Catherine Butler, Karen Parkhill and Nick Pidgeon Introduction In debates around low carbon energy technologies, renewable forms of generation are often the focus. In contrast, nuclear power, while being a low carbon form of electricity generation, does not invoke quite the same synonymy with the concept of low carbon energy. In this chapter we examine […]

There are likely to be increased tensions between public opinion in rural and coastal areas in the UK and developers and advocates of new energy infrastruc­ture, as climate and energy targets become more urgent, and as the UK’s planning system becomes more centralized for major infrastructure projects under the 2008 Planning Act. If the UK […]

The case of the strongly opposed 21.5MW(e) bioenergy gasifier in Winkleigh, Devon, and the contrast with the public welcome for bioenergy for heat in the North York Moors National Park, Yorkshire, serve as a microcosm of much of the variety of public engagement issues relating to energy transitions in the UK. Social science research undertaken […]

The Winkleigh case study of a relatively large-scale, technologically advanced bio­electricity plant contrasted with our findings on public perceptions of 2030 bioenergy scenarios for the Yorkshire and Humber region of the UK. Use of the Yorkshire and Humber region’s wood resource for small and medium-sized CHP and heat plants was found to be much more […]

In addition to assessing perceptions of the planning and related governance system through direct interview questions and focus group discussion, we also used questions relating to perceptions of the level of communication by public bodies on the planning proposal. Between 2004 and 2007, the proportion of people approving of related communication by Torridge District Council […]

The respondents were not identical in the two surveys, as a high level of sample control was not possible. Thus the 2007 respondents were older than the 2004 respondents, with people aged 65 years and older constituting 33 per cent of the 2004 group and 43 per cent of the 2007 group. Both sets of […]

Research on attitudes to energy infrastructure repeatedly finds disjunctions between ‘in principle’ positive opinion of renewable energy options and opposi­tion ‘on the ground’. In the UK, national and regional public opinion surveys have found widespread support for renewable energy in general in Great Britain and Northern Ireland (e. g. Barker and Riddington, 2003a, b; MORI, […]

Paul Upham Introduction This chapter draws together some of the insights from an interdisciplinary research programme that has investigated public and stakeholder attitudes to the cultivation and use of biomass for energy in the UK. The key empirical focus here is a bioenergy siting controversy involving a nationally significant advanced bioenergy gasifier, which serves to […]