Application of a Methodological Proposal to study the Impact that Wind Turbine Noise has on human health. Case: Antonio Moran Wind Farm, Argentina

RIVAROLA, A; ARENA, AP; MATTIO, H

Pucon

Conferencia; III Conferencia Internacional de Análisis de Ciclo de Vida en Latinoamérica; 2009

CIMM

The noise coming from wind turbines is still a subject of controversy among the populations settled in their vicinity. This article presents a methodological proposal to study the impact on human health due to the noise produced by wind turbines. As a case study the Antonio Moran Wind Farm in Comodoro Rivadavia, Chubut, Argentina. The methodological proposal includes cause-effect chain. The analysis is subdivided into four modules.1) The Fate Analysis which studies the noise level due to an existing Farm and the corresponding increase due to a future bigger Farm in the region. 2) The Exposure Analysis, 3) the Effect Analysis and 4) Finally, the Damage Analysis that quantifies the noise impact on human health measured on DALY (Disability Adjusted Life-Years) units. The ensuing results allow the identification of four positions where the population will be affected due to sleep disturbance, besides observing that the increase in number of equipments in the wind farm meant an increase in the magnitude of the impact but did not represent a significant increase in the number of positions affected.The result of this paper will allow the inclusion of this impact category in future LCA studies on wind energy