Science shops tackle community concerns at a low cost

By Rebecca Warden. In 2006, local people approached the University of Groningen in The Netherlands to see if they could help with the issue of noise pollution from wind turbines. The Dutch government is intending to double its production of wind energy by 2020, and this will mean building 400 large wind turbines on land and a further 2,000 at sea. One of Groningen’s five science shops took on the problem and researched local residents’ perceptions of noise annoyance from wind turbines during 2007 and 2008. Read more...