Public Attitudes to Whole Energy System Change

1
Public Attitudes to Whole Energy System Change

Nick Pidgeon, Catherine Butler, Christina Demski,
Karen Parkhill, Understanding Risk Group, School
of Psychology, Cardiff University, and Alexa
Spence, Nottingham University
ERP Engagement Workshop, London, May 2013
2
CU Consortium

• Psychology, Cardiff University
• PI Prof Nick Pidgeon
• Researcher Co-I Dr Catherine Butler
• Researcher Co-I Dr Karen Parkhill
• Researcher Dr. Christina Demski
• Co-I Dr. Lorraine Whitmarsh
• Engineering, Cardiff University
• Co-PI Prof Nick Jenkins
• Researcher Dr Tracy Sweet
• Researcher Dr Modassur Chaudry
• Researcher Brian Drysdale
• Architecture, Cardiff University
• Co-PI Prof Peter Pearson
• Psychology, Nottingham University (attached to
  Psych, Cardiff)
• Researcher Co-I Dr Alexa Spence

3
Energy System Transformation
4
WP1Many Scenarios
5
Trading off
Trade Offs Trade Offs Trade Offs
Environmental targets V Security of Supply
Price today Cost V V Price tomorrow Environmental Sustainability
Providing for the Vulnerable V System Change
High Renewable Technology V Demand Management
Transitions V Principles of choice and freedom
6
Objectives

1. To identify key trade-offs in system change
   stakeholder public responses to these
2. To build knowledge and understanding of public
   attitudes, values and acceptability of energy
   system change
3. To create qualitative and quantitative data sets
   for examination of the perspectives of varied
   publics across the UK on whole energy system and
   system change
4. To develop and utilise innovative methodological
   approaches for examining public values, attitudes
   and acceptability
5. To develop a range of generic materials that can
   be utilised as a basis for working with varied
   publics

7
Reasons for Engagement and Dialogue

• Incorporating Public Values in Decisions (e.g.
  equity)
• Improving Decision Quality
• Resolving Conflict
• Establishing Trust and Legitimacy
• Education and Information (but need genuine
  two-way engagement)
• See Nanoscience and Nanotechnologies
  Opportunities and Uncertainties Royal Society /
  Royal Acad. Eng, 2004, London, Ch 7.

8
Methods for Engagement

• Participatory and/or Constructive Technology
  Assessment
• Scenario Analysis
• Direct Public Engagement (e.g. citizen jury)
• Decision Analysis
• Multi-stage Approaches
• Public Attitudes Research
• See Nanoscience and Nanotechnologies
  Opportunities and Uncertainties Royal Society /
  Royal Acad. Eng, 2004, London

9
Work Packages
10
Work Package 2 Public Deliberations

• Diverse sample
• Gender
• Age
• Ethnicity
• Educational qualifications
• SEG
• Household tenure
• Power station affiliation

11
WP 2 Day format
12
(No Transcript)
13
MY 2050 in the Workshops
14
WP3 Survey Sampling

• Nationally representative for GB (n2,441)
• Core samples for England, Scotland and Wales
• Conducted 2-12th August 2012 through IpsosMORI
• Weighted by age, gender, geographical region and
  employment status

15
WP3 Survey my2050

• Climate change, energy security and affordability
• Key energy supply options fossil fuels, nuclear
  power wind energy
• Electrification of heating, cooking and driving
• Demand reduction
• Demand side management
• Overall system change

my2050

• About my2050
• Repeated questions
• Environmental values technol. optimism
• Sample characteristics

16
Key survey analyses
17
Reports

• Butler, C., Parkhill, K.A. Pidgeon N.F. (2013)
  Transforming the UK Energy System Public Values,
  Attitudes and Acceptability Deliberating Energy
  System Transitions in the UK Report on Findings
  from Deliberative Workshops. Working Paper,
  Cardiff University and UK Energy Research Centre.
• Demski, C., Spence, A. Pidgeon N.F. (2013)
  Transforming the UK Energy System Public Values,
  Attitudes and Acceptability Summary findings of
  a survey conducted in August 2012. Working Paper,
  Cardiff University and UK Energy Research Centre.
• Demski, C., Parkhill, K., Butler, C., Spence, A.
  Pidgeon N.F. (2012) Public Engagement and the
  My2050 tool . Policy Briefing, Cardiff University
  and UK Energy Research Centre.
• available from Reports section at
  www.understanding-risk.org

18
Deliberative Workshops - Themes
Policies Governance
Paying for 2050
Imagining Change
Social Contracts
Responsibility Trust
Risk (Making Taking)
Meta Issues
Intangibles
Politics of Place
Technological Pessimism
Non-Transitions
Accessing Futures
Sensory Experience
19
Deliberative Workshops - Emerging Findings

• Whole System Framing - essential
• Climate Change, Energy Security Affordability
• Public interpretive frames differ to policy (e.g.
  not p/kWh)
• No straightforward relationship between views on
  meta issues and views on energy system change
• General Positivity/Enthusiasm Toward Change
  (clean, sustainable, quality of life, not finite)
  
• Where negative conceptions of things appear it
  about not being seen as involving change i.e.
  non-transitions (e.g. biofuels, CCS, consumption)
• Some Interventions Leave People Feeling
  Vulnerable
• Prosumer/investment risks for early adopters
• Stigma being seen to be not normal (need
  neighbourhood/community interventions)

20

• Transitions Need to be Sensitive to Place
• Siting appropriate siting importance of
  process
• Socio-cultural histories of place taken into
  account
• Passive demand management is draconian/intrusive
  homes as sites of contestation
• Cost Affordability
• Concern about cost is multi-dimensional not just
  about higher bills (e.g. profits, investment, who
  pays)
• Some acceptability of bills increases to pay for
  certain types of transitions (i.e. sustainable)
  this is in the context that people expect costs
  to go up anyway.
• Existing Social Contracts
• Flying beyond travel (multi-culturalism,
  aspirations, work v leisure, enjoyment)
• Meat beyond sustenance (social interaction,
  pleasure and meal times)

21
Imagining Change Future Sustainability
Future energy supply Jeff -Wind
turbines Lewis- Waves Eric- Solar Ann-
Wind Rachel- I think with the wind and anything
to do with the weather, we get enough of it
here giggles from group Moderator -And onshore
wind/off shore wind, do you mind? Lewis-
Both nodding and murmurs of agreement from
group Moderator- So what do you see the
benefits of wind and wave, wood the things you
have mentioned? Jeff- Its free Ann-
Natural Jeff Natural, aye (Glasgow)
Engendering change Rose- I dont want somebody
coming in and saying, you cant run that, youre
going to jail for putting that heater on all
night, but I do think something will need to be
done because we need to stop, we know this, we
know what were damaging (Glasgow)

• Cultural transition
• I dont want to sound like an old hippy but if
  you go producing more and more and more, you just
  have more and more rubbish, and more and more
  environmental problems but our system, our
  economy is based on producing so that is a real
  problem (Rachel, London)

22
Survey To what extent do you agree or disagree
that the UK should reduce its use of fossil
fuels? (Wales Data - indicates significant
difference from UK samples)
23
Imagining Change Non-Transition
Non-transition - Biomass Fiona - Its another
oil and you would exploit countries who will
allow you to have land and everyone else wants
that land so I think you would end up with more
wars and water issues. Cheryl- Yeah it feels
like a step backwards it feels like come on
guys, we can do something better than that. I
dont know what it is about it, maybe it is
because its just burning stuff, it doesnt seem
very sophisticated or sustainable and it seems
like they have just panicked and said well just
burn stuff. (Cumbria)

• Negative conceptions of things not seen as
  involving real change (or non-transitions) such
  as Biofuels,

24
Technological Realism and Politics of Place
On Carbon Capture and Storage Jeff- See, I
worry about that whenever humans try and
transport something dangerous, they always make
an arse of it somewhere along the line, like
oil. The damage we have done with big oil tankers
spilling out, we would have to transport this and
store it and obviously I dont know how that gets
out, is it like a vapour or liquid or ice I dont
know, but if you leave humans to transport
something from a to b at some point of them doing
that they will make a balls up and it could end
up back in the environment. That is just my
opinions on humans, but we always make an arse of
it somewhere. (Edinburgh)
Politics and history Olivia- It is not as bad,
but I really dont think we want to be the
dustbin of the world for that kind of thing
(carbon emissions) (Glasgow)
25
Everyday Sensory Experience

• Coal, Oil and Gas viewed as archaic, dirty,
  limited (running out), and conflict generating
  BUT in everyday experience
• Electrification- cars, cooking and heating
• Existing experiences
• Controllability

James- if they could get an electric car to
that stage where you could get electric cars at
the same performance as diesel and petrol then I
would do definitely, but not at the moment.
(Edinburgh)
Lilly- I love my coal fire, especially when it
is pouring down rain outside and you come in and
youve got a coal fire there is nothing better.
(Cardiff)
Amy I wasnt keen on an electric hob. I like to
see the flame, I think its safer. (London).
26
Survey -Demand Reduction (Wales Data)
27
RiskRisk Taking and Risk Making
Michael To be honest with you I think part
of it is that if anyone sticks their head above
the parapet to try and do anything Im
frightened that I am going to get you know into
trouble by doing something thats slightly
different. And I think thats part of the
problem. Jason Exactly, it comes down to
familiarity doesnt it?... thats how you
implement change. Once it becomes familiar. Matt
And then that government cavity wall scheme
started and Id say now that about 2/3rd of the
estate one saw someone else getting it done and
said what is happening here? and then they got
it done. (Cumbria)
Fiona I would watch and wait like I am doing
with the hybrid car thing. We thought about it
but we thought we would just watch and wait and
see what happens to everyone else see if their
car falls apart (Cumbria)
28
Demand Management
29
Demand Management Survey (Wales Data)

30
Cost Incentives
A fair energy market? Lindsey- Is that part of
the problem - that they have opened up the market
place and the market place now dictates what we
pay whereas before it was centralised and
government-led and a fair price for all, and now
we swap and the next week they put their prices
up and you wish you stayed with that one. We are
having to juggle this constant reassessing of who
we should be with - change our mortgage every
five minutes, change our telephone provided,
change our gas and electric. We get our gas from
the electric and the electric from the Gas Board
- it has just got ridiculous. We dont want all
this aggravation of having to compare prices a
penny more on that or less on that - and
different usage. We just want a fair price for
what we use then we will use it fairly. Judy-
Yes, I think youre right. I think it does need
to be uniform because at the minute we are
playing in a monopoly and we are losing out
because they are getting mega big bucks from the
profits they are getting and what are they giving
us - absolutely nothing (Cumbria)
31
Social Contracts Values and Intangibles
in my eyes it may be a silly thing to say, why
have a world when you cant visit it? Why have
other counties when you cant go there. It seems
silly that we cant visit other countries and
cultures and actually learn. What is there to
learn in life? (Nigel, London)
Jeremy- And no way in the world will I give up
eating meat, I dont care, may the world come to
an end tomorrow (Glasgow)
On flying Amy- Tenerife, I go a lot and my
family used to live in the states and I went a
lot out there, so here there and everywhere, I am
a retired lady now and I worked all my life,
every day of my life, and now I think, well I
should just enjoy myself so I do. (Glasgow)
Irene- Something I wouldnt change is not eating
meat laughter and agreement from group (Merthyr)
32
The My2050 tool
33
Mean slider level/effort (0-3)
34
Before and After the tool
35
System transformation (Wales Data)
89 agree that Britain needs to radically change
how it produces and uses energy by 2050.
National Government(s) are seen to play a large
role in bringing about these change.
36
Concluding Comments

• Successful Engagement Elicited a Rich Set of
  Public Discourses
• Value of Multiple-Methods
• Public(s), Values, AND Commonality
• Use of Interactive Tools (e.g. MY2050)
• Future Priorities

37
www.understanding-risk.org