Living in the Vicinity of Wind Turbines — A Grounded Theory Study

Abstract

Little is known of wind turbines' impact on people living in their vicinity. The aim of this study was to gain a deeper understanding of how people perceive and are affected by wind turbines in their living environment. In-depth interviews with 15 informants, strategically chosen to form a heterogeneous group, were analyzed using the constant comparative method of grounded theory. The informants were to different extents affected by the swishing noise, flickering light, and constant movement of the turbines' rotor blades. Some informants perceived the exposures as outside their territory while others perceived them as intrusion into privacy; a divergence partly determined by the informants' personal values about the living environment. The feeling of intrusion was associated with feeling a lack of control, subjected to injustice, a lack of influence, and not being believed. Informants used various coping strategies, such as rebuilding their houses or complaining, but mainly tried to ignore exposures from the wind turbines. The findings can help us to better understand the severe reactions wind turbines sometimes evoke and contribute to the knowledge base used when planning for new wind farms.

Keywords:

• audio-visual interaction
• coping
• environmental stressors
• grounded theory
• home
• human response
• multimodal perception
• noise annoyance
• shadows
• sound
• territoriality
• wind power

Acknowledgements

We thank the Swedish Energy Agency for funding the study by means of Grant P11576-4.