Wind Power and Public Engagement: Co-operatives and Community Ownership (Routledge Studies in Energy Policy)

Adopting an interdisciplinary social science approach, this book examines community reactions to wind farms to form a new understanding of what facilitates social acceptance. Based on empirical research, __Wind Power and Public Engagement__ investigates opposition to wind energy and considers the advantages as well as the limits of the co-operative model of wind farm community ownership. Giuseppe Pellegrini-Masini compares the role of co-operative schemes with community benefits schemes in increasing acceptability, and also sheds light on the impact of social factors including pro-environmental attitudes, perceived benefits and costs, place attachment, trust, as well as individuals’ resources such as information and income. Five research cases are investigated in England and Scotland, including the first local, community-owned wind farm co-operative in the UK. Critically reviewing existing social research theories, the book offers a new viewpoint, integrating rational choice and environmental attitudinal theories, from which to assess and understand the social acceptability of wind energy. It also highlights new opportunities for raising consensus in communities around locally proposed wind farms. The book will be of great interest to students and scholars of renewable energy, energy policy, environmental sociology, environmental psychology, environmental planning and sustainability in general, as well as policymakers. Cover Half Title Series Page Title Page Copyright Page Table of Contents List of figures List of tables Acknowledgements Foreword Introduction Chapter 1: Citizens and renewable energy: determinants of civic engagement Community social acceptability of wind energy Policy research context: energy policy in the United Kingdom Renewable energy and the future electricity system Citizenship policy Citizenship Citizenship, the environment and energy Citizenship and pro-environmental behaviours Theoretical approaches to civic engagement Rational choice models General incentives rational action model Participation chain model A rational choice model for environmental collective activism Justice-based models Socio-psychological models Final remarks about the theories of civic engagement considered Citizen participation in the context of sustainable energy developments Environmentally responsible behaviour and its determinants Final remarks about the literature on environmentally responsible behaviour References Chapter 2: Wind energy acceptability—what, how and when: all the variables at stake Opposition to wind energy Perceived local impacts Attitudinal factors Perceived local costs and benefits Place attachment Environmental attitudes Perceived non-local costs and benefits Environmental factors of local relevance Personal resources Knowledge about wind energy Affluence/deprivation Education Proximity of residence and time of survey Contextual factors Procedural justice Trust towards the proponents Types of community benefits Community benefits and social acceptability of renewable energy The co-operative model of local ownership Non-co-operative local ownership investment schemes The case for co-operatives, producers of green electricity A proposed framework of participation in green electricity co-operatives References Chapter 3: Testing the theory: methods and data collection Research questions Research design First study Second study Notes References Chapter 4: The first community-owned co-operative in the UK: lessons from Westmill Wind Farm Citizenship, environmental citizenship, responsibilities and rights Citizenship Citizenship at different geographical levels and conflict Local citizenship, place attachment and place identity The co-operative model Community owned or potentially divisive? Compensation Are wind farms a "high-cost situation"? Costs and benefits in the Westmill case Noise pollution, a health cost? Distress originated by the wind farm's visual impact—a possible health cost? Economic cost: the possible devaluation of property Economic benefits: the revenue available to co-operative members and free services for the local community Socio-economic status Pro-environmental attitudes and values: avoiding cognitive dissonance Networks in competition: using communication to magnify costs or benefits NIMBYism, an outdated concept to define opposition Conclusions from the qualitative study Notes References Chapter 5: A survey of four Scottish proposed wind farms Personal resources and demographic variables Response rate per site Education Income Knowledge about wind energy Community scheme awareness Awareness and opinion about the locally proposed wind farm Opinion about the locally proposed wind farm Attitudinal factors Environmental citizenship Pro-environmental attitudes vs pro-economy attitudes Place attachment Perceived local costs and benefits Health impact Climate change impact Visual impact Impact on the local economy Impact on property prices Impact on local tourism Noise impact Cost of electricity Dependency on foreign fuels Contextual factors Trust and procedural fairness Information The co-operative model Bivariate correlations Statistical tests used to assess correlations Personal resources and demographic variables Attitudinal factors The "benefitscostsvalue" scale Environmental citizenship Pro-environmental attitudes vs pro-economy attitudes Place attachment Contextual factors Summary table of correlations Multivariate analysis Factors influencing acceptability of wind farms Factors influencing opinions about the co-operative model Factors influencing the decision to invest in a co-operative wind farm Final remarks Notes References Chapter 6: A theory of social acceptability of wind farms: finding a place for the co-operative model Can an integrated rational choice and attitudes framework explain acceptability of wind farms? The low-cost hypothesis Perceived costs and benefits Attitudinal variables Contextual factors The co-operative model Personal resources Final remarks Policy considerations References Conclusions References Appendix A: the postal survey questionnaire Appendix B: the qualitative study interview guide Interview guide Warm-up question I – Responsibility, citizenship, participation II – Community involvement, social–enterprises/co–operatives and wind farms III – Wind farm opposition and community owned co–operative schemes Untitled Index "Adopting an interdisciplinary social science approach, this book examines community reactions to wind farms to form a new understanding of what facilitates social acceptance. Based on empirical research, this book investigates opposition to wind energy and considers the advantages and the limits of co-operative schemes for wind farm community ownership. Giuseppe Pellegrini-Masini compares the role of co-operative schemes with community benefits schemes in increasing acceptability, and also sheds light on the impact of social factors including pro-environmental attitudes, perceived benefits and costs, place attachment, trust, as well as individual resources such as information and income. Five research cases are investigated in England and Scotland, including the first locally community-owned wind farm co-operative in the UK. Critically reviewing existing social research theories, this book offers a new viewpoint, integrating rational choice and environmental attitudinal theories, from which to assess and understand social acceptability of wind energy, and highlights new opportunities for raising consensus in communities towards locally proposed wind farms. This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of renewable energy, energy policy, environmental sociology, environmental psychology, environmental planning and sustainability in general, as well as policymakers"-- Provided by publisher Foreword / by Christian A. Klöckner -- Citizens and renewable energy : determinants of civic engagement -- Wind energy acceptability : what, how and when : all the variables at stake -- Testing the theory : methods and data collection -- The first community-owned co-operative in the UK : lessons from Westmill wind farm -- A survey of four Scottish proposed wind farms -- A theory of social acceptability of wind farms : finding a place for the cooperative model By investiagting the role of communitiy co-operatives, this books offers a new viewpoint from which to assess and understand social accpetability of wind energy, and highlights new opportunities for raising consensus in communities towards locally proposed wind farms.