Consumer Support and Willingness to Pay for Electricity from Solar, Wind, and Cow Manure in the United States: Evidence from a Survey in Vermont

Wang Wang,Conner Conner,Parsons Parsons,Thompson Thompson,Valchuis Valchuis

doi:10.3390/en12234467

Abstract

Information on public support and willingness to pay (WTP) for renewable energy from alternative sources is critically important for the development and evaluation of renewable energy policies and programs. This study assesses consumer support and WTP for electricity from solar panels, wind turbines, and on-farm anaerobic digester systems (ADS) in the United States, using data collected from a household survey in the state of Vermont. Empirical results suggest that solar power was the respondents’ top choice for public investment, and cow power (electricity generated from ADS) was the least-favored choice. Also, the variations in the likelihood of being willing to pay a premium for each renewable electricity across respondents were closely associated with factors such as education, political affiliation, homeownership, and local agricultural engagement. The relatively low level of public support and WTP for cow power is likely the result of unfamiliarity with this renewable source of electricity, and more educational efforts are highly needed to promote this renewable energy with many environmental benefits for a dairy state.

Highlights

While both consumer demand for and public investment in renewable energy increased significantly in the United States and many other nations in the past two decades, generating more electricity from renewable sources is a focus of government investment and policies across nations
Renewable electricity is a focus partially because electricity is used by almost every household and business, and partially because electricity generation contributes a large proportion of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions [1,2]
This section firstly reports the findings on public support for investments in renewable electricity from solar, wind, and biodigesters, presents empirical findings from the regression analysis of the willingness to pay (WTP) for electricity from each of the three renewable sources, and discusses major limitations of this study

Summary

Introduction

While both consumer demand for and public investment in renewable energy increased significantly in the United States and many other nations in the past two decades, generating more electricity from renewable sources is a focus of government investment and policies across nations. Renewable electricity is a focus partially because electricity is used by almost every household and business, and partially because electricity generation contributes a large proportion of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions [1,2]. In the United States, electricity generation contributed 28.4%. GHG emissions, increasing the share of electricity from renewable sources is a major goal of the energy plans in many regions [4,5,6]. The 2011 Vermont Comprehensive Energy Plan (CEP) sets out a pathway for Vermont to obtain 75% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2032 and enacted. With dairy as its largest agricultural sector, Vermont made great efforts in developing anaerobic digester systems (ADS) to convert cow manure and other farm wastes into electricity and other

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Results

Conclusion