Geothermal technology in Australia: investigating social acceptance

Issues of social acceptance such as lack of awareness and negative community perceptions and reactions, can affect low emission energy technology development, despite the general support observed for reducing carbon emissions and mitigating climate change. This has been demonstrated in previous energy technology transfer examples including nuclear, wind, and carbon capture and storage. Negative community reactions and lack of understanding have also affected geothermal developments, as demonstrated by the fearful community reactions and negative media experienced in response to seismic disturbances caused by 'hot rock' geothermal energy generation in Basel, Switzerland and Landau, Germany. Social scientists at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) have been investigating the social acceptance of low emissions energy technologies in the Australian community for several years. Processes for engaging with the community regarding low emission technologies have been developed to investigate social acceptance and raise awareness within the community of the range of low emissions technologies available. Focusing on geothermal energy, this paper presents the results of using a participatory action research (PAR) methodology to engage diverse groups within the Australian public. A key finding of the facilitated group process is that the majority of the Australian public has limited knowledge or understanding of geothermal technology. However, geothermal energy receives general support from the Australian public due to a general trend to support renewable energy sources in preference to traditional forms of energy generation such as coal, and controversial technologies such as nuclear. The support for geothermal appeared to be stable even though various concerns were raised with the use of this technology (including water usage and seismic activity instigated by geothermal drilling). This paper also demonstrates the effectiveness of using an engagement process to explore public understanding of energy technologies in the context of climate change, and suggests a way forward for governments and industry to allocate resources for greatest impact when communicating about geothermal technology