Rural Nebraskans strongly support renewable fuels, according to the 2005 Rural Poll, even though using such energy could cost more money.

A high percentage of rural Nebraskans, 89 percent, who responded to the survey agreed or strongly agreed that the government should encourage the use of renewable energy sources.

The scientific poll, in its 10th year, detailed the responses of 2,851 people in 84 counties outside the state's major urban and suburban areas. Questionnaires were mailed in March to 6,250 randomly selected households, and the response rate was 46 percent. The margin of error is plus or minus 3 percentage points.

The Center for Applied Rural Innovation at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln released poll results a day after President Bush signed a new law focusing on national energy policy. The law did not have a renewable standard for electricity, but it did establish a 7.5-billion gallon renewable fuel standard, which translates into increased ethanol and biodiesel production.

About 72 percent of the Nebraskans polled said they would like to see at least 10 percent of the state's electricity come from alternative energy sources.

The poll showed that 87 percent of Nebraskans polled agreed that more wind energy would be good for the state's economy, which shows a "forward-looking attitude" among residents, said Bruce Johnson, a UNL economist who works on the poll.

"That's a strong, straight statement on the part of Nebraska's rural citizens," Johnson said. "Here we are with relatively cheap electricity, yet we're saying this."

That should send a signal to Nebraska's public power districts to continue working on wind projects, Johnson said.

People in the Panhandle were more likely than residents in other areas to agree that wind power is an energy source that can be produced and used locally. Ninety-one percent of Panhandle residents supported wind generation, compared with 82 percent in other regions.

Renewable fuels such as ethanol and soydiesel also have high support among rural residents. More than half of those polled "always or almost always" use ethanol when they fill up their gas tanks. Still, about 20 percent of those polled said they seldom or never use ethanol.

About 94 percent of farmers and ranchers polled agreed that the federal government should concentrate more on developing renewable fuels. The same percentage of farmers and ranchers also agreed that developing renewable fuels would be good for the Nebraska economy.

Sixty-five percent of people polled agreed that alternative fuels were better for the environment. Only 4 percent disagreed with that view. The rest offered no opinion.

The survey also revealed slight regional differences on renewable fuels that can reflect the type of crops grown in the area..

"I'm a little bit taken aback by some of those differences," Johnson said.

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