Frequently Asked Questions - Community

What sounds do wind turbines make?
According to the American Wind Energy Association, “Wind turbines are quiet. An operating modern wind farm at a distance of 750 to 1000 feet is no noisier than a kitchen refrigerator or a moderately quiet room. The sound turbines produce is similar to a light whooshing or swishing sound, and much quieter than other types of modern-day equipment. Even in rural or low-density areas, where there is little additional sound to mask that of the wind turbines, the sound of the blowing wind is often louder.” (Source: http://www.awea.org/pubs/factsheets/050629_Myths_vs_Facts_Fact_Sheet.pdf)

Sound volume is measured in decibels. The American Wind Energy Association reports that in the range of 35 to 45 decibels, at a distance of 350 meters, sound produced by wind turbines is similar to the background sound found in a typical home.
(Source: http://www.awea.org/pubs/factsheets/Sound_Factsheet.pdf)

What benefit does a wind farm have for me if I don’t have any turbines on my land?
Wind Farms add both financial and environmental value to a community. Here’s a list of some of the ways in which you and your local community will benefit:

• Wind farm “Host payments” to involved towns. This money could be earmarked to lower property taxes, assist community projects and enhance schools.
• Wind farm payments to Vermont State education fund.
• Local land owners receive income for leasing their land.
• Long term sustainable forest management.
• Vermont Community Wind will provide energy to Vermonters by providing Vermont Utility Companies with stable long term power purchase agreements at favorable rates.
• Increase in local jobs. We will hire locally, creating many job opportunities in construction, operations and on-going maintenance.
• Increase in local service usage during construction including gravel, trucking, lodging, and gas benefiting local retailers and residents.

Do wind turbines shed ice?
Wind turbines are designed to shut down when an imbalance is detected. Ice accumulation can produce an imbalance which sometimes results in ice shedding while the turbine is stopped or starting up again. Turbine setback requirements from roads and residences protect the public from injury due to possible ice shed.

How does wind power affect birds and bats?
It is unfortunate that many of our modern conveniences take their toll on our bird and bat population. According to the US Fish and Wildlife Service glass windows are the number one cause of bird mortality followed by power lines, house cats, motor vehicles and pesticides.

Birds occasionally collide with wind turbines, as they do with other tall objects, however a wind turbine's overall impact on birds is low compared to other human related sources.

This on Bats from the American Wind Energy Association:
“Bat collisions at wind plants generally tend to be low in number and to involve common species which are quite numerous. Human disturbance of hibernating bats in caves is a far greater threat to species of concern. Still, a surprisingly high number of bat kills at a new wind plant in West Virginia in the fall of 2003 has raised concerns, and research at that plant and another in Pennsylvania in 2004 suggests that the problem may be a regional one. The wind industry has joined with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory, and Bat Conservation International to form the Bats and Wind Energy Cooperative (BWEC), which funded the 2004 research program and is continuing to explore ways to avoid or reduce bat kills.”