Surveys Highlight Wind Power Popularity

Wind power and renewables are extremely popular across Europe and beyond, typically hitting positive scores of 60-80 percent across a range of locations according to a survey published this week in Wind Directions, the magazine of the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA). The survey is a summary of 37 surveys from 19 countries, focusing on European countries, plus Australia, Estonia, USA and Poland.

Brussels, Belgium – October 13, 2003 [SolarAccess.com] “What emerges most clearly from the survey is the consistently high level of support for renewables across a range of parameters and issues” said Corin Millais, Chief Executive of EWEA. The survey includes results from Spain, Germany, and Denmark where wind farms are well known and more established, and from countries such as France, Australia and the UK, where wind power has had a small development to date. It presents results from site specific areas where wind farms are built, or have been proposed. A British “survey of surveys” of 42 opinion polls between 1990-2002 shows that 77 percent support wind power, 14 percent are neutral and nine percent are against. Among EU-15 citizens surveyed by the European Commission, 69 percent of citizens support more renewable energy-related research compared to 13 percent for gas, 10 percent for nuclear fission, six percent for oil and five percent for coal. 40 percent of respondents stated that renewable energy sources will be the least expensive energy resource in 2050 compared to seven percent for oil, 10 percent for nuclear fission, and 11 percent for solid fuels. “There is a small but growing group of political supporters who understand the value of wind power beyond kilowatts ands megawatt”, said Millais.