© 2022 IIETA. This article is published by IIETA and is licensed under the CC BY 4.0 license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
OPEN ACCESS
The use of renewable energy has been an important topic in the four Pacific northwestern states for the last 30 years. large, statistically designed public surveys were conducted in the region in 1990, 2000, 2010, and 2020 to determine the perceived sustainability, future viability, and acceptance of the following ten energy sources: biomass, coal, geothermal, hydropower, natural gas, nuclear, oil, solar, tidal, and wind power. The survey questions were identical in all 4 years of the survey. these surveys were delivered by the US Postal service to over 3500 randomly chosen residents in each survey year. The public response rate exceeded 50% in each survey year. Demographic data about age, gender, education level, community size, and state of residence of survey respondents were also collected. The survey data were statistically analyzed. in general, the public was literate identifying the renewable and nonrenewable energy sources as the majority of survey respondents correctly identified biomass, geo- thermal, hydropower, solar, and wind as renewable energy sources. based on survey results, over 75% of Pacific northwest residents considered it important or very important that their energy resources were renewable in 2020. the findings of this study were important because it shows that the public is in line with the scientific community with the goal of greatly reducing energy reliance on C containing nonrenewable energy sources including oil, coal, and natural gas. In summary, (1) the public strongly supports the transformation to a sustainable energy system using primarily renewable energy sources, (2) the use of traditional nonrenewable energy sources like natural gas should not be discouraged in the present; however, they should be phased out over the short and medium terms, (3) solar and wind energy should be significant sources to meet future energy needs in the region, and (4) the renewables including biomass and geothermal have a place in the future energy mix within the Pacific northwest.
hydropower, public opinion, renewable energy, solar energy, sustainable energy, wind energy
[1] Dong, K., Dong, X. & Dong, C., Determinants of the global and regional CO2 emissions: What causes what and where? Applied Economics, 51(46), pp. 5031–5044, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1080/00036846.2019.1606410
[2] Truelove, H.B. & Greenberg, M., Who has been more open to nuclear power because of climate change? Climate Change, 116, pp. 389–409, 2013. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-012-0497-2
[3] REN21, Renewables 2015: Global status report. Paris: REN21 Secretariet, 2015. ISBN 978-3-9815934-6-4
[4] Mahler, R.L. & Barber, M.E., University student perceptions of the current and future role of non-carbon emitting energy sources in the world. International Journal of Energy Production and Management, 2(3), pp. 277–287, 2017. https://doi.org/10.2495/eq-v2-n3-277-287
[5] U.S. Energy Information Administration, Washington State Energy Profile Overview, 2021. https://www.eia.gov/washington. Accessed February 18, 2021.
[6] U.S. Energy Information Administration, Oregon State Energy Profile Overview, 2021. https://www.eia.gov/oregon. Accessed February 18, 2021.
[7] U.S. Energy Information Administration, Idaho State Energy Profile Overview, 2021. https://www.eia.gov/idaho. Accessed February 18, 2021.
[8] U.S. Energy Information Administration, Alaska State Energy Profile Overview, 2021. https://www/eia.gov/alaska. Accessed February 18, 2021.
[9] Salent, P. & Dillman, D., How to Conduct Your own Survey. John Wiley and Sons, Inc. New York, NY, 1994.
[10] Dillman, D., Mail and Internet Surveys: The Tailored Design Method. John Wiley and Sons, Inc. New York, NY, 2000.
[11] SAS Institute Inc., SAS Online Document 9.1.3. Cary, North Carolina: SAS Institute Inc., 2004.
[12] Mahler, R.L., Simmons, R., Sorensen, F. & Miner, J.R., Priority water issues in the Pacific Northwest. Journal of Extension [On-line], 42(5), Article 5RIB3, 2004. Available at: http://www.joe.org/joe/2004october/rb3.php
[13] Mahler, R.L., Simmons, R. & Sorensen, F., Drinking water issues in the Pacific Northwest. Journal of Extension, 43(6), 6RIB6, 2005. Online at: http://www.joe.org/joe/2005december/rb6.php
[14] Mahler, R.L., Barber, M.E. & Shafii, B., Urban public satisfaction with drinking water since 2002 in the Pacific Northwest, USA. International Journal of Sustainable Development and Planning, 10(5), pp. 620–634, 2015. https://doi.org/10.2495/sdpv10-n5-620-634
[15] Mahler, R.L., Barber, M.E. & Simmons, R., Public concerns about water pollution between 2002 and 2017 in the Pacific Northwest, USA. Int. J. Environ. Impacts, 2(1), pp. 17–26, 2019. https://doi.org/10.2495/ei-v2-n1-17-26
[16] Wikipedia, List of states of the United States by population, 2021. Accessed January 2021.
[17] United States Bureau of the Census, Current population reports, Series P-25, No. 1017. Projection of the population of states by age, sex and race 1988 to 2010. U. S. Government Printing Office, Washington DC, 1988.