RENEWABLE ENERGY: COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT AND PERCEPTIONS

The purpose of this project was to identify the levels of support for renewable energy in a small, rural community in South West England, and also to gauge the potentials of community involvement, considering the different aspects of involvement, and why, or why not members of the local community would get involved. A postal questionnaire was distributed amongst the community, with a separate questionnaire was circulated to the local businesses and service providers within the village. Each questionnaire aimed to gauge the level of support for renewable energy, and probe into community involvement. Two main results can be drawn from the data collected. Support for renewable energy is very high within this community, however, when the residents are faced with a development on their doorstep, this initial support shifts to a more neutral response. The project reaches a number of conclusions; support for renewable energy in general does not always mean that this support can be translated down to local levels. With any renewable energy development, a certain amount of Not in My Back Yard response is inevitable. Responses also depend on the individual situations of participants. A number of recommendations can be made following these results; the nature of hypothetical studies means that they are potentially not a true representation of a “real” situation, and should be treated cautiously. A more rounded approach would to to study a cross section of communities to understand the changes in attitudes, as well as measure the fluctuations in involvement, and obtain an understanding of which types of involvement are the most successfulFaculty of Scienc