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Title: Wind energy. Views on the environment: clean and green

Abstract

As the United States grapples with the issue of global climate change resulting from fossil fuel combustion, and as the U.S. Congress and individual state legislatures consider restructuring the electric utility industry, lawmakers should keep in mind the environmental preferability of renewable energy sources such as wind and the long, continuing record of public support for them. This is particularly important in view of restructuring, which will have the effect of shifting decisions about the type and quantity of new power plants to be built from utility executives to the general public. Preliminary information suggests that ''green,'' or environmentally-friendly, power sources could win a significant market share. In addition to creating new demand for clean energy sources, this development is likely to create a committed, educated political constituency for clean energy that has not existed in the past. In such an altered environment for the selection of new generation, public attitudes on the desirability of various power sources will become much more important than they have in the past. The purpose of this paper is to briefly summarize public opinion surveys on the environment in general, renewable energy in general, and wind energy in particular in that order, using datamore » gathered from polling in the U.S., the United Kingdom, and Canada. At this writing, more than 16 years after the first wind plants began going up in California, there is a solid and growing body of information available on public acceptance of wind energy. This paper draws on more than 25 surveys conducted over the years on wind and renewables, as well as individual findings on attitudes on the environment from other polls. An abbreviated summary of the public attitudes reviewed in this document is as follows: Views on the Environment: Public concern about protecting the environment, and particularly those aspects of the environment that relate to human health, such as air pollution, is high and growing. Views on Renewable Energy: The public strongly prefers using a combination of efficiency and renewables to meet energy needs, and has done so in poll after poll taken since the late 1970s. Views on Wind, General: The bulk of public opinion on wind is from the U.K., where wind development in recent years has been active and controversial. In more than a dozen surveys taken over the past five years, respondents have expressed strong backing for wind. In addition, support for wind has typically strengthened after a wind plant has been installed and operating for some time. Views on Wind, Specific: Public polling information on wind energy's specific attributes is also primarily from the U.K. Surveys found that wind's primary positive points are that it is clean, renewable, safe, and helps conserve fossil fuels; its principal weaknesses are the fact that it is intermittent and somewhat more expensive than fossil-fired power. With respect to wind's environmental impacts, those surveyed were most concerned by visual impact and noise. However, in virtually every poll, the number of respondents expressing negative views is very small.« less

Authors:
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
American Wind Energy Association, Washington, DC (US)
Sponsoring Org.:
AWAE (US)
OSTI Identifier:
836850
Resource Type:
Technical Report
Resource Relation:
Other Information: PBD: 1 Dec 1999
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
17 WIND ENERGY; 29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY AND ECONOMY; AIR POLLUTION; ATTITUDES; CLIMATIC CHANGE; COMBUSTION; COMPETITION; EFFICIENCY; ENERGY SOURCES; ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS; FOSSIL FUELS; MARKET; POWER PLANTS; PUBLIC OPINION; RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCES; WIND POWER; SOCIO-ECONOMIC FACTORS; USA; CANADA; UNITED KINGDOM

Citation Formats

Gray, Thomas O. Wind energy. Views on the environment: clean and green. United States: N. p., 1999. Web. doi:10.2172/836850.
Gray, Thomas O. Wind energy. Views on the environment: clean and green. United States. https://doi.org/10.2172/836850
Gray, Thomas O. 1999. "Wind energy. Views on the environment: clean and green". United States. https://doi.org/10.2172/836850. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/836850.
@article{osti_836850,
title = {Wind energy. Views on the environment: clean and green},
author = {Gray, Thomas O},
abstractNote = {As the United States grapples with the issue of global climate change resulting from fossil fuel combustion, and as the U.S. Congress and individual state legislatures consider restructuring the electric utility industry, lawmakers should keep in mind the environmental preferability of renewable energy sources such as wind and the long, continuing record of public support for them. This is particularly important in view of restructuring, which will have the effect of shifting decisions about the type and quantity of new power plants to be built from utility executives to the general public. Preliminary information suggests that ''green,'' or environmentally-friendly, power sources could win a significant market share. In addition to creating new demand for clean energy sources, this development is likely to create a committed, educated political constituency for clean energy that has not existed in the past. In such an altered environment for the selection of new generation, public attitudes on the desirability of various power sources will become much more important than they have in the past. The purpose of this paper is to briefly summarize public opinion surveys on the environment in general, renewable energy in general, and wind energy in particular in that order, using data gathered from polling in the U.S., the United Kingdom, and Canada. At this writing, more than 16 years after the first wind plants began going up in California, there is a solid and growing body of information available on public acceptance of wind energy. This paper draws on more than 25 surveys conducted over the years on wind and renewables, as well as individual findings on attitudes on the environment from other polls. An abbreviated summary of the public attitudes reviewed in this document is as follows: Views on the Environment: Public concern about protecting the environment, and particularly those aspects of the environment that relate to human health, such as air pollution, is high and growing. Views on Renewable Energy: The public strongly prefers using a combination of efficiency and renewables to meet energy needs, and has done so in poll after poll taken since the late 1970s. Views on Wind, General: The bulk of public opinion on wind is from the U.K., where wind development in recent years has been active and controversial. In more than a dozen surveys taken over the past five years, respondents have expressed strong backing for wind. In addition, support for wind has typically strengthened after a wind plant has been installed and operating for some time. Views on Wind, Specific: Public polling information on wind energy's specific attributes is also primarily from the U.K. Surveys found that wind's primary positive points are that it is clean, renewable, safe, and helps conserve fossil fuels; its principal weaknesses are the fact that it is intermittent and somewhat more expensive than fossil-fired power. With respect to wind's environmental impacts, those surveyed were most concerned by visual impact and noise. However, in virtually every poll, the number of respondents expressing negative views is very small.},
doi = {10.2172/836850},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/836850}, journal = {},
number = ,
volume = ,
place = {United States},
year = {Wed Dec 01 00:00:00 EST 1999},
month = {Wed Dec 01 00:00:00 EST 1999}
}