Wind turbine phobia, or anemomenophobia, is an unreasonable dread of wind turbines.
Is it common for people to be afraid of windmills?
A WOMAN is so afraid of wind farms that she feels compelled to lie down or hide whenever she sees one.
Alison Prior has an unreasonable dread of whirling electrical generators, which she claims began when she was a child after seeing a giant pink mechanical gorilla.
The situation
Anemomenophobia is a medical term for a fear of turbines that causes excruciating panic in victims.
Alison, a 33-year-old hairdresser, is so irritated by the wind that she nearly crashes her car as they loom over the horizon.
“I was on vacation up north, and they were right off the highway.” She stated, “I almost crashed because I was so afraid.”
“If I pass a lorry carrying a wind turbine component, I must come to a halt and exit the road.”
“My heart begins to race, the hairs on the back of my neck stand on edge, and I feel compelled to lie down, hide, or flee.”
She also has a dread of other giant mechanical devices, which she believes stems from her childhood terror of a large pink mechanical gorilla that used to startle her at a market.
It has helped her control some of her worry to some level, which is useful given the amount of turbines near her home in West Calder, West Lothian.
Is there anyone who has died as a result of a wind turbine?
After blade failure, fire in wind turbines is the second most common form of accident reported. While some models of wind turbines have a larger danger of fire than others, all wind turbines contain fire risk elements. Highly flammable materials, including as hydraulic oil and polymers, are stored near electrical cables and equipment within the nacelle. If there is an ignition source, such as an electrical arc or a fault within the transformer, a fire can quickly start and spread. Fires in turbines are less common than in other energy businesses, but the financial consequences are enormous, costing upwards of $4.5 million. In this article, we’ll look at five different wind turbine fires.
#1 San Gorgonio Pass
The View Fire, which started in June 2012 in the Whitewater area east of Cabazon in Riverside County, California, was caused by a wind turbine fire. Despite efforts such as cleaning grass and debris from the turbines’ bases, the turbine fire ignited a wildfire that burned 367 acres. Authorities were alerted when many witnesses reported the fire, and residents in the box canyon were evacuated. Over 100 firemen fought the fire on the ground and from planes to get it under control in less than 24 hours. There were no injuries or structural damage reported.
#2 Piet de Wit Wind Farm
There had never been a human death as a result of a wind turbine fire before 2013. On Tuesday, October 29, 2013, it all changed when two of the four mechanics working on a wind turbine in Ooltgensplaat, Netherlands, were killed. A fire trapped the mechanics, aged 19 and 21, on the top of the turbine, and they killed as a result. The fire service had difficulty extinguishing the fire due to the height of the turbine and its position. To tackle the fire, a professional team of firefighters was dispatched with a big crane, which took many hours. One mechanic was discovered on the ground near the turbine’s base, while the second victim was recovered by the specialized crew from the turbine’s top. The other two mechanics were able to get away without harm. The fire was caused by a short circuit, according to Deltawind.
#3 Harvest Wind II
A wind turbine caught fire in Oliver Township, near the community of Elkton, in Michigan’s Thumb-region, on Monday, April 1, 2019. Because they lacked the equipment to reach the height of the wind turbine, the attending fire brigade was unable to put out the fire. They also had limited access to the location because the on-fire turbine was about a half-mile off the main road. However, as the turbine was burning out, first responders were able to set up a perimeter and secure the area. Exelon, the wind farm’s owner, also turned off the power to the other 32 turbines on the property as a precaution. Since November 2012, the Harvest II Wind Project has been active. Over the last 10 years, two other wind turbine fires have been reported at different wind farms throughout Michigan.
#4 Juniper Canyon
On Saturday, July 19, 2019, melted pieces of a wind turbine caught fire in southern Washington state, igniting the surrounding grass and bush. The fire grew, resulting in the Juniper Fire, which burned over 250 acres and threatened 39 houses. The Pine Creek Drainage region was placed under a level three evacuation order during the wildfire. Nearly 200 people were involved in the firefighting effort, according to officials. Twenty-five fire units, two dozers, and two engines, as well as two strike teams and three hand crews, were dispatched across Klickitat County. On day three, the fire was 99 percent extinguished, with no injuries or structural damage reported. The wind farm is divided into two parts, each having 128 turbines.
#5 Buffalo Gap
The Rhodes Ranch 3 Fire in Mulberry Canyon is being blamed on a wind turbine fire near Abilene, Texas. On Monday, August 26, 2019, a wind turbine caught fire, sparking a wildfire that scorched 250 acres. To construct containment lines, bulldozers and graders were brought in. Firefighters had added obstacles due to the rough terrain, record temperatures of 109 degrees, and the fire’s growth into a tiny canyon area. A fire truck and a single-engine plane dispersed fire retardant, while a helicopter dropped water on hot spots. Firefighters scoured the area for hot spots and kept an eye on the containment lines. The fire was 90 percent extinguished in two days. The turbine was declared completely destroyed.
Because of the height of the wind turbines, the distant locations, and in some cases, the rugged terrain, the chances of a fire brigade being able to put out a wind turbine fire are slim. The only alternative during these fires is to let the turbine burn out on its own. On the other side, there are actions that can be taken to prevent this. Automatic fire suppression devices installed near probable ignition sources or fire-prone locations and components within the wind turbine will detect and suppress a fire before it spreads out of control.
What are the negative effects of wind turbines?
Wind energy, like all energy sources, has the potential to harm the environment by reducing, fragmenting, or degrading habitat for wildlife, fish, and plants. Additionally, rotating turbine blades might endanger flying fauna such as birds and bats. Because of the potential for wind power to have a negative impact on wildlife, and because these difficulties could delay or prevent wind development in high-quality wind resource areas, impact reduction, siting, and permitting issues are among the wind industry’s top goals.
WETO supports in projects that strive to describe and understand the impact of wind on wildlife on land and offshore to address these concerns and encourage environmentally sustainable growth of wind power in the United States. Furthermore, through centralized information hubs like Tethys, WETO engages in operations to collect and disseminate scientifically rigorous peer-reviewed studies on environmental consequences. The office also invests in scientific research that allows for the development of cost-effective technology to reduce wildlife impacts at both onshore and offshore wind farms.
WETO strives to foster interagency collaboration on wind energy impacts and siting research in order to ensure that taxpayer monies are used wisely to solve environmental challenges associated with wind deployment in the United States.
Listed below are a few of WETO’s investments:
- For more than 24 years, the office has supported peer-reviewed research, in part through collaborative relationships with the wind industry and environmental groups including the National Wind Coordinating Collaborative (NWCC) and the Bats and Wind Energy Cooperative.
- The NWCC was established in 1994 by the DOE’s wind office in collaboration with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory to investigate a wide range of issues related to wind energy development, such as transmission, power markets, and wildlife impacts. The NWCC’s focus has evolved over the last decade to addressing and disseminating high-quality information about environmental impacts and remedies.
- In May 2009, the Department of Energy’s wind office announced approximately $2 million in environmental research awards aimed at decreasing the hazards of wind power development to vital species and habitats. Researchers from Kansas State University and the NWCC’s Grassland Community Collaborative published a paper in 2013 that revealed wind development in Kansas had no significant impact on the population and reproduction of larger prairie chickens.
- The Bats and Wind Energy Cooperative has been involved in numerous research projects funded by DOE’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory since its inception in 2003, including studies evaluating the impact of changing the cut-in-speed of wind turbines (the minimum wind speed at which wind turbines begin producing power) and the use of ultrasonic acoustic deterrents to reduce bat impacts at wind turbines.
- Through a competitive funding opportunity, WETO is also financing research and development projects that increase the technical preparedness of bat impact mitigation and minimization solutions. Bat Conservation International, Frontier Wind, General Electric, Texas Christian University, and the University of Massachusetts are among the companies, universities, and organizations receiving funding from the Energy Department to field test and evaluate near-commercial bat impact mitigation technologies, which will provide regulators and wind facility owners-operators with viable and cost-effective tools to reduce bat impacts.
- Through a competitive funding opportunity, WETO is also financing research and development projects that increase the technical preparedness of bat impact mitigation and minimization solutions. Bat Conservation International, Frontier Wind, General Electric, Texas Christian University, and the University of Massachusetts are among the companies, universities, and organizations receiving funding from the Energy Department to field test and evaluate near-commercial bat impact mitigation technologies, which will provide regulators and wind facility owners-operators with viable and cost-effective tools to reduce bat impacts. The Status and Findings of Developing Technologies for Bat Detection and Deterrence at Wind Facilities webinars hosted by the National Wind Coordinating Collaborative provide project updates and testing findings as of March 2018.
- WETO chose six teams in 2016 to work on improving solutions that will safeguard eagles that share airspace with wind turbines. For breakthrough, vital eagle-impact minimization technology research and development projects, more nearly $3 million was allocated across the six teams. The research financed by this grant will equip wind farm owners and operators with practical and cost-effective strategies for reducing potential eagle impacts. This important study expands on the Energy Department’s efforts to facilitate wind energy deployment while also ensuring animal coexistence by addressing siting and environmental concerns. If the study is successful, it will safeguard wildlife while also giving new tools for the wind industry to reduce regulatory and financial concerns.
- WETO is a supporter of research on biological interactions with offshore wind turbines. With this funding, researchers are gathering crucial data on marine life, offshore bird and bat behavior, and other factors that influence the deployment of offshore wind turbines in the United States. The Biodiversity Research Institute and a diverse group of collaborators, for example, completed the largest ecological study ever conducted in the Mid-Atlantic to produce a detailed picture of the environment in Mid-Atlantic Wind Energy Areas, which will aid permitting and environmental compliance for offshore wind projects.
WETO also collaborates with other federal agencies to create recommendations to help developers comply with statutory, regulatory, and administrative requirements for wildlife protection, national security, and public safety. The Wind Energy Technologies Office, for example, collaborated with the Department of the Interior on the Land-Based Wind Energy Guidelines and Eagle Conservation Plan Guidance.
What is Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia, and what does it mean?
Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia is one of the longest words in the English language, and it’s also the name for a fear of lengthy words, in an ironic twist. Another name for the fear is sesquipedalophobia.
This phobia is not formally recognized by the American Psychiatric Association. Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia, on the other hand, is classified as a social phobia.
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) has a very clear definition for social phobias in its most recent edition. The DSM-5 is a diagnostic tool used by medical professionals.
The DSM-5 includes the following criteria for social phobias:
- a dread or worry about being inspected in social circumstances, such as meeting new people or having a conversation
- The anxiety or terror is out of proportion to the social situation.
- The fear or anxiety is constant, and social situations are avoided to an excessive degree.
- Clinical distress is caused by fear, worry, or avoidance.
What is the world’s rarest phobia?
The dread of peanut butter clinging to the roof of your mouth is known as arachibutyrophobia. While everyone has experienced the phenomenon at some point, persons with arachibutyrophobia are terrified of it. Arachibutyrophobia varies in severity from person to person. Some people with this illness may be able to eat modest amounts of peanut butter, while others will avoid anything with a similar consistency entirely.
Arachibutyrophobia is a rare phobia that can develop as a result of a larger fear of sticky substances or choking. It could also be the result of an unpleasant experience with peanut butter, such as choking on it or developing an allergy to it.
The proportion of rural patients reporting harmful effects from exposure to industrial wind turbines is expected to rise in Canada, according to family physicians (IWTs). Reduced quality of life, irritation, tension, sleep disturbance, headache, anxiety, depression, and cognitive dysfunction have all been reported by those who live or work in close proximity to IWTs. Anger, grief, and a sense of unfairness have all been experienced by some. Wind turbine noise, infrasound, unclean electricity, ground current, and shadow flicker have all been suggested as possible causes of symptoms. 1 Patients experiencing adverse effects from IWTs may have severe and pervasive symptoms, and may feel further victimized by a lack of caregiver comprehension. Family physicians should be aware of this.
Is it possible to touch a wind turbine?
“They’re quite safe to touch, though we wouldn’t recommend it during a rainstorm.” This is one of the myths we attempt to debunk, and the DTI’s guidance will only serve to reinforce it. Following a spate of mishaps, the DTI’s engineering inspectorate published instructions prohibiting people from touching the turbines.
How many individuals have died as a result of falling off windmills?
These are really low figures. In England, coal produced around 180 billion kWhrs in 2011, resulting in about 3,000 deaths. In England, nuclear energy produced nearly 90 billion kWhrs with no deaths. In the same year, America generated over 800 billion kWhrs from nuclear power with no fatalities.
Can we just forget about it because so many more people die from other causes? Do you like eagles?
Is there any energy source that kills a large number of people?
We examined human mortality by energy source in a piece from last year (How Deadly Is Your Kilowatt? ), and how coal is the deadliest energy source in the US, with 15,000 deaths per trillion kWhrs produced, while nuclear is the safest, with zero. Wind energy kills about 100 people per trillion kWhrs, with the bulk of deaths resulting from falls during maintenance (Toldedo Blade).
Because we worry more about this in the United States than most other countries, our statistics are the lowest in the world. Global energy-related death rates are substantially greater than in the United States, with coal accounting for 100,000 deaths per trillion kWhrs (China is the worst), natural gas for 4,000, biomass for 24,000, solar for 440, and wind for 150. Using the worst-case scenarios from Chernobyl and Fukushima, nuclear power now has the highest death rate of any energy source at 90 deaths per trillion kWhrs produced.
Is it possible for lightning to strike wind turbines?
Wind turbines, like tall trees, skyscrapers, and telephone poles, are easy targets for lightning since they are hundreds of feet above ground. They will be struck simply because of their height.
For traditional wind turbine blades, lightning protection technologies are available. Blades created from a new type of material, thermoplastic resin composites, and manufactured utilizing an innovative thermal (heat-based) welding process devised by scientists at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, however, required protection (NREL).
Thermoplastic materials, such as plastic bottles, can be recycled more easily than the thermoset materials now utilized to manufacture wind turbine blades. While thermoset materials must be heated to cure, thermoplastics cure at ambient temperature, reducing blade production time and cost.
These gains are enabled by NREL’s patent-pending thermal welding technique for thermoplastic blades, which replaces the adhesives currently utilized to join blade components. Welding rather than adhesives avoids the disadvantages of extra weight and the risk of cracking.
While thermal welding has advantages, it also necessitates the inclusion of a metal heating element within the blade, which might attract lightning. As a result, a team of NREL researchers lead by Robynne Murray and backed by GE and LM Wind Power (a GE subsidiary) devised a new lightning protection system to keep the revolutionary thermoplastic materials safe.