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Improving renewable energy resource assessments by quantifying landscape beauty

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  • McKenna, Russell
  • Weinand, Jann Michael
  • Mulalic, Ismir
  • Petrovic, Stefan
  • Mainzer, Kai
  • Preis, Tobias
  • Moat, Helen Susannah

Abstract

A cost-efficient and sustainable energy transition requires reliable information about the distribution of renewable energy resources. Here we draw on over 1.5 million scenicness ratings of around 200,000 geotagged photographs from Scenic-Or-Not to quantify the aesthetic value of the landscapes in which onshore wind energy installations could be situated in Great Britain. An analysis of planning applications provides quantitative evidence that onshore wind projects are more likely to be rejected when proposed in more scenic areas. Exploiting further open data sources including OpenStreetMap, we build on these findings to generate new estimates of the feasible potential and costs for onshore wind in Great Britain, which we find to be around 1700 TWh and £280 billion respectively. We also uncover a strong spatial correlation between scenicness and the quality of the wind resource, implying inevitable trade-offs between cost-efficiency and public acceptance.

Suggested Citation

  • McKenna, Russell & Weinand, Jann Michael & Mulalic, Ismir & Petrovic, Stefan & Mainzer, Kai & Preis, Tobias & Moat, Helen Susannah, 2020. "Improving renewable energy resource assessments by quantifying landscape beauty," Working Paper Series in Production and Energy 43, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Institute for Industrial Production (IIP).
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:kitiip:43
    DOI: 10.5445/IR/1000118671
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    Cited by:

    1. Tafarte, Philip & Lehmann, Paul, 2023. "Quantifying trade-offs for the spatial allocation of onshore wind generation capacity – A case study for Germany," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 209(C).
    2. Tafarte, Philip & Lehmann, Paul, 2021. "Quantifying trade-offs for the spatial allocation of onshore wind generation capacity: A case study for Germany," UFZ Discussion Papers 2/2021, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), Division of Social Sciences (ÖKUS).
    3. Lehmann, Paul & Tafarte, Philip, 2023. "The opportunity costs of environmental exclusion zones for renewable energy deployment," UFZ Discussion Papers 2/2023, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), Division of Social Sciences (ÖKUS).

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