• Energy Research

Wind energy is one of the key technologies to become independent of fossil fuels. Implementation of wind energy on a local level, however, has sometimes proved to be challenging and dealing with local acceptance of onshore wind turbines has become troublesome for some projects. Communication and public involvement are seen as strategies to prevent or respond to local opposition. This paper analyses the views of a variety of experts in wind energy on this matter. It focuses on eliciting their experiences with public participation measures. Furthermore, the perceived effectiveness of the measures for the social acceptance of wind energy projects is analysed. To do so, this paper draws on an expert survey among 207 individuals across Europe linked to wind energy projects. The analysis shows that negative reactions to wind farms are reported more frequently than positive reactions. In nearly 40% of cases, projects experience negative consequences on project development due to a lack of social acceptance, ranging from delays to changes in project plans and even termination. The vast majority of wind project developers respond to this by carrying out public participation activity at least sometimes. However, a much lower share does this systematically and the level of activity is low in early project phases. With regard to the relationship between project activities and project success, there is some support for the assumption that early and systematic involvement of the public and stakeholders is likely to reduce negative reactions.

Abstract Electric vehicles (EVs) have noteworthy potential to reduce global and local emissions and are expected to become a relevant future market for vehicle sales. Both policy makers and car manufacturers have an interest to understand the first large EV user group, frequently referred to as ‘early adopters’. However, there are only a few empirical results available for this important group. In this paper, we analyse and discuss several empirical data sets from Germany, characterising this user group from both a user and a product perspective, i.e. who is willing to buy an EV and who should buy one. Our results show that the most likely group of private EV buyers in Germany are middle-aged men with technical professions living in rural or suburban multi-person households. They own a large share of vehicles in general, are more likely to profit from the economical benefits of these vehicles due to their annual vehicle kilometres travelled and the share of inner-city driving. They state a higher willingness to buy electric vehicles than other potential adopter groups and their higher socio-economic status allows them to purchase EVs. In contrast to this, inhabitants of major cities are less likely to buy EVs since they form a small group of car owners in general, their mileage is too low for EVs to pay off economically and they state lower interest and lower willingness to pay for EVs than other groups. Our results indicate that transport policy promoting EVs should focus on middle-aged men with families from rural and sub-urban cities as first private EV buyers.

Catenary trucks (CT) are part of electric road systems (ERS) and allow charging while driving, i.e. dynamic charging. ERS can contribute to the decarbonization of heavy road transport, as direct electric concepts have the best climate balance compared to alternative technologies. Catenary systems are being tested in real operation in Germany. In this paper, we analyze the perceived legitimacy and social acceptance of CT systems in German society. To answer the research question, we look at industry actors, the general population, and local residents of a field test and combine different qualitative methods in an innovative multi-method approach. We find that both the legitimacy and the acceptance of the technology are poor in Germany, i. e., structural and behavioral factors need to be changed to accommodate the technology. While manufacturers were primarily concerned with efficiency and costs, local citizens were concerned with traffic impact and safety.