Do wind trubines affect property values ?

[Thomas Beyer]

I love green energy .. especially solar as it is low impact and can produce both electricity and warm water.



But what about wind mills aka wind turbines or their multiples: wind farms ?



Have you ever driven towards Palm Springs from Riverside, East of Los Angeles .. hundreds and hundreds of windmills. An impressive sight .. luckily I am not a bird .. and luckily in the middle of nowhere .. and the noise nearby when the wind picks up (usually in the afternoon)..



Houses near a wind farm CAN DROP substantially in property value .. mainly due to noise (whomp whomp whomp .. all day and all night long ..) .. so much in fact that entire TOWNS now (in the UK and Netherlands) are opposed to even one windmill nearby !!



Here's a few blog entries about noise and property values:



http://obama-oversight.blogspot.com/2010/0...rty-values.html



http://www.windaction.org/news/c46/



http://www.stopwoodlanewindfarm.co.uk/property.htm



.. and so on ..



There is much debate .. and personally I find wind farms an OPTICAL POLLUTION .. for example the one on Grouse Mountain in North-Vancouver !



related post on weather pattern influence: http://myreinspace.com/rein_members_only1/Coffee_Shop/106-18375-Wind_farms_can_affect_local_weather_patterns.html



And being fairly noise sensitive I also would never want to live close to one (or a highway) ..



Thus: be mindful of property value impacts by so called "green" energy. A wind turbine is not only dangerous for birds, it is also ugly and noisy. Thus, I think they ought to be off-shore (as now done in the North Sea, out of sight from coast) or out-of-sight, or in very thinly populated windy parts of the country, like the Alberta / BC border east of Lethbridge .. or the deserts of California/Arizona/New Mexico!



Your thoughts ?

 

[MarkKruse]

Note that all wind turbines are NOT created equal. They come in all different shapes, sizes, and noise levels. Perhaps the issue sometimes is the type of turbine?
I do agree that having 30 very, very tall ones in your sight line may be annoying and devaluing.

Part of the issue is what to do INSTEAD? I`m not sure many of us would prefer a nuclear power plant nearby. Or natural gas fracturing into the ground water. Or coal strip mining. Pump jacks.
The REAL issue is that we humans need to recommit ourselves to using less energy period. If we all reduce our impact by 10% to 20% (quite feasible and painless if we just pay attention), then maybe they won`t have to build those generation sources or those power lines.

Also, if I`m off-grid on my own acreage with my own personal wind turbine making all my energy, I`m feeling pretty good about that. And I`m confident that in that scenario, the property value would INCREASE.

 

[eddyb1978]

Hi Thomas,
If I was a tenant and I had a choice between a noisy environmentally friendly ppty and a non noisy one I`d pick the latter. My view and based on what i see from my portfolio is that tenants definitely look for peace and quite. Solar and other types of energy saving projects are available and i do prefer them better.
Cheers,
Eddy