A change in the wind? US public views on renewable energy and climate compared

Abstract

Background: Renewable energy development is a necessary step toward climate change mitigation, so these topics have often been linked. In US public discourse, however, they have somewhat different profiles-climate change views are tied closely to partisan identity, whereas renewable energy exhibits more cross-cutting appeal, and sometimes more cross-cutting opposition as well. To what extent are such differences reflected in survey data tracking rates of change, respondent characteristics, and local or regional variations in public opinion on renewable energy and climate? Methods: We explore similarities and differences in views of renewable energy and climate change using a unique collection of 18 US national or regional surveys totaling more than 14,000 interviews, conducted between 2011 and 2017. Individual surveys varied in context, content, and goals, but all asked two common energy and climate questions, which yield comparable and strikingly consistent results. Results: Public support for renewable energy appears broader than acceptance of anthropogenic climate change (ACC), especially in a more conservative region. Despite local controversies, support for renewable energy in recent years rose faster than ACC acceptance on two regional surveys. Political divisions remain wide on both topics, but wider regarding climate change-particularly among college-educated respondents. Renewable energy views in counties with proposed or operating wind farms are not systematically different from those in other counties. Conclusions: Overall, these results provide encouragement for promoting renewable energy in terms of its economic benefits, working around some of the political identity-based resistance to climate change mitigation. That approach could be most important in politically conservative regions where such resistance is strong.

Public Preferences in a Shifting Energy Future: Comparing Public Views of Eight Energy Sources in North America’s Pacific Northwest

“…While global warming views are clearly relevant, it is not common practice to include this variable in the analyses of public energy preferences [55,70]. Past work with climate views included has found that believing that global warming is caused mostly by humans is significant for renewable energy support in some studies, but not in others [45,71,72], and that the public does consider emissions when weighing energy preferences [71]. Additionally, general environmental views have been found to influence energy preferences [4,5,10,73,74], though this is also not consistently measured across studies.…”

The Nexus of Climate Change, Land Use, and Conflicts

“…Physical danger can arise during the winter when icicles fall down from turbines [74•]. Concerns for a devaluation of land and decreasing property prices tend to rank higher in public opinion polls in developed countries [95,96], see also [97,98].…”

Generation gaps in US public opinion on renewable energy and climate change

“…The nationwide POLES survey took place in two stages just before and after the 2016 presidential elections, with little difference in the main response patterns. [23] The North Country survey took place in summer 2017, interviewing residents of four rural counties in northern New England. [24][25] Two other regional projects, covering New Hampshire and northeast Oregon, each involved a series of surveys carried out with independent random samples from 2010 or 2011 to 2018.…”

“…The nationwide survey took place in 2016, with stages just before and after the presidential elections. The three regional surveys involve places with recent and controversial wind energy developments, as described by Hamilton et al[23] One of the regional surveys, in the North Country of northern New England, occurred in summer of 2017. The other two regional projects, in northeast Oregon and New Hampshire, each involved a series of surveys carried out over multiple years—2011 to 2015 in Oregon, and 2010 (climate) or 2012 (renewable energy) to 2017 in New Hampshire.…”