Beauty in motion: Expectations, attitudes, and values of wind energy development in the rural U.S

Abstract Attitudes towards wind energy development are influenced by a number of social, political, and geographic factors. Initial resident expectations for a development, and then the degree to which these expectations were later met can help explain support or opposition for wind energy. Yet, the role of met or unmet expectations is not well researched in explaining perceptions of and attitudes towards wind energy development. This study explores the relationship between met and unmet expectations and resident attitudes towards wind energy, as well as perceptions of wind turbine beauty, for rural residents near two wind energy projects in the U.S. state of South Dakota (SD). A survey ( n  = 239) administered in 2014 across two counties investigates the process of attitude and expectation formation towards the projects as they developed. Results show that the majority of residents had positive expectations, and these expectations are largely unmet; nonetheless, most residents retain positive attitudes towards both projects, although certain types of expectations are related to more positive or more negative attitudes. Furthermore, the survey results show that residents find turbines in motion to be more beautiful than static turbines—demonstrating the role of economic and environmental values in influencing wind energy attitudes and expectations.

[1]  John Byrne,et al.  American policy conflict in the greenhouse: Divergent trends in federal, regional, state, and local green energy and climate change policy , 2007 .

[2]  Mhairi Aitken,et al.  Why we still don't understand the social aspects of wind power: A critique of key assumptions within the literature , 2010 .

[3]  Maarten Wolsink,et al.  Wind power implementation: The nature of public attitudes: Equity and fairness instead of ‘backyard motives’ , 2007 .

[4]  R. Stedman,et al.  Perceived Impacts from Wind Farm and Natural Gas Development in Northern Pennsylvania , 2013 .

[5]  David Miller,et al.  PUBLIC ATTITUDES AND PARTICIPATION IN WIND TURBINE DEVELOPMENT , 2009 .

[6]  C. F. Kraenzel.  The Great Plains in transition , 1956 .

[7]  P. Devine‐Wright,et al.  Trust and community: Exploring the meanings, contexts and dynamics of community renewable energy , 2010 .

[8]  Benjamin K. Sovacool,et al.  Wind Turbines and Invisible Technology: Unarticulated Reasons for Local Opposition to Wind Energy , 2013 .

[9]  Jeffrey Jacquet,et al.  Landowner attitudes toward natural gas and wind farm development in northern Pennsylvania , 2012 .

[10]  Bent Flyvbjerg,et al.  From Nobel Prize to Project Management: Getting Risks Right , 2006, ArXiv.

[11]  J. S. Greene,et al.  Socioeconomic impacts of wind farm development: a case study of Weatherford, Oklahoma , 2013 .

[12]  Brandon H. Lee,et al.  Tilting at Windmills? The Environmental Movement and the Emergence of the U.S. Wind Energy Sector , 2009 .

[13]  D. Bell,et al.  The ‘Social Gap’ in Wind Farm Siting Decisions: Explanations and Policy Responses , 2005 .

[14]  Martin J. Pasqualetti,et al.  Morality, Space, and the Power of Wind‐Energy Landscapes , 2000 .

[15]  T. Heberlein,et al.  Navigating Environmental Attitudes , 2012, Conservation biology : the journal of the Society for Conservation Biology.

[16]  R. Littman,et al.  Expectations and Social Attitudes , 1955 .

[17]  K. Larson.  An Integrated Theoretical Approach to Understanding the Sociocultural Basis of Multidimensional Environmental Attitudes , 2010 .

[18]  J. Gillespie,et al.  Measuring Risk Attitude of Agricultural Producers Using a Mail Survey: How Consistent are the Methods? , 2006 .

[19]  Scott Victor Valentine,et al.  Sheltering wind power projects from tempestuous community concerns , 2011 .

[20]  P. Devine‐Wright,et al.  Disruption to place attachment and the protection of restorative environments: A wind energy case study , 2010 .

[21]  L. Steg,et al.  Psychological factors influencing sustainable energy technology acceptance: A review-based comprehensive framework , 2012 .

[22]  M. Hitzeroth,et al.  Renewable Energy Projects: Acceptance Risks and Their Management , 2013 .

[23]  K. Persson Waye,et al.  Wind turbine noise, annoyance and self-reported health and well-being in different living environments , 2007, Occupational and Environmental Medicine.

[24]  J. Abbott,et al.  The Localized and Scaled Discourse of Conservation for Wind Power in Kittitas County, Washington , 2010 .

[25]  Peta Ashworth,et al.  Societal acceptance of wind farms: Analysis of four common themes across Australian case studies , 2013 .

[26]  P. Devine‐Wright.  Rethinking NIMBYism: The role of place attachment and place identity in explaining place‐protective action , 2009 .

[27]  Shifting Winds: Explaining Variation in State Policies to Promote Small-Scale Wind Energy , 2010 .

[28]  Michael C. Slattery,et al.  The predominance of economic development in the support for large-scale wind farms in the U.S. Great Plains , 2012 .

[29]  R. Dunlap,et al.  Measuring Endorsement of the New Ecological Paradigm: A Revised NEP Scale , 2000 .

[30]  Martin J. Pasqualetti,et al.  Social Barriers to Renewable Energy Landscapes* , 2011 .

[31]  R. Dunlap.  The New Environmental Paradigm Scale: From Marginality to Worldwide Use , 2008 .

[32]  Søren Krohn,et al.  On public attitudes towards wind power , 1999 .

[33]  Nazli Yonca Aydin,et al.  GIS-based environmental assessment of wind energy systems for spatial planning: A case study from Western Turkey , 2010 .

[34]  Christopher A Ollson,et al.  Health effects and wind turbines: A review of the literature , 2011, Environmental health : a global access science source.

[35]  Paul Gipe,et al.  The Wind Industry’s Experience with Aesthetic Criticism , 2017 .

[36]  B. Sovacool.  What Are We Doing Here? Analyzing Fifteen Years of Energy Scholarship and Proposing a Social Science Research Agenda , 2014 .

[37]  Rolf Wüstenhagen,et al.  Management of Investor Acceptance in Wind Power Megaprojects: A Conceptual Perspective , 2012 .

[38]  Steven M. Hoffman,et al.  From private lives to collective action: Recruitment and participation incentives for a community energy program , 2010 .

[39]  Miriam. Ricci,et al.  Engaging the public on paths to sustainable energy: Who has to trust whom? , 2010 .

[40]  P. Kline.  Handbook of Psychological Testing , 2013 .

[41]  Jeffrey B. Jacquet.  The Rise of “Private Participation” in the Planning of Energy Projects in the Rural United States , 2015 .

[42]  Richard E. Wood.  Survival of Rural America: Small Victories and Bitter Harvests , 2008 .

[43]  Tarla Rai Peterson,et al.  Policy stakeholders and deployment of wind power in the sub-national context: A comparison of four U.S. states , 2010 .

[44]  Charles R. Warren,et al.  ‘Green On Green’: Public perceptions of wind power in Scotland and Ireland , 2005 .

[45]  O. Rentz,et al.  Policy instruments fostering wind energy projects--a multi-perspective evaluation approach , 2002 .

[46]  A. E. Luloff,et al.  Community Activeness in Response to Forest Disturbance in Alaska , 2007 .

[47]  Linda Stalker Prokopy,et al.  A tale of three counties: Understanding wind development in the rural Midwestern United States , 2013 .

[48]  R. Phadke.  Resisting and Reconciling Big Wind: Middle Landscape Politics in the New American West , 2011 .

[49]  C. Lant,et al.  Welcoming the Wind? Determinants of Wind Power Development Among U.S. States , 2009 .

[50]  D. Zafirakis,et al.  The wind energy (r)evolution: A short review of a long history , 2011 .