Heuristics and bias in assessing the social impacts of energy projects

Impact assessment relies to differing extents on decision-making techniques informed by behavioral decision research (BDR) theory and principles. Here I introduce BDR and discuss areas of mutual concern between assessment practitioners, energy developers, policy makers and stakeholders, and suggest recommendations for mitigating those concerns, principally at the project level. I discuss inertia due to status quo bias and binary choices, the role of framing effects on impact assessments, how perceptions and experience of impacts change at the individual, household and community level, and the need to elevate and analyze intangible social, cultural and spiritual impacts using a multi-dimensional perspective. Finally, I argue the importance of incorporating active versions of decision-support and assessments of the relative importance of experienced values informed by principles of structured decision-making. Throughout the chapter I use contextual examples from my work investigating the social impacts and acceptance of utility-scale renewable energy projects in the US Midwest.