Project: Mapping public perceptions and preferences toward wind power development through time (R/CT-6)

Principal Investigators: Jeremy Firestone and Willett Kempton, University of Delaware

In 2005, Delaware Sea Grant researchers Jeremy Firestone and Willett Kempton surveyed residents of Cape Cod, Mass., to learn their opinions about a proposal to establish a wind farm just off their coast. The majority opposed the project.

Firestone and Kempton used the same approach in 2006 to see if Delawareans felt the same way about seeing wind turbines off their own coast.

They didn’t.

In fact, more than 90 percent of Delawareans expressed overwhelming support for offshore wind power as a future source of energy for the state.

Since then, prospects for wind farm development proceeded rapidly in Delaware, with the First State emerging as a potential location for the nation’s first offshore wind farm. Instead of a hypothetical situation, Delawareans are now facing the very real prospect of wind turbines spinning off the coast.

Has increased public awareness of alternative energy resources and the greater likelihood of Delaware having an offshore wind farm in the near future changed public opinion since 2006? Firestone and Kempton are finding out. They are conducting follow-up surveys of residents in both locations to determine how public opinions have evolved over the past several years. Their findings are being used to help shape energy policy as the United States and Delaware work toward generating environmentally friendly, price-stable electricity. They also are shedding light on how and why public attitudes toward offshore wind development have changed over time.

See below for the full project abstract.