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

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.

Authors:
 [1];  [1]
  1. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Renewable Power Office. Wind Energy Technologies Office
OSTI Identifier:
1379896
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 1397440
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC02-05CH11231
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Energy Research and Social Science
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 29; Journal Issue: C; Journal ID: ISSN 2214-6296
Publisher:
Elsevier
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
17 WIND ENERGY; Wind energy; social acceptance; support and opposition; attitudes

Citation Formats

Rand, Joseph, and Hoen, Ben. Thirty years of North American wind energy acceptance research: What have we learned?. United States: N. p., 2017. Web. doi:10.1016/j.erss.2017.05.019.
Rand, Joseph, & Hoen, Ben. Thirty years of North American wind energy acceptance research: What have we learned?. United States. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2017.05.019
Rand, Joseph, and Hoen, Ben. Thu . "Thirty years of North American wind energy acceptance research: What have we learned?". United States. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2017.05.019. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1379896.
@article{osti_1379896,
title = {Thirty years of North American wind energy acceptance research: What have we learned?},
author = {Rand, Joseph and Hoen, Ben},
abstractNote = {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.},
doi = {10.1016/j.erss.2017.05.019},
journal = {Energy Research and Social Science},
number = C,
volume = 29,
place = {United States},
year = {Thu May 25 00:00:00 EDT 2017},
month = {Thu May 25 00:00:00 EDT 2017}
}

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