Early in 2024, Lee Parton, an economics assistant professor, published, “Bidding against the wind: A choice experiment in green energy, green jobs, and offshore views in North Carolina, USA” in the Journal of Environmental Management alongside coauthors.
This piece explains that offshore wind development is new to the U.S. and according to recent studies, people generally dislike the visual impact of wind farms. This study, focused on North Carolina, is the first to consider both the positive benefits and the visual impacts. His results show that people are willing to pay up to $783 per year near tourist areas to reduce the visual impact. Some groups also value the job creation and carbon reductions from these wind projects.