Brian Howe

Brian Howe

President, HGC Engineering (Toronto, ON)

April 9, 2015

Brian Howe is a consulting engineer who has provided expertise in the fields of noise, vibration, and acoustics for the past 25 years. He is a pioneer and leader in the assessment of noise from wind power projects. He and his consulting firm have completed environmental noise assessments, acoustic audits, and complaint investigations for many wind turbine project developers in Canada, the United States, and Central America.

Mr. Howe is a regular speaker at the International Wind Turbine Noise and other technical conferences, and at Canadian Wind Energy Association symposia. He is an ongoing contributor to the field of acoustical knowledge — his accomplishments include a best practices guide for CanWEA (2007); methodological consultation for the Noise Guidelines for Wind Farms (2008) and the Ontario Green Energy and Green Economy Act (2009); and a study on behalf of the Ontario Ministry of the Environment entitled Low Frequency Noise and Infrasound Associated with Wind Turbine Generation Systems, A Literature Review (2010).

Mr. Howe is Chair of the CSA Technical Subcommittee on Acoustic Noise Measurements of Wind Turbines and has testified at several Ontario Municipal Board and Environmental Review Tribunal hearings regarding sound and infrasound from wind turbine projects. He holds graduate degrees in mechanical engineering and business administration from the University of Waterloo and the University of Toronto, and he has been designated a Consulting Engineer by Professional Engineers Ontario.


Role: Panel Member
Report: Understanding the Evidence: Wind Turbine Noise (April 2015)