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Siting Wind Energy Facilities: What Do Local Elected Officials Need to Know?
February 2013by: James McElfish, Judith AmsalemThis guide provides local officials with an overview of wind energy in the United States and discusses siting concerns often addressed in local wind ordinances. -
Integrating Tiny and Small Homes into the Urban Landscape: History, Land Use Barriers and Potential Solutions
Journal of Geography and Regional Planning, 11(3): 33-45, 2018by: Krista EvansThis article analyzes how interest in tiny houses has changed over time and summarizes common regulatory barriers and potential solutions to tiny house development or occupancy. -
DSIRE: Database of State Incentives for Renewables & Efficiency
Updated 2019This clearinghouse provides summaries and access to local, state, and national renewable energy policies, programs, and ordinances. -
American Wind Wildlife Institute Information Center
Updated 2019This clearinghouse compiles over 1200 documents, reports, gray literature, studies, and peer-reviewed research, on wildlife interactions with wind energy facilities. -
Wind-Wildlife Impacts Literature Database
Updated January 2019This clearinghouse contains a sortable collection of resources regarding the wildlife impacts of various renewable energy technologies. -
WINDExchange Wind Energy Policies and Incentives: Ordinances Database
Updated May 2019This clearinghouse contains over 500 municipal and county wind energy ordinances. -
Wind Library
Updated 2015This clearinghouse contains guides and resources for planning and permitting wind energy. -
North Carolina Wind Energy: Resources
Updated 2019This clearinghouse contains a sortable collection of wind energy resources. -
Tethys Knowledge Base: Wind Energy Content
Updated 2019This clearinghouse contains wind energy resources sortable by resource type, technology type, receptor, and stressor. -
Environmental Impacts of Wind-Energy Projects
2007This report is a case study on the environmental effects of wind turbines in Pennsylvania, Virginia, Maryland, and West Virginia. -
The Law of Wind: A Guide to Business and Legal Issues (8th Ed.)
February 2018This report provides legal background on multiple aspects of wind energy development. -
2017 State of Wind Development in the United States by Region
NREL/TP-5000-70738, April 2018by: Frank Oteri, Ian Baring-Gould, Suzanne TegenThis report provides an overview of wind energy development in the United States. -
Wind Energy Finance in the United States: Current Practice and Opportunities
NREL/TP-6A20-68227, August 2017by: Paul Schwabe, David Feldman, Jason FieldsThis report provides background on wind energy project finance. -
Sustainable Energy in America Factbook
2018by: Rachel Luo, Colleen Regan, Ethan ZindlerThis report highlights deployment, financing, and economic trends in “sustainable energy” sectors, including wind and solar. -
An Initial Evaluation of Siting Considerations on Current and Future Wind Deployment
NREL/TP-5000-61750, July 2016by: Suzanne Tegan, Eris Lantz, Thrieu MaiThis report explores the relationship between siting considerations – human and wildlife – and wind energy project costs and future site suitability. -
Wind Energy Permitting in North Carolina and Six Other States: A Comparative Analysis
UNC-SG-16-11, May 2016by: James King, Lisa Schiavinato, Ethan CaseThis report compares wind energy regulations and policies in seven states. -
Clean Energy in City Codes: A Baseline Analysis of Municipal Codification across the United States
NREL/TP-6A70-66120, December 2016by: Jeffrey Cook, Aleandra Aznar, Alexander DaneThis report surveys municipal renewable energy codification in the United States. -
State Enabling Legislation for Commercial-Scale Wind Power Siting and the Local Government Role
May 2011by: James McElfish, Sara GersenThis report discusses various structures of state and local authority over large, commercial-scale wind energy developments. -
Put It There! — Wind Energy & Wind Park Siting and Zoning Best Practices and Guidance for States
January 2012by: Tom Stanton, Deborah LuyoThis report provides an overview of local and state wind energy siting, permitting, and zoning considerations, and summarizes every states authority over wind energy siting and zoning. -
Forecasting Wind Energy Costs & Cost Drivers: The Views of the World’s Leading Experts
LBNL-1005717, June 2016by: Ryan Wiser, Karen Jenni, Joachim SteelThis report presents the results of a survey of wind energy experts with predictions for future trends in pricing, development, and scale. -
Wind and Solar Production and the Sustainable Development Code
January 2008by: Erica Heller, AICPThis report summarizes wind and solar power technologies, policies, development potential, and local land-use regulations. -
Overview of Existing Wind Energy Ordinances
NREL/TP-500-44439, December 2008by: F. OteriThis report summarizes 25 rural wind energy ordinances. -
Community Wind 101: A Primer for Policymakers
September 2008by: Patrick MazzaThis report provides an overview of community wind energy systems. -
Small Wind Energy Policy Making in the States: Lessons for a Shifting Energy Landscape
Policy Summary Series #JW2009, September 2009by: Joshua Wiener, Tomas KoontzThis report provides an overview of state policies to support distributed, small-scale wind energy. -
Primer for Addressing Wind Turbine Noise
October 2006by: Daniel AlbertsThis report provides background on wind energy noise, its impacts, and its regulation. -
Spatial Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis Tool Suite for Consensus-Based Siting of Renewable Energy Structures
Journal of Environmental Assessment Policy and Management, 20(3): 1840003-1 – 1840003-28, 2008by: Frank Hanssen, Roel May, Jiska van DijkThis article discusses a pre-development decision-making tool with applications for wind energy project siting. -
The Key to Unlocking the Power of Small Scale Renewable Energy: Local Land Use Regulations
Journal of Land Use & Environmental Law, 27(2): 339-367, 2012by: Patricia SalkinThis article discusses methods to support small-scale wind and solar projects through local land use regulations. -
Zoning for Sustainability: A Review and Analysis of the Zoning Ordinances of 32 Cities in the United States
Journal of the American Planning Association, 80(3): 239-252, 2014by: Edward Jepson, AICP, Anna HainesThis article examines how municipalities incorporate sustainability principles into local zoning regulations. -
Community Wind: A Review of Select State and Federal Policy Incentives
August 2006by: Jessica Shoemaker, Christy BrekkenThis report provides an overview of community wind, its regulation, and state and national policies. -
The Predominance of Economic Development in the Support for Large-Scale Wind Farms in the U.S. Great Plains
Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 16(1): 3690-3701, 2012by: Michael Slattery, Becky Johnson, Jefferey SwoffordThis article explores public perceptions toward large-scale wind energy conversion systems -
Zoning for Distributed Wind Power: Breaking Down Barriers
NREL/CP-500-38167, August 2005by: Jim Green, Mark SagrilloThis report discusses local zoning and its preemption for small wind energy conversion systems. -
Zoned Out: An Analysis of Wind Energy Zoning in Four Midwest States
December 2014by: Alissa DoerrThis article discusses various models for delegating state and local wind energy zoning control. -
Sucking the Air out of Wind Energy: Nuisance Litigation and Its Effect on Wind Energy Development
https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/law_lawreview/vol88/iss3/4/by: Ryan KusminThis article provides an overview of nuisance litigation against wind energy projects, its effects on wind energy development, and proposes a state-level model to mitigate these effects. -
Headwinds to a Clean Energy Future: Nuisance Suits against Wind Energy Projects in the United States
California Law Review, 97(5): 1337-1376, 2009by: Stephen ButlerThis article provides an overview of nuisance litigation against wind turbines and two case Law examples. -
On-Shore Wind Zoning Guidelines
2011This fact sheet provides Michigan jurisdictions with background on state regulatory authority regarding large, commercial wind projects and local zoning for these systems. -
Considerations for Municipalities Considering Wind Projects
Fall 2013This fact sheet highlights useful information and resources for Massachusetts communities interested in wind energy development. -
Forecasting Wind Energy Costs and Cost Drivers: What Do the Experts Say?
September 2016This recorded webinar summarizes research on predicted future wind energy project cost drivers based on a survey of 163 global “wind energy experts.” -
EPA RE-Powering Mapping and Screening Tools: Land Use Considerations Training Module
February 2018This training module guides stakeholders through land use and siting considerations related to the development of renewable energy on contaminated lands, landfills and mine sites. -
Wind Works for America's Cities
June 2017This fact sheet discusses municipal wind energy purchasing strategies. -
RE-Powering Mapper 2.0
Updated September 2018This interactive map contains over 130,000 contaminated sites across the U.S. evaluated for their renewable energy development potential. -
Wind Turbine: Planning, Site Constraints and Issues
November 2011This recorded session presents a case study from the UK illustrating how site constraints and multi-jurisdictional regulations influence the siting of wind energy projects. -
Map of Wind Farms
October 2017This interactive map is an open-source database of installed wind energy facilities.This interactive map is an open-source database of installed wind energy facilities. -
Wind in My Community
2018This interactive map displays installed wind capacity by state, state-specific wind energy statistics, and fact sheets with further wind energy information for each state. -
Respect and Restore: Reassessing Local Wind Energy Standards
May 2016by: Lucas NelsenThis guide provides an overview of wind energy conversion system (WECS) siting and construction processes as they relate to county and township wind energy regulations. -
Large Community Wind Handbook
2017This guide provides resources for planning, regulating, and developing large-scale community wind projects. -
Small Community Wind Handbook
2017This guide highlights resources for planning, regulating, and developing small-scale community wind projects. -
Quantifying the Multiple Benefits of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy: A Guide for State and Local Governments
Revised July 2018by: Denise Mulholland, Julie Rosenberg, Carolyn SnyderThis guide provides governments and policymakers an analytical framework, various tools, and case studies to quantify benefits from energy efficiency and renewable energy. -
Tompkins County, NY, Tools to Promote and Regulate the Deployment of Renewable Energy Systems
June 2017This guide provides municipalities in Tompkins County, NY, with regulatory recommendations for crafting wind and solar ordinances aligned with the county comprehensive plan. -
Distributed Wind Energy Zoning and Permitting: A Toolkit for Local Governments
November 2017by: Dana Drugmand, Val StoriThis guide is designed to help cities and counties facilitate the development of distributed wind systems, and it includes a model ordinance. -
New York Wind Energy Guide for Local Decision Makers
June 2017This guide provides jurisdictions and developers in New York state with an overview of wind energy and guidance for regulating, planning for, and developing wind energy projects.