Abstract
AbstractTransitioning to low-carbon energy systems depends on fundamental changes in technologies, policies, and institutions. In Western democracies, public perceptions and engagement with energy have encouraged innovation while also slowing deployment of low-carbon energy technologies (LCETs).Transitioning to low-carbon energy systems requires re-engineering technologies and changing the ways people interact with energy. This shift involves both technological and social changes including modifications in policies and institutional configurations. In Western democracies, public perceptions and engagement with energy have encouraged innovation while also slowing deployment of low-carbon energy technologies (LCETs). To aid understanding of how energy systems are evolving toward lower-carbon technologies in Western democracies, this study reviews the literature on public perception of and engagement with emerging LCETs. Focusing primarily on electricity generating technologies, we explore how multiple factors related to place and process shape public perceptions of and engagement with LCETs, thereby influencing their development and deployment. This study first reviews literature related to how place and process influence emerging LCETs and then provides a comparative example of differential development of wind energy in Texas and Massachusetts (USA) to demonstrate how place and process may interact to influence the patterns of LCET deployment.
Highlights
The review is divided into three parts: (i) first we explore place, including how spatial, social, and historical contexts influence perceptions, (ii) we explore how formal and informal processes influence engagement, and (iii) we provide a comparative example of differential development trajectories of wind energy in Texas and Massachusetts (USA) to demonstrate how public perceptions and engagement in different places and facilitated by different processes may lead to different patterns of low-carbon energy technologies (LCETs) deployment
Processes used to engage people with development and deployment of LCETs are constructed through interactions among individuals and groups
Who benefits from LCET development and who pays the perceived costs from new projects is not always clear
Summary
In Western democracies, the policy and institutional changes required to support commercial scale deployment of low-carbon energy technologies (LCETs) require public support. Careful examination of both place (where the project is located) and process (how the public engages with development and siting) provides opportunities for understanding the complex social contexts shaping future energy systems
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