As wind energy expands in the United States, concerns have grown about the potential for tall turbines to be a drag on property values. But a new nationwide study that analyzed data from 300 million home sales and 60,000 wind turbines finds turbines’ impact on home values is much lower than previously thought – about a 1% drop on average for a home with at least one wind turbine within six miles. The study’s authors find the most impact on home prices happens if a home is less than five miles from a turbine; the further a home is from a turbine, the less of a value hit it takes. Even for homes close to a turbine, the study finds the negative impact to property value “diminishes and eventually disappears” within a decade. To measure the impact, scientists set out with a very simple question, said Max Auffhammer, a study co-author…
