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Title: Public attitudes regarding large-scale solar energy development in the U.S.

Abstract

Using data collected from both a National sample as well as an oversample in U.S. Southwest, we examine public attitudes toward the construction of utility-scale solar facilities in the U.S. as well as development in one’s own county. Our multivariate analyses assess demographic and sociopsychological factors as well as context in terms of proximity of proposed project by considering the effect of predictors for respondents living in the Southwest versus those from a National sample.We find that the predictors, and impact of the predictors, related to support and opposition to solar development vary in terms of psychological and physical distance. Overall, for respondents living in the U.S. Southwest we find that environmentalism, belief that developers receive too many incentives, and trust in project developers to be significantly related to support and opposition to solar development, in general. When Southwest respondents consider large-scale solar development in their county, the influence of these variables changes so that property value, race, and age only yield influence. Differential effects occur for respondents of our National sample.We believe our findings to be relevant for those outside the U.S. due to the considerable growth PV solar has experienced in the last decade, especially in China, Japan,more » Germany, and the U.S.« less

Authors:
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [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 Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE)
OSTI Identifier:
1188619
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 1251520
Report Number(s):
INL/JOU-15-35653
Journal ID: ISSN 1364-0321
Grant/Contract Number:  
EE0005351
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 48; Journal Issue: C; Journal ID: ISSN 1364-0321
Publisher:
Elsevier
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS; renewable energy; solar energy; public opinion; NIMBY; place attachment; facility siting; public acceptance

Citation Formats

Carlisle, Juliet E., Kane, Stephanie L., Solan, David, Bowman, Madelaine, and Joe, Jeffrey C. Public attitudes regarding large-scale solar energy development in the U.S.. United States: N. p., 2015. Web. doi:10.1016/j.rser.2015.04.047.
Carlisle, Juliet E., Kane, Stephanie L., Solan, David, Bowman, Madelaine, & Joe, Jeffrey C. Public attitudes regarding large-scale solar energy development in the U.S.. United States. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2015.04.047
Carlisle, Juliet E., Kane, Stephanie L., Solan, David, Bowman, Madelaine, and Joe, Jeffrey C. Sat . "Public attitudes regarding large-scale solar energy development in the U.S.". United States. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2015.04.047. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1188619.
@article{osti_1188619,
title = {Public attitudes regarding large-scale solar energy development in the U.S.},
author = {Carlisle, Juliet E. and Kane, Stephanie L. and Solan, David and Bowman, Madelaine and Joe, Jeffrey C.},
abstractNote = {Using data collected from both a National sample as well as an oversample in U.S. Southwest, we examine public attitudes toward the construction of utility-scale solar facilities in the U.S. as well as development in one’s own county. Our multivariate analyses assess demographic and sociopsychological factors as well as context in terms of proximity of proposed project by considering the effect of predictors for respondents living in the Southwest versus those from a National sample.We find that the predictors, and impact of the predictors, related to support and opposition to solar development vary in terms of psychological and physical distance. Overall, for respondents living in the U.S. Southwest we find that environmentalism, belief that developers receive too many incentives, and trust in project developers to be significantly related to support and opposition to solar development, in general. When Southwest respondents consider large-scale solar development in their county, the influence of these variables changes so that property value, race, and age only yield influence. Differential effects occur for respondents of our National sample.We believe our findings to be relevant for those outside the U.S. due to the considerable growth PV solar has experienced in the last decade, especially in China, Japan, Germany, and the U.S.},
doi = {10.1016/j.rser.2015.04.047},
journal = {Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews},
number = C,
volume = 48,
place = {United States},
year = {Sat Aug 01 00:00:00 EDT 2015},
month = {Sat Aug 01 00:00:00 EDT 2015}
}

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Cited by: 58 works
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