Property values are a surrogate for all the other issues facing homeowners who are close to wind farms. Proponents, believing that turbines are benign, tend to also believe that property values are not affected. They can point to a few studies that seem to show that values are not decreased. Opponents view these studies as flawed, cleverly drawn up by real estate appraisers to satisfy their clients, who happen to be the wind power developers. The REPP Report, 1.6mb is probably the most commonly proponent-cited report, but I find it unconvincing. So does the Appraisal Group One study, 4.1mb (which also includes sections on health and noise issues - the reasons why the evaluations decline). The REPP Report was also judged badly in a more recent Gardner Study, 1.5mb, which looked at rural property in west Texas. It is in the form of a presentation intended for prospective land lessors, and very nicely presents the issues along with actual results.

For another opponents' viewpoint, the Lincoln Township, 0.1mb report has some interesting data on page 6, plus lots of other complaints from a development in Wisconsin that went badly.

Wind proponents never give up, and their latest effort is the Hoen/Wiser report, released in December or 2009, from the U.S. I wrote a major critique of it.

Did I mention, wind proponents never give up? The newest latest effort is the Canning/Simmons report, released in February 2010, from Ontario. I wrote a major critique of it.

If you know of any additional papers that should be included here, please let me know.

• Plattsburg tax reduction, lowered by 60% on a vacant lot that is probably no longer buildable.
• Even Bob Vila has something to say about turbines. Property values are covered toward the end. Bad news.
• Chris Luxemburger, 0.1mb, a more recent look at Melancthon. Bad news.
• Melancthon Township, 0.9mb
• MORI Survey, 0.4mb
• Madison Township, 0.1mb
• McLean County, 4.5mb
• UK Property Values Study, 0.1mb
• Frey paper, starting page 117, 0.3mb