A joint research paper involving work from the University of Pittsburgh has found that, despite some public concern, turbines used to produce wind energy are not responsible for any detectable adverse health outcomes.
Their results were published May 19 in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) .
As the use of wind energy continues to grow as an alternative to fossil fuel use, studies and media reports have suggested wind turbines can cause all manner of health problems from sleep disturbances to even suicide.
To determine the veracity of such claims, Osea Giuntella, an associate professor of economics in the Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences worked with Doug Almond at Columbia University and Niklas Rott at the University of Augsburg to analyze wind turbine locations; data from longitudinal surveys following more than 120,000 households from 2011-2013; and consumer purchasing records.
Using that data, the researchers compared households before and after the installation of turbines, looking for correlations between turbines and a wide range of health outcomes including headaches, depression, anxiety and the use of painkillers and sleep aids.
Although they could not rule out small effects such as bothersome noise, their analysis showed with strong confidence that there were no moderate-to-large adverse health impacts from exposure to turbines at typical exposure distances.
"While concerns about wind turbines often receive attention, the evidence shows no meaningful health impacts at typical exposure levels—especially when compared to the clear and significant harms from fossil fuel pollution.," Giuntella said.
