Sopley Primary School's wind turbines keep Passmores awake (From Bournemouth Echo)

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Dear me ~ 1 April must be late this year!!
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I ask you - a wind turbine sounding like a helicopter. Have you, Mr Passmore, any idea how loud a helicopter is!
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Can't use the garden?? "Echo", you really ought to go to investigate with sound-measuring equipment before printing a story like this!
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Just to give this story some context. The wind turbine in question is a "Proven 6KW" Micro-Wind Turbine.

It is estimated to produce under 60 decibels at wind speeds of 44mph or 20 metres per second.

Average wind speed for Christchurch and Bournemouth area recently has been at 14.29mph or around 6 metres per second, so sound would be in somewhere under 50 decibels.

To compare, a car driving at 40mph will be producing sounds in the 70-80 decibels range at 500 metres, a helicopter, even a small one like a Jet Ranger will have a noise range in the 100+ decibel range.
However, a library is rated at around 30 decibels and a normal conversation at around 60-70.

Remember as a rule of thumb, a 10 decibel increase is equivalent to a perceived "doubling" of noise levels.

So either these people were woken every time there was a thunderclap - 120 decibels, a small plane flew over at 1,000ft - 80 decibels or a car drove past 65 feet away - 70 decibels.
Or, there is something wrong with the wind-turbine in which case it needs fixing.

Either way, which editor is either personally against or is being paid to put anti-renewable energy stories into the paper without doing a modicum of fact-checking?

Just curious....

Bad Rabbit wrote:
Just to give this story some context. The wind turbine in question is a "Proven 6KW" Micro-Wind Turbine.

It is estimated to produce under 60 decibels at wind speeds of 44mph or 20 metres per second.

Average wind speed for Christchurch and Bournemouth area recently has been at 14.29mph or around 6 metres per second, so sound would be in somewhere under 50 decibels.

To compare, a car driving at 40mph will be producing sounds in the 70-80 decibels range at 500 metres, a helicopter, even a small one like a Jet Ranger will have a noise range in the 100+ decibel range.
However, a library is rated at around 30 decibels and a normal conversation at around 60-70.

Remember as a rule of thumb, a 10 decibel increase is equivalent to a perceived "doubling" of noise levels.

So either these people were woken every time there was a thunderclap - 120 decibels, a small plane flew over at 1,000ft - 80 decibels or a car drove past 65 feet away - 70 decibels.
Or, there is something wrong with the wind-turbine in which case it needs fixing.

Either way, which editor is either personally against or is being paid to put anti-renewable energy stories into the paper without doing a modicum of fact-checking?

Just curious....

All of the other noises you compare this turbine to are noises that come and go very quickly, nobody ever gets a helicopter hovering over their house for 24 hours per day, cars pass all day but never sit outside your house for 24 hours reving he engine.
I would imagine that if this turbine is running for a considerable time it would get on your nerves after a while, mainly at night when you try to sleep, I would think that its more of an irratation than a racket, as Ii dont live there its impossable to say.

McVicar, Couldn't agree with you more, most of those sounds come and go quickly and the turbine is there 24 hours a day. I am not arguing with you at all and I respect your comeback.

My argument here is against the Echo's way of reporting this story as they provided no context and absolutely did no verification of the story.

Questions that are left unanswered are these...

How far away from the house is the turbine?

In an up-wind or down-wind location?

Does the house have double glazing?

Is their bedroom directly facing the turbine, or on the other side of the house or is there any sound screening through trees or other obstacles?

If so how does this affect the sound levels?

Why did Bob Jolliffe not report that Nicky Passmore was quoted by the Echo last year voicing objections to the wind-turbine in the article, "Anger at Sopley wind turbine plans" dated 29.10.2009 by Katei Clark?

Quote:

Nicky Passmore, who lives next door to the school in the tiny rural village of Ripley, said that she and her neighbours were protesting about the turbine over concerns about increased noise and development on the green belt.

She said: “A lot of residents are concerned about the turbine with many worried about the noise it is going to create. Apparently it will be running at about 50 decibels and the normal amount of noise we get here is 20 decibels.

“While we accept that the county council did consult with us, it was to the letter rather than in the spirit of the process."

Unquote.

Has anyone really tested to see if Sopley is quieter than a public library, or at least it was until the turbine was built?

Because someone claims something is true does not make it so.

Journalists and Editors used to be responsible for verifying claims before they published.

The Echo, especially on Wind Turbine stories seems quite happy NOT to bother verifying and treating anyone's claims, even when
the claimant has a track record of opposition to an issue.

The Echo claims to serve the local community, in this story and in the case of other Wind-Turbine stories, one has to wonder who they are REALLY serving?

This is a stupid story, sloppily reported and abysmally edited with zero fact-checking and verification.

If they're doing it on this kind of story, how many other stories just don't stack up? How many other stories are being spun and twisted by the editorial team?

My daughter is a pupil at Sopley School, do you think the authority's would allow such a noisy wind turbine, as Mr and Mrs Passmore say it is, where childrens learning is concerned? My daughter says she does not hear it and is proud to be doing her bit for the environment. Could I just add that Mr and Mrs Passmore moved to this village knowing full well that they were to live underneath Bournemouth Airport's flight path, which do you think is noisier? - Enough said I do believe!!

It sounds to me as if Mr and Mrs Passmore "want" to hear the noise - hence their protestation about it even before it was erected!

What good would it be to turn it off at evenings and weekends for goodness sake? That's simply ridiculous and defeats the object of the turbine completely!!

My sister lives very close alongside a railway line near Wareham which actually runs within 15 - 20 feet of her house and has trains going past at all hours day and night.

Eventually you get used to certain background noises where ever you live, otherwise how on earth would people manage to live in noisy and busy towns and cities?

The human ear and brain has a way of ignoring background sounds that it hears on a regular basis - but unfortunately some people choose not to use this element of their biology.

NIMBY's the pair of them!

Mr and Mrs Passmore, I have an idea - stay at my flat in Terrace Road at the weekend, and believe me wind turbines will sound like a bumble bee! and when you return home, you will be amazed at how peaceful it is.

They should think themselves lucky that they don't have to endure my next door neighbour's snoring. I'd give anything to swap the snoring for the peace and quiet of a wind turbine.

Sounds a bit like NIMBYism to me. Give them a choice, a wind turbine or a nuclear power station. I wonder which would effect property prices most, not that I'm suggesting for one moment that that's a consideration.

They should consider themselves fortunate that they live somewhere so quiet.
Like other posters, I have lived adjacent to train tracks with 24 hour noise...including sounding their horn at 2 or 3 am every night right by my home.
I also lived with frequent tank noise from Bovington camp which ran through the night.
As someone with fibromyalgia I would find having 8 UNDISTURBED nights out of 14 an absolute joy.

Why don't they do what people like me are advised to: wear ear defenders, take sleeping tablets or MOVE!
Well done Sopley school for your forward thinking.