A newly published report by independent research firm CEBR finds no evidence of house prices being negatively impacted by wind farms within a 5km radius. The report draws its conclusions from analysis of 82,000 transactions over the past 20 years.
RenewableUK chief executive Maria McCaffery said
“At last we have a detailed independent analysis into what actually happens to property prices before, during and after windfarms are constructed, over a period of nearly 20 years. This shows that claims that windfarms might have a negative effect on house prices are unfounded”
Previous reports from RICS said there was no definitive evidence for negative impacts in the UK and minimal impacts in the US while the LSE claimed an average of 5-6% reduction for properties within 2km of a wind farm.
There still appears to be no evidence that a single community-scale turbine can cause a noticeable reduction and as ever prices will generally continue to move with more dominant issues of the economy and public confidence.
Meanwhile, building society Nationwide’s latest house price index showed UK prices have increased by 10.9% in the past 12 months, to an average of £183,577. The monthly rate of growth picked up, with a rise of 1.2% following March’s 0.5% increase and the annual rate of inflation is now the biggest rise since June 2007
Climate and Energy
Back in June this year Lord Stern (the world’s most authoritative climate economist) warned that the financial damage resulting from Climate Change will be much greater than predicted by current forecasts which have assumed increases in global temperatures will be limited to 3 degC.
In recent months the worldwide consensus has moved to a discussion about not IF the world will hit 3C, but by how much this will be exceeded. Newly published reports include temperature rises up to 6 degC above pre-industrial levels which result in “catastrophic outcomes”.
Additional research also predicts that severe financial impacts are likely to appear well before the actual physical effects cited above. By way of an example the state of California is now its third full year of drought and agriculture within the Central Valley, which produces almost 50% of US grown fruit and vegetables, is struggling to adapt. Economists predict the knock-on costs to every US household in increased food bills will top $500 annually.
Meanwhile the Independent newspaper reports this week that Britain continues to see an increasing risk of widespread electricity blackouts unless more is done to develop smarter solutions to save excess renewable energy at the point of generation.