Siting Community Wind Farms: An Investigation of NIMBY

dc.contributor.authorBoatwright, Jessica Annen
dc.contributor.committeechairBoyle, Kevin J.en
dc.contributor.committeememberYou, Wenen
dc.contributor.committeememberBosch, Darrell J.en
dc.contributor.departmentAgricultural and Applied Economicsen
dc.date.accessioned2013-09-05T08:00:20Zen
dc.date.available2013-09-05T08:00:20Zen
dc.date.issued2013-09-04en
dc.description.abstractWind energy is expanding rapidly in the United States as the nation\'s energy policy objectives increasingly focus on renewables. Public opinion polls show that a majority of Americans support wind energy development but actual wind farm projects often face intense local opposition. This dichotomy between general support for wind energy but opposition towards siting a project nearby is often attributed to the not-in-my-backyard (NIMBY) phenomenon. In this study we employ a discrete choice experiment to investigate public preferences for different characteristics of a local wind farm. We investigate NIMBY by first controlling for characteristics that might cause local opposition, such as seeing or hearing a wind farm from home, and then after considering these effects of a wind farm we examine whether people who favor wind energy display NIMBY resistance. Finally, we estimate compensation requirements for siting a wind farm within sight or sound of someone\'s home. Results show that people who somewhat favor wind energy do display NIMBY attitudes since they are predisposed to vote against local wind development even after controlling whether they would see and hear the wind farm from their homes. We do not detect NIMBY attitudes among people who strongly favor wind energy because they have a positive disposition towards local wind farms. Our results suggest that if an incentive program is in place from the onset of a wind development project it could offset NIMBY reactions to specific projects.en
dc.description.degreeMaster of Scienceen
dc.format.mediumETDen
dc.identifier.othervt_gsexam:1349en
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10919/23750en
dc.publisherVirginia Techen
dc.rightsIn Copyrighten
dc.rights.urihttp://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/en
dc.subjectNIMBYen
dc.subjectwind energyen
dc.subjectchoice experimenten
dc.subjectwillingness-to-accepten
dc.subjectconditional logiten
dc.titleSiting Community Wind Farms: An Investigation of NIMBYen
dc.typeThesisen
thesis.degree.disciplineAgricultural and Applied Economicsen
thesis.degree.grantorVirginia Polytechnic Institute and State Universityen
thesis.degree.levelmastersen
thesis.degree.nameMaster of Scienceen

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