Examples as first associations

Examples of renewable technologies were by far the most cited associations with RE, which is unsurprising and in line with the previous findings. Of the 471 respondents who answered this question, 337 (71.6%) provided at least one example. Moreover, 252 (53.5%) respondents provided only examples and no other statements. Of those who mentioned examples, 91.7% made a reference to wind and 73.0% to solar (and 24.3% tidal, 16.6%

water/sea, 16.0% wave, 13.4% hydro, 11.3% some form of biomass). Perhaps more interestingly, around 30-40% of respondents who used wind and solar as examples, specified this further by mentioning the use of wind farms/turbines and solar panels. This dominant conceptualisation of wind energy as wind turbines/farms and solar energy as solar panels is in line with their use in the UK. However, very few participants included more detail than this, only 3 respondents mentioned offshore or onshore wind and 14 respondents specified the use of solar, e.g. for hot water or PV panels.

Also in line with previous findings, the term biomass was only used by 7 respondents, but biofuels, forms of waste (unspecified and specified, e.g. burning, compost) and wood or growing trees were also mentioned. It seems that for most people biomass is thought of in a more precise way to include information about the type of application and/or material used (e.g. ―algae‖ and ―crops‖).

The question asked for associations with RE rather than what respondents understood by the term; nonetheless, just under half of the respondents also provided evaluative statements other than technology examples. These correspond to the qualitative findings in section 6.2.

108 6.4.2 The environment and the future

Of the 209 respondents who also provided statements other than example technologies, 77 (36.8%) made reference to the environment, including RE being ―non-polluting‖, ―green‖

or ―clean‖ energy. A minority also made reference to CC directly (8.6%; e.g. ―reducing the use of fossil fuels and thereby tackling global warming‖), whereas 12 cited ―saving the planet‖. This provides further evidence of environmental values informing people‘s thinking around RE, although these associations are very abstract ideas with only a minority relating it directly to more specific ideas, e.g. reducing carbon emissions. The idea of RE being ―natural‖ or ―from nature‖ (section 6.3.3) was also evident here (10.5%), although little elaboration was provided.

Similar proportions of people mentioned some aspect of RE relating to the fact that they are reusable or cannot be depleted, in line with other themes identified in section 6.3. This includes mention of renewable being ―inexhaustible‖ (13.4%), whereas others referenced

―future‖ benefits (12.4%) and generic ―sustainability‖ (12.4%). There was also mention of

―recycling‖ (8.1%) but it is not clear what exactly was meant by this. These very general concepts (recycling/sustainability) are perhaps used to make sense of RE in light of little knowledge and the abstract nature of the concept. Some people therefore expressed uncertainly, with a small minority explicitly indicated not being sure what RE is (4.3%).

There were a large number of other comments, some of which were unspecified, e.g.

―safe‖ or referred to related concepts, e.g. ―energy saving‖, ―electric cars‖, ―CO₂ capture‖.

Generic positive comments (11%) about RE were also provided (e.g. ―it‘s a good thing‖) although some were more specific, e.g. ―less reliance on fossil fuels‖. Of those that left negative evaluative comments (5.7%) these mostly related to the aesthetics of wind energy and political issues surrounding RE. Finally, there were also a lot of comments around the cost of renewables. 12% of respondents thought that RETs were expensive, which was left unspecified although there is some indication that some of the respondents meant overall economic feasibility of RE and others called into question individual ability to purchase RETs. On the other hand, 9.6% of respondents thought renewables were ―cheap‖ and good for ―saving money‖. Such evaluations of RE and RETs will be examined in more detail in the coming chapters, however these comments already indicate that RE is evaluated very positively in general, but when it comes to specifics (e.g. cost), contradictory beliefs do exist.

109 This analysis provides some further evidence that renewables are conceptualised on the basis of very broad and abstract values about the environment, nature and sustainable futures. It is part of, or helps create a vision for, human interaction with resources that is in contrast to fossil fuels. More specific aspects of RE (e.g. cost evaluation) become very confusing with directly contrasting views; the argument is then likely to depend on the specific perspective, e.g. large-scale vs. small-scale, long-term vs. short-term. This provides further importance to acknowledging this socio-technical complexity inherent in the RE category, as discussed by Walker and Cass (2007). Looking back over the last few sections, there is some indication that respondents occasionally defined their discussion or mention of RE in more specific ways. For example:

 Biomass being perhaps the most heterogeneous technology type, much of this complexity was evident with respondents mentioning a vast variety of applications and materials used. There was also some indication that both large-scale applications (―burning waste‖) and small-scale applications (―wood-burners‖) were thought of.

 Wind farms and solar panels were prominent conceptualisations of wind and solar energy, indicating a large-scale application for wind and micro-use for solar energy.

This is unsurprising, but, in particular with reference to wind energy, this implies that other applications (e.g. smaller scales) were not often associated to the general wind energy term.

 Some exceptions and deviations from this apparent norm did exist. For example, one respondent thought that ―every house should have its own small and quiet wind turbine‖.

6.5 Conclusions

This chapter intended to provide an introduction to how RE is understood in a subjective and socially-constructed manner using a variety of perspectives and sources of data.

Abstract ideas about sustainability, general environmental concern (rather than CC) and human interaction with nature were most prominent, and any associated (technological) risks are unlikely to be salient at this hypothetical level. It is therefore not difficult to see why the concept of renewable energy is viewed positively by a majority of people. However it also became evident throughout the interviews that people regularly found it difficult to

110 articulate their viewpoints with regards to what they understand by RE and why they are positive about it (also see next chapter discussing further analysis of the interviews in P1).

Technology examples were frequently used to inform understanding and discussions of RE, wind energy being particularly prominent. This suggests that wind farms are perhaps mostly thought of when people answer questions about RE in general; hence wind energy is most closely aligned with the RE concept as a whole. These initial findings will inform further analysis in the upcoming chapters, particularly how the general concept of renewable energy and its associations interact with more specific beliefs about renewable technologies.

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Chapter 7 EVALUATING RENEWABLE