You are here: Home / Clean Energy / Wind Turbines Don't Hurt Property Values

Wind Turbines Don't Hurt Property Values

December 4, 2009 By 5 Comments
Share

A new comprehensive study — The Impact of Wind Power Projects on Residential Property Values in the United States: A Multi-Site Hedonic Analysis — conclusively shows that property values are not harmed by wind turbines and wind power facilities.

The study, conducted by Lawrence Berkely National Laboratory shows that neither views of wind facilities nor proximity to wind facilities have any significant effect on property values.

The study examined “7,500 sales of single-family homes situated within 10 miles of 24 existing wind facilities in nine different U.S. states.”

As the report states, neither views of nor distance to wind facilities “have any consistent, measurable, and statistically significant effect on home sales prices.”

Results from this study “are expected to be transferable to other areas,” according to the report.

Even research of proximity to roads, conventional power plants and high-power transmission lines can show a relationship (negative) to property values, according to report co-author Mark Thayer. But not wind facilities.

So, concerns that these gigantic wind facilities are harming their neighbors financially seems to be a myth that can now be laid to rest.

via Business Green

Related Stories:

1) PG&E to Buy and Run Own 246 MW Wind Farm

2) $2.2 Billion IPO For China Wind Power Longyuan

3) South Carolina To Lead US With $98 Million World-Class Wind Center

Image Credit: Conor Dupre-Neary via flickr under a Creative Commons license

Repost this article
Filed Under: Clean Energy, Wind Energy Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
About Zachary Shahan

If you couldn't guess, I spend most of my time on CleanTechnica and Planetsave. I'm the director/editor of both sites and am a little obsessed with them. I'm also Publishing Services Manager at Important Media, which means that I do everything I can to support other Important Media writers, editors, and directors (as well as the network as a whole) in the good work they are engaged in. You can also find my written work on Scientific American, Reuters, Change.org, and most of the sites in the Important Media network. For a full list of my author pages on sites around the internet, or to connect with me on common social networks, go to zacharyshahan.com

  • Zach

    good point.

    i agree & have heard similar things — that it is really harsh to be near the noise. but i imagine it must depend on the type of turbines, and, of course, the proximity.

    as you say, it isn’t all about money — also quality of life — and we need more research on the issue

  • Zach

    good point.

    i agree & have heard similar things — that it is really harsh to be near the noise. but i imagine it must depend on the type of turbines, and, of course, the proximity.

    as you say, it isn’t all about money — also quality of life — and we need more research on the issue

  • Zach

    good point.

    i agree & have heard similar things — that it is really harsh to be near the noise. but i imagine it must depend on the type of turbines, and, of course, the proximity.

    as you say, it isn’t all about money — also quality of life — and we need more research on the issue

  • http://solarchargeddriving.com Christof

    This is great news. I’m a huge solar and wind energy advocate. However, I have come across news stories about noise problems with wind turbines for those who live very close to large turbines. This study doesn’t really address that noise issue.

    Personally, I have no idea how much noise wind turbines produce, at what level, how close one has to live to them, etc. to potentially be negatively affected by this.

    However, I would hope that folks who might really be negatively affected by turbine noise don’t get run over roughshod just because property values don’t seem to go down due to wind farms. It’s not all about money, it’s also about the quality of life for us all.

    In the end, I need to do more research on the noise issue in order to become better informed about it, as, I suspect, many of us do.

  • http://solarchargeddriving.com Christof

    This is great news. I’m a huge solar and wind energy advocate. However, I have come across news stories about noise problems with wind turbines for those who live very close to large turbines. This study doesn’t really address that noise issue.

    Personally, I have no idea how much noise wind turbines produce, at what level, how close one has to live to them, etc. to potentially be negatively affected by this.

    However, I would hope that folks who might really be negatively affected by turbine noise don’t get run over roughshod just because property values don’t seem to go down due to wind farms. It’s not all about money, it’s also about the quality of life for us all.

    In the end, I need to do more research on the noise issue in order to become better informed about it, as, I suspect, many of us do.

Pin It