4 - Public attitudes toward the major renewable energy types in the last 5 years: A scoping review of the literature

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Public attitudes are increasingly viewed as a hindrance to the implementation of renewable energy sources (RES). Despite the general support for renewables, public attitudes to specific projects can be negative and conflicts are often created between the public and project leaders. For this reason, there is abundant research work on public attitudes to renewable energy (RE), but understanding these attitudes is still challenging due to dissimilar research methodologies and different contexts. A review of research on public attitudes toward renewable energy in general and the different renewable types in the countries of the European Union (EU) was carried out for this chapter. It is concluded that the public in these countries is familiar with and has positive attitudes to renewable energy in general. However, there is a clear preference for solar energy and considerable skepticism to wind energy mainly due to its visual intrusion into the natural landscape. In addition, there is substantial evidence that the support for renewable energy is driven by environmental values and concerns, particularly about climate change. These findings are promising, but also suggest that further work is required to understand profoundly the dynamics of public attitudes.