Solar, wind favorability ratings down...slightly
May 16, 2013 | By
Barbara Vergetis Lundin
Despite some high-profile scrutiny of the failures of some renewable energy companies, consumers still view solar and wind energy favorably, according to Navigant Research -- but not as favorably as they did in 2008. "Since 2009, there have been steady declines in favorability for some clean energy concepts, particularly the areas that have traditionally enjoyed strong consumer support such as solar energy, wind energy, hybrid vehicles, and electric cars," said Clint Wheelock, managing director at Navigant Research. "Overall, support for clean energy concepts in our tracking survey held fairly steady from 2011 to 2012, but the decline for solar energy in particular was significant." Though still high, positive impressions of solar energy fell from 77 percent in 2011 to 69 percent in 2012, while wind energy suffered a smaller drop, from 71 percent to 69 percent. Favorable responses for clean coal, natural gas vehicles, nuclear power, biofuels, and six other concepts were unchanged year-over-year. In 2012, only solar energy, wind energy and hybrid vehicles received overall favorable responses. Support for electric cars dropped below 50 percent for the first time since the survey was initiated in 2009. The percentages of survey respondents stating that they had either a "very favorable" or "favorable" view for each of the 13 concepts in 2012 were as follows:
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