The Impact of Wind Power Projects on Residential Property Values ...

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ln P N S X VIEW DISTANCE
o
6
s k v d
ORIENTATION
where
ORIENTATION is a vector <strong>of</strong> o ORIENTATION variables (e.g., SIDE, FRONT, and BACK),
6 is a vector <strong>of</strong> o parameter estimates for ORIENTATION variables, and
all other components are as defined in equation (1). 84
<strong>The</strong> ORIENTATION categories include FRONT, BACK, and SIDE, and are defined as follows:
SIDE: <strong>The</strong> orientation <strong>of</strong> the home to the view <strong>of</strong> the turbines is from the side.
FRONT: <strong>The</strong> orientation <strong>of</strong> the home to the view <strong>of</strong> the turbines is from the front.
BACK: <strong>The</strong> orientation <strong>of</strong> the home to the view <strong>of</strong> the turbines is from the back.
<strong>The</strong> orientation <strong>of</strong> the home to the view <strong>of</strong> the wind facilities was determined in the course <strong>of</strong> the
field visits to each home. If more than one orientation to the turbines best described the home
(e.g., back and side, or front, back, and side) they were coded as such (e.g., turbines visible from
back and side: SIDE = 1; BACK = 1; FRONT = 0). 85
Not surprisingly, ORIENTATION is related to VIEW. Table 21 and Table 22 provide frequency
and percentage crosstabs <strong>of</strong> ORIENTATION and VIEW. As shown, those homes with more
dramatic views <strong>of</strong> the turbines generally have more ORIENTATION ratings applied to them. For
instance, 25 out <strong>of</strong> 28 EXTREME VIEW homes have all three ORIENTATION ratings (i.e.,
FRONT, BACK, and SIDE). Virtually all <strong>of</strong> the MINOR VIEW homes, on the other hand, have
only one ORIENTATION. Further, MINOR VIEW homes have roughly evenly spread
orientations to the turbines across the various possible categories <strong>of</strong> FRONT, BACK, and SIDE.
Conversely, a majority <strong>of</strong> the MODERATE and SUBSTANTIAL VIEW ratings coincide with an
ORIENTATION from the back <strong>of</strong> the house. 86
(8)
84 Ideally, one would enter ORIENTATION in the model through an interaction with VIEW. <strong>The</strong>re are two ways
that could be accomplished: either with the construction <strong>of</strong> multiple fixed effects (“dummy”) variables, which
capture each sub-category <strong>of</strong> VIEW and ORIENTATION, or through a semi-continuous interaction variable, which
would be created by multiplying the ordered categorical variable VIEW by an ordered categorical variable
ORIENTATION. Both interaction scenarios are problematic, the former because it requires increasingly small
subsets <strong>of</strong> data, which create unstable coefficient estimates, and the latter because there are no a priori expectations
for the ordering <strong>of</strong> an ordered categorical ORIENTATION variable and therefore none could be created and used for
the interaction. As a result, no interaction between the two variables is reported here.
85 An “Angle” orientation was also possible, which was defined as being between Front and Side or Back and Side.
An Angle orientation was also possible in combination with Back or Front (e.g., Back-Angle or Front-Angle). In
this latter case, the orientation was coded as one <strong>of</strong> the two prominent orientations (e.g., Back or Front). An Angle
orientation, not in combination with Front or Back, was coded as Side.
86 <strong>The</strong> prevalence <strong>of</strong> BACK orientations for MODERATE and SUBSTANTIAL VIEW homes may be because
BACK views might more-frequently be kept without obstruction, relative to SIDE views.
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