Social acceptability of Satellite Power Systems (SPS): the near-term outlook
It is important, at this early stage in the concept development and evaluation of Satellite Power Systems, to explore aspects of contemporary social change that may be expected to complicate the process of achieving the necessary support of the American public for this new technological venture. Current public attitudes make it appear unlikely that a consensus will evolve during the 1980s favoring costly efforts to develop vast new supplies of conventional energy. Opinion polls reveal a pervasive worry over inflation, a broadening of aspirations to encompass quality-of-life concerns, a growing distrust of central governments, large corporations, big science and technology, and a continuing commitment to environmental protection - all of which suggests a social environment that is likely to resist the development of a major new high-technology energy system such as the SPS. Opposition to satellite power will focus on the high front-end development costs, on environmental and technical uncertainties, and on a generalized distrust of large bureaucracies and esoteric technologies. The SPS concept is also likely to be viewed with skepticism by those with vested interests in the long-run uses of coal, shale, fission, fusion, or on-site solar technologies. The growing commitment to energy conservation and the spreading deployment of dispersed renewable-energy systems strongly suggest that the unmet US demand for centrally generated electricity is unlikely to grow sufficiently over the next twenty years to convince a reluctant public of the need for so large an investment of scarce resources in the SPS program. Satellite Power Systems will have a problem in the area of public acceptability.
- Research Organization:
- Rice Univ., Houston, TX (USA). Dept. of Sociology
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- DOE Contract Number:
- AS05-79ER10072
- OSTI ID:
- 7085231
- Report Number(s):
- DOE/ER/10072-1
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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