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Title: Support for solar energy: Examining sense of place and utility-scale development in California

Abstract

As solar costs have declined PV systems have experienced considerable growth since 2003, especially in China, Japan, Germany, and the U.S. Thus, a more nuanced understanding of a particular public's attitudes toward utility-scale solar development, as it arrives in a market and region, is warranted and will likely be instructive for other areas in the world where this type of development will occur in the near future. Using data collected from a 2013 telephone survey (N=594) from the six Southern Californian counties selected based on existing and proposed solar developments and available suitable land, we examine public attitudes toward solar energy and construction of large-scale solar facilities, testing whether attitudes toward such developments are the result of sense of place and attachment to place. Overall, we have mixed results. Place attachment and sense of place fail to produce significant effects except in terms of perceived positive benefits. That is, respondents interpret the change resulting from large-scale solar development in a positive way insofar as perceived positive economic impacts are positively related to support for nearby large-scale construction.

Authors:
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [4]
  1. Univ. of Idaho, Moscow, ID (United States)
  2. Washington State Univ., Pullman, WA (United States)
  3. Boise State Univ., Boise, ID (United States)
  4. Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE
OSTI Identifier:
1193637
Report Number(s):
INL/JOU-15-35721
Journal ID: ISSN 2214-6296; PII: S221462961400084X
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Energy Research and Social Science
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 3; Journal Issue: C; Journal ID: ISSN 2214-6296
Publisher:
Elsevier
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY; 14 SOLAR ENERGY; public opinion; solar energy; renewable energy; place attachment; facility siting; public acceptance

Citation Formats

Carlisle, Juliet E., Kane, Stephanie L., Solan, David, and Joe, Jeffrey C. Support for solar energy: Examining sense of place and utility-scale development in California. United States: N. p., 2014. Web. doi:10.1016/j.erss.2014.07.006.
Carlisle, Juliet E., Kane, Stephanie L., Solan, David, & Joe, Jeffrey C. Support for solar energy: Examining sense of place and utility-scale development in California. United States. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2014.07.006
Carlisle, Juliet E., Kane, Stephanie L., Solan, David, and Joe, Jeffrey C. Wed . "Support for solar energy: Examining sense of place and utility-scale development in California". United States. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2014.07.006. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1193637.
@article{osti_1193637,
title = {Support for solar energy: Examining sense of place and utility-scale development in California},
author = {Carlisle, Juliet E. and Kane, Stephanie L. and Solan, David and Joe, Jeffrey C.},
abstractNote = {As solar costs have declined PV systems have experienced considerable growth since 2003, especially in China, Japan, Germany, and the U.S. Thus, a more nuanced understanding of a particular public's attitudes toward utility-scale solar development, as it arrives in a market and region, is warranted and will likely be instructive for other areas in the world where this type of development will occur in the near future. Using data collected from a 2013 telephone survey (N=594) from the six Southern Californian counties selected based on existing and proposed solar developments and available suitable land, we examine public attitudes toward solar energy and construction of large-scale solar facilities, testing whether attitudes toward such developments are the result of sense of place and attachment to place. Overall, we have mixed results. Place attachment and sense of place fail to produce significant effects except in terms of perceived positive benefits. That is, respondents interpret the change resulting from large-scale solar development in a positive way insofar as perceived positive economic impacts are positively related to support for nearby large-scale construction.},
doi = {10.1016/j.erss.2014.07.006},
journal = {Energy Research and Social Science},
number = C,
volume = 3,
place = {United States},
year = {Wed Aug 20 00:00:00 EDT 2014},
month = {Wed Aug 20 00:00:00 EDT 2014}
}

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