The path to bringing more renewable energy and sustainable technologies into our infrastructure is by making the political environment more friendly towards these technologies. Public opinion shapes the way politicians vote or which politicians enter into office in the first place, meaning that the people have the power to influence how quickly and at what intensity we convert to renewables and sustainable technologies.
Pike Research conducts annual surveys of the public to gauge favorability of key energy and environmental concepts including clean energy, clean transportation, smart grid, and carbon management. Unsurprisingly, the survey found that solar and wind energy had the highest favorability, 69% and 66% respectively, out of all the concepts covered. Other responses found nuclear power, the carbon cap and trade program, and the carbon offsets/credits program to have the highest number of unfavorable responses.
The responses above aren’t all that noteworthy because public support for (or against) these concepts are relatively well known. The survey also shows the percentages of people that have no or neutral opinions about the concepts. Leading the neutral / no opinion concepts are LEED certifications, carbon cap and trade, carbon offsets/credits, smart grids and biofuels. These five concepts all received 50% or higher responses of neutral or no opinion, meaning that more work needs to be done to educate the public about the usefulness (or uselessness) of these concepts.
Two interesting trends in the findings of the survey were the favorable responses depending on the expense of the monthly electric bill, and whether the responder identified as Democrat or Republican. In just about every concept, responders with monthly electric bills totalling over $300 dollars numbered the highest group in favor of each concept. It seems the people that use the most energy are the most in favor of that energy coming from cleaner technologies. As for responders identifying as Republicans or Democrats, democrats counted as the majority of favorable responses over republicans in all concepts except clean coal and nuclear power.
As time goes on and people become more entrenched in their opinions about renewable energy and sustainable technologies, more effort needs to be put into properly educating the general public on how these kinds of technologies and policies are necessary. An educated public has the ability to influence the government to ensure clean technologies get their chance to make an impact.
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