Abstract
Understanding the complex dynamics that influence energy transitions requires mixed methods and collaborations among researchers, resource managers, and communities. This essay details how an interdisciplinary team of researchers used a mixed-method approach to study the social dimensions of tourism and recreation as they relate to the first offshore wind farm in the United States, the Block Island Wind Farm. Although impacts to tourism from wind energy systems are widely cited as a concern by communities and policymakers, little work has sought to define what constitutes tourism and recreation impacts or provided empirical evidence of impacts from operating projects. Researchers adopted an iterative approach to research that combined discrete studies using media content analysis, ethnographic participant observation, and stakeholder focus groups, to understand the social effects of the wind farm on the tourism and recreation experience and the quality of life in Block Island and coastal Rhode Island. We detail key insights from our experimentation with an iterative mixed-method approach at Block Island and offer lessons for future studies using collaborative approaches to understand both the tangible and the intangible social dynamics of energy system transitions.
Highlights
Offshore wind energy projects have grown significantly in the past decade
In the United States, offshore wind farms have been proposed along the US Eastern shoreline (United States Department of Energy, 2016), but these proposals have been met with mixed success, with several opponents to these developments often citing possible negative effects of turbines on coastal communities’ tourism and recreation economies (Collins, 2017)
While the general purpose of the project was to develop a precise understanding of the dynamics between an existing offshore wind farm and the regional tourism and recreation industry, the primary applied purpose was to produce a suite of indicators that would be useful for decision makers who are currently working with the Block Island Wind Farm (BIWF) and to decision makers in other places who might be interacting with offshore wind in the future
Summary
Offshore wind energy projects have grown significantly in the past decade. Europe is leading the offshore wind energy industry, with nearly 84% of all offshore wind installations being located off the coasts of eleven European countries at the end of 2017. Coastal communities across the globe will be faced with decisions about how to integrate the offshore wind industry into their economies, coastal land and seascapes, and cultures As this special issue aims to explore insights from how scholars design research on energy and climate change from a social perspective, we outline our direct experience studying the United States’ first offshore wind farm, highlighting how our methods put empirical data and lived community experience and decision making into conversation with one another; These conversations offer important insight into how utilizing multiple, iterative methods in one study can create a more robust understanding of the tangible and intangible impacts of offshore wind on coastal communities, rather than a singular method or approach alone. Lessons learned from this project can be applied to the study of energy transitions in other tourism-dependent coastal communities both in the US and around the world, offering insight into how dynamics of place, geography, and economy, play a role in these transitions
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