IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natene/v9y2024i10d10.1038_s41560-024-01603-w.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Public and local policymaker preferences for large-scale energy project characteristics

Author

Listed:
  • Holly Caggiano

    (University of British Columbia)

  • Sara M. Constantino

    (Northeastern University)

  • Chris Greig

    (Princeton University)

  • Elke U. Weber

    (Princeton University
    Princeton University)

Abstract

Rapidly building utility-scale energy infrastructure requires not only public support but also political will across levels of government. Here we use a conjoint experiment to assess preferences for large-scale energy projects among residents and local elected officials in Pennsylvania—a key transition state with high solar potential where siting authority rests at the local level. We find that residents prefer solar to other energy projects, and job creation and cooperative community ownership are associated with increased support. Public and elected official support decreases when projects are owned by foreign companies. We find limited partisan differences in preferences, suggesting a path towards bipartisan support for such projects. Elected officials misperceive their constituents’ preferences, underestimating support for renewable energy and the importance of job creation. As local officials are key decision-makers regarding infrastructure development, their preferences and perceptions of constituents’ preferences may dictate which energy projects are approved and what community benefits they deliver.

Suggested Citation

  • Holly Caggiano & Sara M. Constantino & Chris Greig & Elke U. Weber, 2024. "Public and local policymaker preferences for large-scale energy project characteristics," Nature Energy, Nature, vol. 9(10), pages 1230-1240, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natene:v:9:y:2024:i:10:d:10.1038_s41560-024-01603-w
    DOI: 10.1038/s41560-024-01603-w
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41560-024-01603-w
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41560-024-01603-w?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natene:v:9:y:2024:i:10:d:10.1038_s41560-024-01603-w. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.