The Wind Turbine Study Group will host an evening meeting on Wednesday, Feb. 6 at 7 p.m. at the Champaign County Community Center.
The group made the decision during Tuesday's regular morning meeting after discussion about the environmental benefits of wind energy compared to traditional coal-fired power plants.
WTSG member Jon Berry said one 200 megawatt turbine can reduce emissions of nitrous oxide by eight tons, sulfur dioxide by 14 tons and carbon dioxide by 2,697 tons annually.
"Those figures do not include the pollutants created to remove coal and transport it," he added.
Berry said a typical coal-fired electric plant in a year produces 3.7 million tons of CO2, which is a greenhouse gas associated with global warming.
"That's equivalent to cutting down 161 million trees," he said. However, Berry said, if the Buckeye Wind Project is able to reach maximum siting, the turbine farm could perform the function of reducing emissions from 560,000 tons of coal.
"It would be like planting nearly 200 square miles of forest in Champaign County," he said.
Ohio is ranked fourth in coal consumption in the United States, and Berry said while wind power cannot eliminate the need for coal, it has the potential to reduce it.
Berry noted that American Electric Power lost a lawsuit in October 2007 after it violated the Clean Air Act, and said the measures the company is now pursuing to eliminate emissions and other pollutants will save $32 billion annually in associated health-care costs.
"You look at that figure and say it can't be true but we researched it and researched it," Berry said. "With wind turbines, no one has ever died from them. No one has ever got sick from them."
Prosecutor Nick Selvaggio, coordinator for the WTSG, said the wind turbine industry has minimized risks, but pointed out that it does not have a perfect track record, especially in construction phases.
"No one power industry is tragedy-safe," he said.
"The world runs on trade-offs," said Everpower liaison Mike Pullins. "If there are health issues with wind turbines, they are significantly less than current (power) sources."
The agenda for the Feb. 6 meeting will include a question-and-answer session with an industrial noise expert hired by Union Neighbors United as well as representatives from wind development companies.
"We are not emphasizing this topic over another," Selvaggio said.
UNU and WTSG member Julie Johnson said the evening meeting was primarily scheduled to accommodate the speaker, but hopes more members of the general public are able to attend.
"This will allow people to come who can't in the morning," Selvaggio agreed.
Johnson said she hopes the issue of noise measurement and differences in types of noise will be addressed.
"I'm still really confused on non-audible sound and the difference in how that's measured," she said.
The study group has reached consensus that an acceptable standard of audible noise produced by turbines should five decibels above ambient background sounds.
Farm Bureau Organization Director Jason Dagger gave a brief presentation about a condition termed "vibroacoustic disease" that turbine opponents have voiced fears about in the past.
Dagger said reputable medical research sources such as the Mayo Clinic do not recognize the condition, and an Internet search turns up merely anecdotal evidence.
"There is no research I could find in the northern hemisphere, yet there are thousands of turbines in the United States," he said. "If it's not published, why is it a concern? I thought, there's got to be research from people who are affected, for instance a truck driver or tractor operator who spends more than 2,000 hours a year in a vehicle, but there isn't any."
Dagger pointed out that in addition to noise from vehicles, individuals living in Champaign County deal with ambient noise from appliances, well pumps, farm equipment and heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems every day.
"There's a threshold (for ambient noise) but I'm not sure what it is," Dagger said.
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