Arguments
Sabin 33 #15 - Does EM radiation from wind turbines pose a threat to human health?
Posted on 11 February 2025 by BaerbelW
On November 1, 2024 we announced the publication of 33 rebuttals based on the report "Rebutting 33 False Claims About Solar, Wind, and Electric Vehicles" written by Matthew Eisenson, Jacob Elkin, Andy Fitch, Matthew Ard, Kaya Sittinger & Samuel Lavine and published by the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia Law School in 2024. Below is the blog post version of rebuttal #15 based on Sabin's report.
Multiple studies have found that the electromagnetic fields (EMFs) generated by wind turbines are lower than those generated by most common household appliances and that they easily meet rigorous international safety standards (McCallum et al. 2014, Alexias et al. 2020, Karanakis et al. 2021). For context, the average home that is not located near power lines has a background level EMF of roughly 0.2 µT1. However, this value varies greatly depending on proximity to certain household appliances1. For example, from a distance of 4 feet, an electric can opener’s EMF is 0.2 µT, but this value increases to 60 µT from a distance of 6 inches2. A 2020 academic study found that the EMF generated by turbines are approximately 0.44 µT at a distance of 1 meter but less than 0.1 µT at a distance of 4 meters, as shown below (Alexias et al. 2020).
Figure 10: The EMF level, measured in microtesla (µT), is shown to drop dramatically with increase in distance from source. Source: Alexias et al. (2020)
These EMF levels are not dependent on wind speeds.
[1] Radiation: Electromagnetic fields, World Health Organization (August 4, 2016)
[2] Electromagnetic Fields (EMF), Wis. Dep’t. of Health Serv. (Sept. 14, 2022)
Skeptical Science sincerely appreciates Sabin Center's generosity in collaborating with us to make this information available as widely as possible.
Quite a few studies provide much better context of wind turbine noise than the SK rebuttal article.
[snip]
Much is made in the article of A/C's, refrigerators, etc producing higher noise levels, Two key points are omitted.
A/c's and refrigerators operate at only a fraction of the time of windturbines ie 24/7/365
newer fridges operate at 32-40 dbs.
windmills dbs are inaddition to other noises, so 40-40dbs for the windmill 24/7 plus the fridge, plus the ac with run 1/3 to 1/5 the time vs all the time.
Context is important so that you are confused.
Its both the decibel level and frequency that matters, not just the decibel level.
Incomplete and partial information will lead to erroneous assumptions and impresssions.
www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-97107-8
www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364032122006852
todayshomeowner.com/eco-friendly/guides/how-loud-are-wind-turbines/
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-97107-8
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364032122006852
https://todayshomeowner.com/eco-friendly/guides/how-loud-are-wind-turbines/
[BL] The article you are commenting on does not refer to noise. It refers to Electromagnetic Radiation. As a result, your comment is off-topic.
You've been participating here long enough to know that there is a Comments Policy. The first bullet point in that policy is:
There are blog posts here at SkS where noise from wind turbines is discussed. You can find them if you make the effort to use the Search box.
The second bullet point in the Comments Policy states (emphasis added):
These concerns remind me of a time when a firm I worked with was dealing with a person complaining about their "electromagnetic sensitivity" being triggered by a wireless data relay site near their home.
The complaining party was communicating with us via their cellphone. Cellphones employ a range of frequencies spanning the band employed by the data network in question. Their EMF exposure from their phone was orders of magnitude higher than exposure from our network.
We didn't bother trying to explain the implications of these facts as rationality was not part of the picture we were seeing and dealing with. As with the situation of wind turbines.
Wind turbines are mounted on towers hundreds of feet tall. If the field is background at 6 meters it would not be measurable on the ground.