The Silence of a Wind Turbine

The people in today's NY Times (Oct 5) who don't like the noise of their wind turbine apparently do not know where to shop for a good one.

The article claims they couldn't stand the noise after its first ten minutes of operation. I know one that has been operating for ten years, and you can't hear it at all. It powers a small community on an island near Okinawa, and even if you stand right next to it, all you hear is the birds chirping, voices wafting from a coffee shop nearby, and the hum of a car or two on the road that passes the turbine. You can't hear the windmill, even if you press your ear against the tower. (which I did)

Don't blame the turbine for noise; blame the manufacturer.

Quiet ones do exist.

Silence is Golden

Some things are so quiet everything else seems loud by comparison.
The crunch of the grass underfoot...
The sound of a bird singing in the distance...

Everyone says wind powered electric generators are noisy. But this one was so quiet, if I closed my eyes I wouldn't have known it was there. Could it be that people who say wind-powered electricity generation is noisy don't know where to shop for windmills?

This one was quieter than footsteps on the lawn. What's more, it supplies all the electricity the resort complex that built it can use, and the fees from selling the leftover electricity will pay for the windmill by its 15th birthday.