Study Shows that Wind Power has Little Influence on Property Values

[kristopher]

One of the arguments made against installing wind power turbines is that they are unsightly and that they drive down property values.

...Using a combination of different analytic approaches, the investigation found no evidence that prices of homes surrounding wind facilities are consistently, measurably, and significantly affected by either the view of wind facilities or the proximity to those facilities.

The team of researchers collected data on almost 7,500 sales, between 1996 and 2007, of single-family homes situated within 10 miles of existing wind energy facilities in nine different states; the closest home was a mere 800 feet from a facility. For each wind facility, local sales were examined from the period prior to the announcement of a facility’s construction to well after its construction and full-scale operation.

Researchers also visited each home to determine the degree to which the wind energy facility was likely visible at the time of home sale and to collect other essential data. The study’s conclusions were drawn from eight different hedonic pricing models (a statistical analysis method used to estimate the impact of house characteristics on sales prices), as well as repeat sales and sales volume models. The various analyses consistently demonstrated that was no conclusive evidence of the existence of any widespread property value effects in communities surrounding wind energy facilities.

...Other studies have found negative property value impacts near landfills, high voltage transmission lines, and other types of electric generation facilities.

The full report, "The Impact of Wind Power Projects on Residential Property Values in the United States: A Multi-Site Hedonic Analysis" is available at the DOE website: http://www1.eere.energy.gov/windandhydro/impacts_siting.html .

http://www.energyboom.com/wind/study-shows-wind-power-has-little-influence-property-values




Also at that same DOE page:
Effectiveness of Changing Wind Turbine Cut-in Speed to Reduce Bat Fatalities at Wind Facilities (PDF 3.1 MB)

This report details an experiment on the effectiveness of changing wind turbine cut-in speed on reducing bat fatality from wind turbines at the Casselman Wind Project in Somerset County, Pennsylvania. Details

Sage-Grouse and Wind Energy: Biology, Habits, and Potential Effects from Development (PDF 1.2 MB)

This report discusses the effects of wind power projects on sage grouse.

[dkf]

1. It ought to. Low frequency vibrations cause health problems.

[kristopher]

2. That doesn't apply to wind turbines.

There is a truckload of data saying that noise from turbines has no effect on health, and ONE claim that it does. The claim that it does comes from a single pediatrician who interviewed 10 families that were opposed to the building of a local wind farm from the day it was proposed - long before any "adverse effects" were claimed.

A recent comprehensive study (commissioned by the wind industry but composed of independent, well qualified researchers) found that there was no evidence that audible or sub-audible sounds from wind turbines had adverse affects. They did however, find one thing:
"An annoyance factor to wind turbine sounds undoubtedly exists, to which there is a great deal of individual variability. Stress has multiple causes and is additive. Associated stress from annoyance, exacerbated by the rhetoric, fears, and negative publicity generated by the wind turbine controversy, may contribute to the reported symptoms described by some people living near rural wind turbines."

In other words, promoting trash science on the internet has as much to do with the health issue as anything else. I hope you are aware that the fossil fuel industry is spending a great deal of money to encourage beliefs like you are spreading. They fight it for the same reasons they spread disinformation on climate change. They see wind as the single most immediate technological threat to their profits.

ETA: almost forgot, you can download the report here: http://www.windpoweringamerica.gov/filter_detail.asp?itemid=2487

[TxRider]

3. I bet it has had an impact on west Texas land prices.

And I bet it has driven them higher.

Probably the same for Texas panhandle land values.

Rural land owners are now seeing the wind above their property as a mineral right, just like the oil below it.