Buchanan County’s current wind turbine ordinance sets the noise limit at 60 
Db. 60 Db 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.
According to the World Health Organization, “For a good night’s sleep, noise levels should not exceed 35 Db continuous, and individual noise events should not exceed 45 Db.” It goes on to say that “Low Frequency Noise (LFN) should not exceed 30 Db.”
LFN noise is the primary source of noise pollution from wind turbines. It’s important to note here that the Db scale is logarithmic, not linear. That means that 60 Db noise is not twice as loud as 30 Db noise. It is actually 1,000 times louder than 30 Db.
Multiple legal courts in both the United States and around the world have ruled that sleep is a fundamental human right. Buchanan County’s current noise ordinance for wind turbines fails to protect the health of humans, and it fails to protect the health of our animals.
