Not in my back yard or not on my playground: Residents and tourists' attitudes towards wind turbines in Icelandic landscapes

Abstract

To counteract the threat of global warming, many nations have resorted to increasing their use of renewable energy sources, wind farms being among the most popular. The greatest obstacle when it comes to the acceptance of wind farms is their visual impact. Recently, tourism has become Iceland's largest export sector, the country's natural landscape being the main attraction for visitors. This paper attempts to compare the perception of residents and tourists towards wind energy production in general and towards Iceland's first proposed wind farm, to be located at the edge of the country's uninhabited interior Central Highlands. The study is based on a questionnaire survey conducted among residents living adjacent to the proposed wind farm and among tourists travelling through the proposed area. The results indicate that residents are more positive than tourists towards wind turbines and consider them less intrusive in the landscape. Hence, the location of Iceland's first wind farm at the main gateway into the country's Central Highlands is problematic and likely to disturb the experience of tourists passing through the area. Despite the wealth of wind in Iceland it might be challenging to utilize it for energy production due to the importance of nature-based tourism for the economy. If Iceland becomes a physical exporter of renewable energy, it may be expected that more pressure will be set on the construction of wind farms. Thereby nature-based tourism and wind energy would be in direct competition over land use.