Wind Turbines Affect People’s Health

Here’s some more fodder for the Not in My Backyard (NIMBY) crowd: A doctor says she’s conducted research that suggests that people living close to wind turbines are susceptible to what she calls Wind Turbine Syndrome (WTS), an illness with symptoms including sleep disorders, heart disease, panic attacks and headaches, the Independent reports this weekend. So literally, a wind turbine in your backyard could be hazardous to your health , Reuters reports.

However, the project, “Carbon Nanotube Reinforced Polyurethane Composites for Wind Turbine Blades,” is designed to help accelerate the development of advanced wind turbines to broader applications, according to Pittsburgh-based Bayer MaterialScience , Plastics News reports.

In addition to funding for wind turbine research, the Senate bill contains $800,000 to design and install solar panels and an automated weather station at the University of Maine at Presque Isle and $60,000 to complete dredging of Bass Harbor in Tremont.

Gov. John Baldacci, Maine's congressional delegation and UM researcher Habib Dagher have been lobbying for months to establish a nationwide deep-water wind energy research program on the Orono campus , EnergyCurrent reports.