ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Factors Influencing Social Perception
of Investments in the Wind Power Industry
with an Analysis of Influence of the Most
Significant Environmental Factor – Exposure to
Noise
Bartosz Bilski
More details
Hide details
Department of Preventive Medicine, University of Medical Sciences in Poznań
Smoluchowskiego 11, 60-179 Poznań, Poland
Pol. J. Environ. Stud. 2012;21(2):289-295
KEYWORDS
ABSTRACT
This paper presents the most significant factors – economic, social, health, and environmental – that
influence public perception of investments in the wind power industry. It particularly discusses the most significant
factors conditioning potential investment venue: noise emissions generated by wind turbine units. The
author, on the basis of the results of his own research, an academic literature analysis, and an assessment of
legal and methodological conditions, has reviewed factors influencing the assessment accuracy of such investments'
impact on audible and infrasound noise, and local communities and the environment. The publication
also presents hypotheses that are not scientifically validated but which prevail within society concerning the
negative influence of such investments on residents' health. These hypotheses may significantly affect social
behaviour and the directions of further studies concerning the scope of research.