How the facets of energy security impact the support for energy sources : Evidence from UK household data

Using UK household data, we examine empirically how different facets of energy security, energy vulnerability, affordability, reliability and imports dependency impact the support for three different energy sources: renewables, nuclear and shale gas extraction. Our approach utilises an ordered logistic econometric model and controls for various socio-demographic variables. We find that each facet can have a differential impact in the probability of support for each energy source and in general, as energy security concerns decline, households are becoming less likely to support each energy source, however, the effects are larger for nuclear and shale gas compared to renewables. Our findings are robust to potential endogeneity concerns which are addressed by using instrumental variables. The above results can be useful for policy appraisal purposes to inform policy makers on the differential impact of energy security facets when designing future energy policies towards the net zero targets.