New Zealand, like many countries around the world, has been encouraging the installation of wind energy projects. Unfortunately, also like many countries, the residents who end up living next to these projects have been complaining about the noise, after having been assured that it would be minimal. NZ has noise regulations that predate wind projects, but like many countries they have developed special noise regulations uniquely customized for the wind industry - something called NZS 6808. The previous version of this Standard (1998) didn’t protect the neighbors – there were hundreds of complains while the developer could plausibly claim to be following the standards. So they formed a committee and came up with 6808:2010. One person on that committee, Philip Dickinson, refused to agree to the new standard and went public about his reasons. continue reading…
