Feature Articles—September 2009 Issue
Demographics Should Inform Wave Energy PolicyBy Maria Stefanovich
Oregon State University
Studies by the Electrical Power Research Institute (EPRI) have shown the state of Oregon to be ideally suited for wave energy development. Oregon has tremendous wave resources, a long coastline (extending 360 miles), well developed coastal transmission capacity, suitable bathymetry and a good match between the resource’s availability and its temporal and spatial demand. Strong political leadership, industrial infrastructure and the presence of Oregon State University also contribute to the state’s suitability for wave energy development.
After two major EPRI studies in 2004 and 2005 identified the seven most suitable locations off the Oregon coast for wave development and suggested approximately $750 billion would be invested in wave energy over the next 25 years, the state experienced a rush in permit applications for siting wave energy devices along the coast. In the summer of 2007, seven applications were filed for preliminary permits with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. However, the number of applications went down to three this year. The reasons for this drop are many and complex, but there is no question that citizen sociodemographic characteristics, ideology preferences and environmental values have influenced attitudes toward wave energy development. These citizen attitudes have policy implications.
Last September, researchers at Oregon State University designed the Oregon Energy Policy Survey and administered it to a random sample of 1,600 households statewide. The response rate was 56 percent. The majority of respondents showed strong support for wave energy development (52 percent), while slightly more than one-third (35 percent) said they did not have enough information to form an opinion. Most respondents with a positive attitude toward wave energy development turned out to be men (62 percent) with anthropocentric (human-centered) value orientations (69 percent) and conservative policy preferences (64 percent). What do these findings tell researchers and policymakers, and why are they important?
First, though research on environmental concerns portrays women as more environmentally conscious, the results show broad support for renewable energy from men. Second, having supporters with anthropocentric value orientations means that wave energy is supported by people who place priority on economic development and material well-being through technological advances. Third, conservative policy preferences are typically thought to be indicative of pro-business and pro-development-minded individuals who are against environmental reforms because they consider them to be extensions of government regulations and, as such, hampering development.
These findings have important policy implications, because they suggest that our current methods of conveying the urgency of transitioning to renewable energy are off base. This survey indicates that policymakers may be more effective in getting the public to adopt renewable energy more quickly if they leverage the public’s economic bias and stress the socioeconomic benefits that wave energy could provide, rather than issues like climate change and the depletion of traditional energy sources. Futhermore, the high number of respondents who said they did not have enough information to form an opinion indicates that policymakers must focus on informing their constituents about these issues and clearly conveying their policy goals.
Policymakers should acknowledge the connection between increased human consumption and natural resource exhaustion and stress the impossibility of sustaining long-term economic growth without looking holistically at the relationship between energy, the environment and the economy. The sooner policymakers agree on how to financially promote renewable energy development here in the U.S., the sooner they will be able to convey the message about the urgency of the climate-energy situation and stop what Paul Krugman of the New York Times recently called “treason against the planet.”
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