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

TLDR: 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.

Figures

Figure 1: North American wind energy acceptance papers, 1987-2016. Data source: Scopus3

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Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Recent Work
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
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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
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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

Frequently asked questions

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. 

Q2. What are the future works mentioned in the paper "Thirty years of north american wind energy acceptance research: what have we learned?" ?

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.