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Journal ArticleDOI

Thirty years of North American wind energy acceptance research: What have we learned?

01 Jul 2017-Energy research and social science (Elsevier)-Vol. 29, pp 135-148
TL;DR: A review of the literature on public acceptance of wind energy can be found in this paper, revealing the following lessons learned: North American support for wind energy has been consistently high and the NIMBY explanation for resistance to wind development is invalid, and Socioeconomic impacts of wind development are strongly tied to acceptance.
Abstract: Thirty years of North American research on public acceptance of wind energy has produced important insights, yet knowledge gaps remain. This review synthesizes the literature, revealing the following lessons learned. (1) North American support for wind has been consistently high. (2) The NIMBY explanation for resistance to wind development is invalid. (3) Socioeconomic impacts of wind development are strongly tied to acceptance. (4) Sound and visual impacts of wind facilities are strongly tied to annoyance and opposition, and ignoring these concerns can exacerbate conflict. (5) Environmental concerns matter, though less than other factors, and these concerns can both help and hinder wind development. (6) Issues of fairness, participation, and trust during the development process influence acceptance. (7) Distance from turbines affects other explanatory variables, but alone its influence is unclear. (8) Viewing opposition as something to be overcome prevents meaningful understandings and implementation of best practices. (9) Implementation of research findings into practice has been limited. The paper also identifies areas for future research on wind acceptance. With continued research efforts and a commitment toward implementing research findings into developer and policymaker practice, conflict and perceived injustices around proposed and existing wind energy facilities might be significantly lessened.

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Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
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Title
Thirty years of North American wind energy acceptance research: What have we learned?
Permalink
https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3747t3q4
Authors
Rand, J
Hoen, B
Publication Date
2017-07-01
DOI
10.1016/j.erss.2017.05.019
Peer reviewed
eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library
University of California

Thirty years of North American wind energy
acceptance research: What have we learned?
Authors:
Joseph Rand, Ben Hoen
Energy Analysis and Environmental Impacts Division
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Electricity Markets and Policy Group
June 2017
This is a pre-print of an article accepted for publication in Energy Research and Social
Science. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2017.05.019
This work was supported by the Wind Energy Technologies Office within the Office of Energy Efficiency
and Renewable Energy of the U.S. Department of Energy, under Contract No. DE-AC02-05CH11231.

Disclaimer
This document was prepared as an account of work sponsored by the United States Government. While this
document is believed to contain correct information, neither the United States Government nor any agency
thereof, nor The Regents of the University of California, nor any of their employees, makes any warranty,
express or implied, or assumes any legal responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any
information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe privately
owned rights. Reference herein to any specific commercial product, process, or service by its trade name,
trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise, does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement,
recommendation, or favoring by the United States Government or any agency thereof, or The Regents of the
University of California. The views and opinions of authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or
reflect those of the United States Government or any agency thereof, or The Regents of the University of
California.
Ernest Orlando Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory is an equal opportunity employer.

Thirty years of North American wind energy acceptance research i
Acknowledgements
This work was funded by the Wind Energy Technologies Office within the Office of Energy Efficiency and
Renewable Energy of the U.S. Department of Energy, under Contract No. DE-AC02-05CH11231. The
authors specifically thank Patrick Gilman, Jocelyn Brown-Saracino, and Jose Zayas from the DOE Wind
Energy Technologies Office for supporting this research
The authors would also like to thank Jeremy Firestone (University of Delaware), Ryan Wiser (Lawrence
Berkeley National Laboratory), Eric Lantz (National Renewable Energy Laboratory), Gundula Hübner
(Martin Luther University), and Jarett Zuboy for their contributions and suggestions to improve this
review.

Thirty years of North American wind energy acceptance research ii
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements .................................................................................................................................................................. i
Table of Contents ..................................................................................................................................................................... ii
Abstract ...................................................................................................................................................................................... iii
1. Introduction ....................................................................................................................................................................... 1
1.1 Background and Motivation ........................................................................................................................... 1
1.2 Justification for North American Focus ..................................................................................................... 2
2. Method of Literature Review ...................................................................................................................................... 3
2.1 Selection of Publications to Review ............................................................................................................ 3
2.2 Data Collection, Coding, and Qualitative Analysis of Papers ............................................................ 5
3. A Brief History of North American Wind Energy Acceptance Research ................................................... 5
4. Limitations of Previous North American Wind Acceptance Research ...................................................... 7
5. Overarching Aspects and Explanatory Variables in North American Literature ................................ 10
5.1 Socioeconomic Aspects .................................................................................................................................. 10
5.2 Sound Annoyance and Health Risk Perceptions .................................................................................. 12
5.3 Visual/Landscape Aspects, Annoyance, and Place Attachment .................................................... 13
5.4 Environmental Concerns and Attitudes .................................................................................................. 15
5.5 Perceptions of Planning Process, Fairness, and Trust ...................................................................... 16
5.6 Distance from Turbines (Proximity Hypothesis) ................................................................................ 18
5.7 Other Proposed Correlates of Acceptance ............................................................................................. 18
6. Lessons learned in 30 years of wind acceptance studies .............................................................................. 19
7. Knowledge gaps after 30 years: Areas for future research .......................................................................... 21
8. Conclusion ........................................................................................................................................................................ 22
References ................................................................................................................................................................................ 22
Appendix A ............................................................................................................................................................................... 30
Table 1: Explanatory variables in N.A. wind acceptance literature & research suggestions ......... 30
Table 2: Research approaches and methods in North American wind acceptance literature ...... 33

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Cites background from "Thirty years of North American wind..."

  • ...…factor affecting feasibility is public acceptance, in particular for wind energy and other large-scale renewable facilities (Yenneti and Day, 2016; Rand and Hoen, 2017; Gorayeb et al., 2018) that raise landscape management (Nadaï and Labussière, 2017) and distributional justice (Yenneti and Day,…...

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  • ...Research indicates that financial participation and community engagement can be effective in mitigating resistance (Brunes and Ohlhorst, 2011; Rand and Hoen, 2017) (see Section 4.4.3)....

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  • ...Research indicates that financial participation and community engagement can be effective in mitigating resistance (Brunes and Ohlhorst, 2011; Rand and Hoen, 2017) (see Section 4....

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  • ...Another important factor affecting feasibility is public acceptance, in particular for wind energy and other large-scale renewable facilities (Yenneti and Day, 2016; Rand and Hoen, 2017; Gorayeb et al., 2018) that raise landscape management (Nadaï and Labussière, 2017) and distributional justice (Yenneti and Day, 2016) challenges....

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TL;DR: A review of the literature on public perceptions of and responses to a wide range of new energy technologies can be found in this paper, where the themes of technology, people, place and process are examined.
Abstract: Energy’s central place in economic, political and social systems—and the broad impacts that energy choices have on the natural world and public health—mean that new technologies often spur public reactions. Understanding these public responses and their drivers is important, as public support can influence new technology adoption and deployment. Here I review the literature on public perceptions of and responses to a wide range of new energy technologies. Unlike previous reviews that tend to focus on particular technologies or types of technologies, this Review covers both large-scale energy infrastructure projects, such as utility-scale wind and solar, fossil fuel extraction and marine renewables, as well as small-scale, ‘consumer-facing’ technologies such as electric vehicles, rooftop solar and smart meters. This approach reveals broad trends that may facilitate communication between policymakers, technologists and the public, and support the transition to a more sustainable energy system. Public responses to new energy technologies can influence adoption and deployment. This Review brings together research on public perceptions of and responses to a wide range of energy technologies around the themes of technology, people, place and process.

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TL;DR: Self-reported acceptance of driverless vehicles is more strongly determined by domain-specific attitudes than by sociodemographic characteristics, and the GDP per capita of the respondents’ country was predictive of countries’ mean general acceptance score.
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Cites background from "Thirty years of North American wind..."

  • ...For example, a review of thirty years of acceptance research on wind energy suggests that demographic variables only explain a small amount of variance in attitudes towards wind energy [37]....

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TL;DR: In this article, the authors report results from a new survey on wind costs, compare those with previous results and discuss the accuracy of the earlier predictions and conclude that there is considerable uncertainty about future costs.
Abstract: Wind energy has experienced accelerated cost reduction over the past five years—far greater than predicted in a 2015 expert elicitation. Here we report results from a new survey on wind costs, compare those with previous results and discuss the accuracy of the earlier predictions. We show that experts in 2020 expect future onshore and offshore wind costs to decline 37–49% by 2050, resulting in costs 50% lower than predicted in 2015. This is due to cost reductions witnessed over the past five years and expected continued advancements. If realized, these costs might allow wind to play a larger role in energy supply than previously anticipated. Considering both surveys, we also conclude that there is considerable uncertainty about future costs. Our results illustrate the importance of considering cost uncertainty, highlight the value and limits of using experts to reveal those uncertainties, and yield possible lessons for energy modellers and expert elicitation. Costs of renewable energy generation have fallen rapidly in recent years, often faster than predicted. Wiser et al. undertake an expert elicitation survey to project wind power costs to 2050, finding substantial continued cost reductions, and compare back to a previous survey to understand what has changed.

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References
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TL;DR: The authors show that the Musgrave-Samuelson analysis, which is valid for federal expenditures, need not apply to local expenditures, and restate the assumptions made by Musgrave and Samuelson and the central problems with which they deal.
Abstract: NE of the most important recent developments in the area of "applied economic theory" has been the work of Musgrave and Samuelson in public finance theory.2 The two writers agree on what is probably the major point under investigation, namely, that no "market type" solution exists to determine the level of expenditures on public goods. Seemingly, we are faced with the problem of having a rather large portion of our national income allocated in a "non-optimal" way when compared with the private sector. This discussion will show that the Musgrave-Samuelson analysis, which is valid for federal expenditures, need not apply to local expenditures. The plan of the discussion is first to restate the assumptions made by Musgrave and Samuelson and the central problems with which they deal. After looking at a key difference between the federal versus local cases, I shall present a simple model. This model yields a solution for the level of expenditures for local public goods which reflects the preferences of the population more adequately than they can be reflected at the national level. The assumptions of the model will then be relaxed to see what implications are involved. Finally, policy considerations will be discussed.

12,105 citations


"Thirty years of North American wind..." refers background in this paper

  • ...Some researchers have hypothesized that, over time, individuals will “self-sort,” as those with more positive attitudes move closer to turbines and those with more negative attitudes move away (Hoen et al., 2015; Tiebout, 1956)....

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TL;DR: The special issue on Social Acceptance of Renewable Energy Innovation as mentioned in this paper is a collection of best papers presented at an international research conference held in Tramelan (Switzerland) in February 2006.

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"Thirty years of North American wind..." refers background in this paper

  • ...Wüstenhagen et al. (2007) point to three dimensions: Sociopolitical acceptance (acceptance of policymakers and key stakeholders), market acceptance (acceptance of investors and consumers), and community acceptance (pertaining to procedural justice, distributional justice, and trust)....

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TL;DR: The Working Group III Special Report on Renewable Energy Sources and Climate Change Mitigation (SRREN) presents an assessment of the literature on the scientific, technological, environmental, economic and social aspects of the contribution of six renewable energy sources to the mitigation of climate change as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: IPCC Special Report on Renewable Energy Sources and Climate Change Mitigation - Summary for Policy Makers / O. Edenhofer et al., eds. Cambridge University Press, May 2011. Abstract (RAEL/LBL) : The Working Group III Special Report on Renewable Energy Sources and Climate Change Mitigation (SRREN) presents an assessment of the literature on the scientific, technological, environmental, economic and social aspects of the contribution of six renewable energy (RE) sources to the mitigation of...

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TL;DR: A review of existing research on public perceptions of wind energy, where opposition is typically characterized by the NIMBY (not in my back yard) concept, can be found in this paper.
Abstract: It is widely recognised that public acceptability often poses a barrier towards renewable energy development. This article reviews existing research on public perceptions of wind energy, where opposition is typically characterized by the NIMBY (not in my back yard) concept. The objectives of the article are to provide a critical assessment of past research and an integrated, multidimensional framework to guide future work. Six distinct strands of research are identified, summarized and critiqued: public support for switching from conventional energy sources to wind energy; aspects of turbines associated with negative perceptions; the impact of physical proximity to turbines; acceptance over time of wind farms; NIMBYism as an explanation for negative perceptions; and, finally, the impact of local involvement on perceptions. Research across these strands is characterized by opinion poll studies of general beliefs and case studies of perceptions of specific developments. In both cases, research is fragmented and has failed to adequately explain, rather than merely describe, perceptual processes. The article argues for more theoretically informed empirical research, grounded in social science concepts and methods. A multidimensional framework is proposed that goes beyond the NIMBY label and integrates previous findings with social and environmental psychological theory. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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Frequently Asked Questions (2)
Q1. What are the contributions mentioned in the paper "Thirty years of north american wind energy acceptance research: what have we learned?" ?

The efforts of wind energy acceptance researchers over the past 30 years have yielded many important lessons and insights, but much work remains to be done in this space, particularly in the North American context this paper. 

The following are specific areas for future research. Future research should oversample this group and analyze their responses as a group that is distinct from those living further away. Future research should attempt to do so to provide a mechanism for comparison.