Economics of New Plant Sites Based on Acoustical Considerations

Environmental noise at the property line due to an industrial operation is one element that determines the minimum site area requirements for a new plant. Residents in communities surrounding a plant hear the noise created within the plant that is attenuated by the building and the size of the buffer zone between the plant and the community. In suburban and rural areas where the ambient background noise may be low, sites for heavy industry plants become exceedingly large if insulated metal type siding is used for the building walls to achieve a satisfactory sound level at the property line. When large sites are not available, or if the price of land is high, the site area can be considerably reduced by the use of masonry or multilayered insulated metal types of siding. For a plant with an interior noise level of 90 dBA, the site area for a plant with masonry siding may be less than 10% of the site area for the same plant with insulated metal siding. The use of high sound transmission loss walls for plant buildings necessitates that noise from other sources such as fans, ventilating system, steam vents, etc., be reduced to meet the property line sound criterion. This paper presents a graphical method for estimating plant site area and setback requirements based upon maximum allowable property line noise levels, plant noise levels, and type of building siding selected for the construction. In addition, a method is proposed for determining the economic break‐even point for purchasing additional property as an acoustical buffer zone versus the cost of improving the sound transmission loss of the building siding.