• Energy Research

AbstractThis paper presents the results of an evaluation of the longer term impact of a series of workshops conducted in four Australian cities which sought to engage representatives of the Australian public in discussions about climate change and low emission energy options. These workshops were designed to explore the public’s awareness and acceptance of the various low emissions energy technologies, including carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS), and to assess whether a large group workshop format was an effective means of affecting change in awareness and acceptance of the various energy technologies. Initial results of these workshops, presented at the International Conference on Greenhouse Gas Technologies (GHGT) in 2008, found that the workshop was indeed effective. Results from an online survey conducted in October 2009 with 95 participants of the original workshops indicate that over the longer term awareness remains at a higher level than prior to workshop attendance, while changes in participants’ attitudes were not sustained over time. However, the results of 22 follow-up in-depth interviews conducted in November and December 2009 found that many workshop participants reported a change in their awareness of and preference for the energy technologies, and that they pro-actively spoke with others and sought further information regarding the technologies and their place in a low carbon economy. While wind and solar energy were clearly favored, carbon mitigation was generally recognized as a complex issue requiring a portfolio of energy solutions. Building trust in the range of energy solutions, including carbon capture and storage, will require ongoing engagement and dialogue with members of the public.

Internationally, the level of public awareness of carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS) technology remains low. The mainstream media have a salient influence in shaping the debate on CCS's implementation and its risks. This paper presents the results of analysis of print media coverage of CCS worldwide between August 2009 and June 2010. A total of 1138 articles from the Carbon Sequestration Leadership Forum were reviewed and analysed. The majority of these articles were balanced or neutral in tone and lacking in technical detail. Fifteen key themes were identified. Two of these emerged the most frequently across all sources: CCS pilot and demonstration projects, and funding issues. This suggests a pattern of media curiosity over how financial support for CCS is provided and what results are occurring at pilot and demonstration efforts. Cross-regional key risks included: Time, cost, and implementation issues; technical validity; and storage capacity issues.

This study draws on communication accommodation theory, social identity theory and cognitive dissonance theory to drive a ‘Citizen’s Round Table’ process that engages community audiences on energy technologies and strategies that potentially mitigate climate change. The study examines the effectiveness of the process in determining the strategies that engage people in discussion. The process is designed to canvas participants’ perspectives and potential reactions to the array of renewable and non-renewable energy sources, in particular, underground storage of CO2. Ninety-five people (12 groups) participated in the process. Questionnaires were administered three times to identify changes in attitudes over time, and analysis of video, audio-transcripts and observer notes enabled an evaluation of level of engagement and communication among participants. The key findings of this study indicate that the public can be meaningfully engaged in discussion on the politically sensitive issue of CO2 capture and storage (CCS) and other low emission technologies. The round table process was critical to participants’ engagement and led to attitude change towards some methods of energy production. This study identifies a process that can be used successfully to explore community attitudes on politically-sensitive topics and encourages an examination of attitudes and potential attitude change.

The current supply of finance to enable universal access to clean fuels and technology for cooking does not match the scale of Sustainable Development Goal 7’s access challenge. To date, little attention has been given to the modalities of funding the clean cooking transition at the macro level. Grounded in a review of academic and recent grey literature, this study’s research objective was to provide a granular understanding of gaps in finance flows and financial instruments, mapped against the innovation cycle of companies that provide clean cooking solutions. In the context of wide-ranging barriers to the clean cooking sector’s development, we found a chronic shortfall of finance for companies at the early stages of their business growth and poorly targeted public finance to support innovation and mitigate risk for later-stage investors. This is exacerbated by limited data sharing and knowledge exchange among a small number of funders. We recommend reforms to public funding for clean cooking enterprises, especially for research, development and demonstration (RD&D) and innovation, to mitigate risk for later-stage investors, as well as more effective data sharing, to help catalyse sufficient, appropriate finance through the value chain for universal access.

When the IPCC SRCCS report was released there was very little information in relation to public acceptance and communication. Ten years later, there has been a sizeable increase in the outputs from the social sciences with numerous papers, reports, and presentations, case reviews, toolkits, best practice guides, and other materials that have also been released in the public domain. This paper collectively examines many of the outputs from this research, It finds that much of the work can be loosely grouped into four main areas that include assessment and concerns of the general public, assessment and concerns of key stakeholders, assessment of the role of communication style and content, and assessment of experiences from real-life projects. Reflecting on the large body of work, it shows that there has been great progress in many areas of social science research, and the findings from this work possibly has greater, far reaching application than just for CCS projects. However, despite the positive progress the IPCC SRCCS identified two essential pre-conditions for CCS to be seen as credible. The pre-conditions were the recognition that: (1) anthropogenic global climate change is a serious problem and (2) there is a need for large reductions in carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. Unfortunately, this has not been the case. While public awareness of CCS has increased slightly from ten years ago, it remains low unless there has been some controversy about the technology in the local context. Given the lack of consistent, robust climate policy and the ensuing call for large amounts of GHG reductions, the larger public concern may be whether there will be the political will to address climate change at levels necessary to stabilize climate, that would make CCS a useful and more viable option. Despite this concern, as projects move to implementation stage the body of social science research that has focused on CCS provides a useful database of reference materials and ideas to help move projects forward. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Abstract Commitment to increase public awareness of climate change mitigation has risen substantially and so has the appreciation of the impact that comes from voluntary behaviour change. We aimed to test whether a process could be designed that encouraged individuals – from within their existing social networks – to facilitate energy reduction discussions that ultimately changed the way they consumed energy. Our “Energymark” process was grounded in the idea that change is facilitated by several supporting factors including the provision of tailored information, social support, encouragement to set goals, and access to feedback. In this paper we report on the first trial with members of the Australian public. By the end of the trial an average emissions reduction of 20% was reported using a pre- and post-trial carbon calculator incorporating the energy used at home, waste, spending on products and services, beef consumption, and transport. While many identified as climate change aware, and had the socio-economic capacity to make changes, we found that participants of widely varying demographics and dispositions responded to program features, achieving equivalent emissions reductions. This bodes well for the program’s effectiveness and warrants further testing of the impact of voluntary action with social processes such as Energymark.

Abstract In Australia, the polarised debate over the pace and scale of change necessary to mitigate climate change has been exacerbated by inconsistent federal government policies which are seen to hinder the transition to a low carbon energy future. This includes the way in which particular energy technologies have been framed within the debate, with potential effects on public support for a given technology. This paper presents the results of a study that examined question order framing effects on support for a range of energy technologies across a nationally representative survey of the Australian public. It was hypothesised that this experimental manipulation would allow us to better understand how the salience of different frames may lead to shifts in individuals’ preferences for various energy technologies. Four different experimental frames were developed covering the following topics: knowledge; cost and reliability; climate change: and energy behaviours. Overall, our results demonstrated that such question order effects can impact support for the range of different options. The energy behaviours frame demonstrated an increase in overall levels of support for nearly all energy technologies and was the only frame that significantly increased overall levels of support for CCS. Consistent with prior research, overall support for renewable energy technologies remained highest. However, the frames led to unexpected outcomes in their impacts on expressed support. While the reasons for these responses are not clear, this study highlights an important consideration for ongoing survey research into the effects of question sequencing and priming around topic salience.