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Public Acceptance of Renewable Energy Sources: a Case Study from the Czech Republic

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  • Inna Čábelková

    (Department of Trade and Finance, Faculty of Economics and Management, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Prague 165 00, Czech Republic)

  • Wadim Strielkowski

    (Department of Trade and Finance, Faculty of Economics and Management, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Prague 165 00, Czech Republic)

  • Irina Firsova

    (Department of Marketing, Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation, Moscow 125993, Russian Federation)

  • Marina Korovushkina

    (Department of Language Training, Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation, Moscow 125993, Russian Federation)

Abstract

The substitution of traditional energy production with renewable energy sources (RES) in the European Union (EU) represents a multidimensional issue with its pros and cons viewed differently by governments, technology companies, markets, as well as the general public. There are significant public doubts in expediency of investments in renewables in place. Our paper studies the factors related to the public opinion on renewables using a reasonable and representative sample of respondents (N = 1026) from one of the EU Member States, the Czech Republic, via a set of ordinal regression analyses with spline correction for ordinal predictors. Our results suggest that the population of the Czech Republic is split in half in its trust in renewables as a substitute to traditional energy sources. In addition, our results show that the opinions on renewables in the Czech Republic are significantly related to personal concerns on environmental protection and worries about use of nuclear energy. Moreover, we find that traditional mass media is not statistically significant, even though internet news channels and social media were statistically related to the opinions (negatively and positively, respectively). The comparison of the responses with respect to the frequency of following social media support the hypothesis of the media bubble. The empirical results indicate that public opinions on renewables are likely to be built on the information sources vulnerable to hoaxes, bubbles, and misinformation. We conclude that more media presentation on RES is needed and make some practical suggestions for the stakeholders, journalists, and relevant policymakers.

Suggested Citation

  • Inna Čábelková & Wadim Strielkowski & Irina Firsova & Marina Korovushkina, 2020. "Public Acceptance of Renewable Energy Sources: a Case Study from the Czech Republic," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(7), pages 1-15, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:13:y:2020:i:7:p:1742-:d:341777
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    3. Istvan Ervin Haber & Mate Toth & Robert Hajdu & Kinga Haber & Gabor Pinter, 2021. "Exploring Public Opinions on Renewable Energy by Using Conventional Methods and Social Media Analysis," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(11), pages 1-13, May.
    4. Wadim Strielkowski & Lubomír Civín & Elena Tarkhanova & Manuela Tvaronavičienė & Yelena Petrenko, 2021. "Renewable Energy in the Sustainable Development of Electrical Power Sector: A Review," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(24), pages 1-24, December.
    5. Inna Čábelková & Wadim Strielkowski & Frank-Detlef Wende & Raisa Krayneva, 2020. "Factors Influencing the Threats for Urban Energy Networks: The Inhabitants’ Point of View," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-19, October.

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