An analysis of public attitudes towards renewable energy in Western Greece

Abstract

Inputs to the planning and decision-making process addressing environmental and energy issues include expert opinions, public attitudes and perceptions. This research investigates the attitudes of local communities of Western Greece towards renewable energy and documents the existence of distinct household groups. Data were collected from 201 households via a questionnaire. Respondents were either young or around 40 to 50 years of age, mostly university or high school graduates, with a family income less than 5000 euros. Principal Components were extracted from household attitudes towards renewable energy projects. Cluster analysis revealed two clusters based on key demographic variables (age, years of education and average income) and principal component scores. The first cluster contained respondents who were older, less educated and economically weaker; the second contained younger, better educated and higher income respondents. Members of the better-off cluster thought that they were more aware of renewable energy, felt stronger about its future role in the energy mix and were more optimistic regarding its impacts; on the other hand, they were more cognizant of bureaucratic, economic and technical factors that could hinder its development.