Public Responses to New Energy Technologies

• In Event: Environmental Policymaking: Challenges and Solutions

Abstract

The rapid deployment of renewable energy has not only accelerated the decarbonization of the energy system, but also catalyzed social and political discussions surrounding new energy technologies. There is often strong local opposition of large-scale renewable energy projects in the United States due to their negative externalities (e.g., noise and aesthetic impact of wind turbines) and the Not-in-My Backyard attitude. Although extensive research has empirically examined public perception and support of renewable energy, there remains a notable gap in our understanding of the social and political consequences following the adoption of renewable projects. Specifically, there is a scarcity of knowledge regarding how large-scale renewable projects shape mass public opinion concerning alternative energy sources and climate change. This research aims to fill this research gap using data from multiple sources, including USGS, DOE, Census Bureau, and Yale program on climate change communication. A county level panel dataset of utility scale wind projects, local wind energy ordinance, and public opinion is constructed for the years from 2018 to 2021. We adopt the combination of propensity score matching and difference-in-differences (DID) approaches to estimate the causal effect of hosting commercial wind turbines on mass public opinion.

Authors

• Mazie Bernard, Purdue University

• Shan Zhou, Purdue University

• Zhengyan Li, University of Hong Kong

• Parrish Bergquist, University of Pennsylvania