Poll Backs Renewables, But...

Bill Opalka | Apr 22, 2010

 

Good news came for the renewable energy industry came on Earth Day when the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) released a poll that shows overwhelming support for clean energy and the policies the organization favors.

Energy independence, clean energy manufacturing and support for a renewable energy mandate all scored highly across the political spectrum.

But the "but" part, at least in my mind, is a question that seemed to be beyond the scope of the survey and hard to quantify. In short, how strong would support be if not for a common misconception, added on top of the complexity of the modern energy industry? More on that in a minute.

Voters overwhelmingly support increasing the use of wind power in the United States and adopting a strong Renewable Electricity Standard (RES), according to AWEA.

"The poll's bottom line is clear:  An overwhelming majority of American voters, on a bipartisan basis, want more wind power and support a national RES to increase its use," said Anna Bennett and Neil Newhouse, partners respectively with Bennett, Petts & Normington and Public Opinion Strategies, the firms that conducted the poll. 

The pollsters said the sample of 600 likely voters is representative of many national surveys of this type.

Significant majorities think that adding more wind power would either keep energy costs the same or lower them. "There is a belief among many that with more renewable energy, the costs would go down," Newhouse said.

As AWEA CEO Denise Bode pointed out, "the public sees wind is free."
 
I'm wondering if the wind industry really wants poll results to buttress the industry on a misconception. Even the most ardent wind supporters wouldn't admit that prices are lower now and there's significant disagreement inside the utility industry generally on the overall cost impact of renewable energy.
 
It's not an idea I'd promote for a number of reasons.

There's the complicated reasons utility pros know, like the needed transmission build-out, intermittency of supply and integration costs, to name a few. As a newspaper reporter a few years ago covering electricity deregulation, trying to explain to readers how a Texas company could sell electricity in Pittsburgh showed there's a steep learning curve ahead.

I'm not saying it can't be done, but the public education process for "Joe Sixpack" is a daunting one.

The other reason I have is what you might call "misplaced expectations." When the public figure out that wind energy really isn't cheaper, at least not now, then there's the real possibility of a backlash.

And when that happens, the results aren't pretty, as we've seen in some early smart meter deployments.

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