ago
How does that compare in dB to a road? PS: checked it out myself, from some light googling: Road decibel levels are about 55 dB (averaged over a day) for about 30% of the EU population. Wind turbines are supposedly 43 decibels if they are within a few hundred meters of a house. I guess it probably varies a lot depending on the turbine in question.
- themaninthedark 5y ago
  Difference is that road noise would be varying and mostly abate at night. Wind turbine noise would be constant with wind speed at all hours.
  - pasabagi 5y ago
    On the other hand, roads are dirty, polluting, and occasionally kill your cat.
    - coldtea 5y ago
      On the other other hand, those islands and places didn't have any significant traffic. So, it's not like an additional similar noise to what they've been used to, just less polluting and dangerous for their cat. It's a new noise level they're forced to put up with.
    - mlac 5y ago
      Fans occasionally kill your birds and the neighborhood bald eagle.
- coldtea 5y ago
  >How does that compare in dB to a road? Even if it compared it wouldn't make it much better, because those islands don't have any sizable traffic on roads - and almost insignificant near those villages. So, its like suddenly they have to put up with road-level noise (if not worse), on their remote village in some remote island - and not even from their own cars. At those distances it's like suddenly all around your village there's a airconditioner-level noise... Mighty annoying to people who have enjoyed mostly nature-level silence for all of their lives...
  - smileysteve 5y ago
    > its like suddenly they have to put up with road-level Not at all. Db is not linear, so "suddenly have to put up with" "about 1/4 of the noise." Would be more accurate. An example difference of 12db is a muffled idling compact car versus a consumer lawnmower at 10'.
NobodyNada 5y ago
That link didn't work for me (returned a 403), apparently it's just a weird YouTube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7DQ3SgSg0c&t=175 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7DQ3SgSg0c&t=175
- amatecha 5y ago
  Yeah, Invidious[0] is an alternative front-end for YouTube so you can avoid ads & tracking. Another host: https://invidious.privacy.gd/watch?v=f7DQ3SgSg0c https://invidious.privacy.gd/watch?v=f7DQ3SgSg0c [0] https://invidious.io/ https://invidious.io/
  - tqi 5y ago
    ...to avoid tracking I should click on a sketchy download pop-up?
    - amatecha 5y ago
      "Sketchy download popup"? Not sure what you're talking about. I see no such popup (nor any popup/modal/interstitial/ad/interruption of any sort) on either site I linked. Viewed from two different OSes and browsers.
      - tqi 5y ago
        iOS Safari, I get a popup that says "Do you want to download 'watch'?"
        amatecha 5y ago
        Hrm, strange. Tried on iOS and didn't encounter that. However, the fact it's trying to download "watch" (which is the path of the page in the URL) leads me to suspect there was a server issue that caused it to return the page as a file instead of actually serving it as a normal HTML page. /shrug
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
8bitsrule 5y ago
Found that video working on Youtube using the same 'v=' code. At one point (2:50) the video (attributed to the 'Allegheny Highlands Alliance'[0]; executive producer an M.D.) plays a sound labelled 'turbine noise during winter'. It's very loud ... I wouldn't spend an hour in that noise. But was the noise recorded near the turbine(s)? And considering the turbine(s) are 530 yards (almost 1/3 mile) away from the home, those shadows falling on the building could only occur briefly near sunrise and sunset. Here are some decibel readings at an equivalent distance from a turbine site in England. 4 to 6 dB is a lot less noisy than the AHA video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKgN2G9d0dc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKgN2G9d0dc [0] https://alleghenyhighlandsalliance.org/ https://alleghenyhighlandsalliance.org/
- amatecha 5y ago
  Having gone offroading near wind turbines, depending on some conditions (I don't know if it's wind, temperature, or what), they really do sound like that, and for quite some distance. The one depicted in that video is WAY too close to any home. The fact it was approved/OK'ed absolutely blows my mind. I should dig up my videos of being up in the mountains near the wind turbines... though it's tough for any video to accurately convey the level of audible disturbance, of course.
- msrenee 5y ago
  As far as the shadow, I don't care enough to do the math, but they are exceptionally tall. It's trippy when you stand under one. Google gives me about 90 meters tall for some of the modern ones. I'd imagine they could cast a shadow a pretty long distance.

phoinix 5y ago