Understanding The Impact of Offshore Wind Energy Development on Beach Trip Demand to the Coast of North Carolina

Since the OPEC oil embargo of the 1970’s, U.S. energy policy has been increasingly concentrated on the advancement of domestic renewable energy resources. In order to reduce environmental impacts, promote energy security, and provide energy for an ever-growing population the U.S. has started to transition away from conventional fossil fuels and push forward towards the use of renewables. According to the Energy Information Administration (2015), the production and consumption of one renewable resource in particular, wind energy, has experienced a substantial increase over the past decade. Wind energy is often favored due to its inexhaustible nature, capacity to produce zero greenhouse gas emissions, positive impact on local job growth, and overall cost effectiveness. However, proponents of wind energy are frequently averse to the construction of turbines due to inadequate available land, possible decreases in property values generated by increased noise levels, impaired visual aesthetics, and the intermittence of the wind resource. The objective of our study is to estimate changes in economic welfare resulting from offshore wind farm expansion in coastal North Carolina. Specifically we estimate a fixed effects negative binomial model using a combination of both revealed and stated preference data.