IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - January/February 2018 - 52
Energy projects have implications for
four types of values: biospheric, altruistic,
egoistic, and hedonic.
and subsequently increase public acceptability. this reasoning is rooted in the classical economic argument that
there is a knowledge gap, which should be overcome by
providing people with more information. information is
indeed important when people have (yet) little knowledge
or hold misperceptions about energy projects, but this is
not always the case. Many objectors are not ignorant at all
and may emphasize concerns and uncertainties not shared
by the experts. Furthermore, knowing about a project or
understanding its aims and benefits does not necessarily
mean that people will accept it. the communicated benefits may not address people's key concerns; people may
disagree that the benefits outweigh the related costs and
risks; they may oppose the way the costs, risks, and benefits are distributed; or they may not be convinced by the
information provided. it is important that they trust the
responsible parties, the decision-making process, or the technology involved.
One-way communication often occurs and can represent low public engagement in energy projects, making it
likely that people will feel that their concerns are not sufficiently considered. this impedes public acceptability. if
people have an opportunity to express their opinion, for
example, in public hearings, but their voices eventually
have little-to-no impact on decision making, their attitudes toward a project will not become more positive and
may even become more negative. this is most likely when
the rationale for engaging the public is purely instrumental, namely, trying to increase the public acceptance and
legitimacy of a proposed project without having to change
the project. Public engagement will much more likely lead
to better and more acceptable projects when the rationale behind it is normative and substantive, striving for
democratic decision making and willingness to integrate
lay knowledge and diverse societal values and interests
in project development and implementation. to this end,
the highest level of public engagement, public participation-which involves a two-way exchange of information, with the possibility of transforming opinions on both
sides- is the most recommended form. it implies that
developers and the public together discuss the development and implementation of energy projects, reaching for
solutions that adequately account for the multiple values
and interests of different stakeholders. by definition, public participation requires that people are engaged from the
early stages of project development and implementation,
52
ieee power & energy magazine
when they can still exert influence on decision making
rather than being faced with already fine-tuned energy
projects. Public participation is the cornerstone of the
aarhus convention and emphasized in national environmental policies. For example, in the Netherlands, in an
ongoing reform of environmental law, the importance
of public participation for the quality of environmental
projects and their acceptability by civil society is increasingly stressed. yet many questions remain about how
such participation should be organized: when to engage
the public (e.g., when sketching sustainability visions
or planning specific projects); whom to invite and who
will actually participate; which form of participation to
choose and how much time, effort, and knowledge should
it require from participants; and how to reach an effective
and socially acceptable consensus.
Public acceptability Will Increase with Time
there is a general notion that, by nature, people often resist
change, which can result in public resistance to any type of
change. an intuitive approach to overcome this general resistance to change is to simply go ahead with a project, despite
public resistance. such a "decide-announce-defend" approach
relies on the assumption that once all changes are made and
energy projects are up and running, the public will automatically get used to them and eventually accept them. indeed,
there are examples where public acceptability increased after
energy projects or policies were implemented, particularly
when people experienced the benefits. however, in other
cases, energy projects had to be reversed or changed because
public resistance remained persistent. examples include carbon capture and storage in the Netherlands and the building
of hydropower dams in Patagonia, chile; in both cases, the
authorities initially approved the projects but eventually had
to stop them because of the lack of public support. in chile,
this took eight years of persistent opposition from citizens,
community groups, and national and international nongovernmental organizations.
One possible reason changes do not get accepted is that
people do not feel sufficiently engaged and represented in
decision making, for example, when only one-way communication takes place and public input has little to no impact
on decision making, as discussed previously. Public participation and engagement early in the siting process can help
prevent cancellation or changes later in the process, when
substantial investments have already been made.
january/february 2018
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - January/February 2018
Contents
IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - January/February 2018 - Intro
IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - January/February 2018 - Cover1
IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - January/February 2018 - Cover2
IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - January/February 2018 - Contents
IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - January/February 2018 - 2
IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - January/February 2018 - 3
IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - January/February 2018 - 4
IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - January/February 2018 - 5
IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - January/February 2018 - 6
IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - January/February 2018 - 7
IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - January/February 2018 - 8
IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - January/February 2018 - 9
IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - January/February 2018 - 10
IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - January/February 2018 - 11
IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - January/February 2018 - 12
IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - January/February 2018 - 13
IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - January/February 2018 - 14
IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - January/February 2018 - 15
IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - January/February 2018 - 16
IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - January/February 2018 - 17
IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - January/February 2018 - 18
IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - January/February 2018 - 19
IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - January/February 2018 - 20
IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - January/February 2018 - 21
IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - January/February 2018 - 22
IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - January/February 2018 - 23
IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - January/February 2018 - 24
IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - January/February 2018 - 25
IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - January/February 2018 - 26
IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - January/February 2018 - 27
IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - January/February 2018 - 28
IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - January/February 2018 - 29
IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - January/February 2018 - 30
IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - January/February 2018 - 31
IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - January/February 2018 - 32
IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - January/February 2018 - 33
IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - January/February 2018 - 34
IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - January/February 2018 - 35
IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - January/February 2018 - 36
IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - January/February 2018 - 37
IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - January/February 2018 - 38
IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - January/February 2018 - 39
IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - January/February 2018 - 40
IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - January/February 2018 - 41
IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - January/February 2018 - 42
IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - January/February 2018 - 43
IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - January/February 2018 - 44
IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - January/February 2018 - 45
IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - January/February 2018 - 46
IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - January/February 2018 - 47
IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - January/February 2018 - 48
IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - January/February 2018 - 49
IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - January/February 2018 - 50
IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - January/February 2018 - 51
IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - January/February 2018 - 52
IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - January/February 2018 - 53
IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - January/February 2018 - 54
IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - January/February 2018 - 55
IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - January/February 2018 - 56
IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - January/February 2018 - 57
IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - January/February 2018 - 58
IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - January/February 2018 - 59
IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - January/February 2018 - 60
IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - January/February 2018 - 61
IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - January/February 2018 - 62
IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - January/February 2018 - 63
IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - January/February 2018 - 64
IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - January/February 2018 - 65
IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - January/February 2018 - 66
IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - January/February 2018 - 67
IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - January/February 2018 - 68
IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - January/February 2018 - 69
IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - January/February 2018 - 70
IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - January/February 2018 - 71
IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - January/February 2018 - 72
IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - January/February 2018 - 73
IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - January/February 2018 - 74
IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - January/February 2018 - 75
IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - January/February 2018 - 76
IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - January/February 2018 - Cover3
IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - January/February 2018 - Cover4
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/pes/powerenergy_091020
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/pes/powerenergy_070820
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/pes/powerenergy_050620
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/pes/powerenergy_030420
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/pes/powerenergy_010220
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/pes/powerenergy_111219
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/pes/powerenergy_091019
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/pes/powerenergy_070819
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/pes/powerenergy_050619
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/pes/powerenergy_030419
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/pes/powerenergy_010219
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/pes/powerenergy_111218
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/pes/powerenergy_091018
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/pes/powerenergy_070818
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/pes/powerenergy_050618
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/pes/powerenergy_030418
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/pes/powerenergy_010218
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/pes/powerenergy_111217
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/pes/powerenergy_091017
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/pes/powerenergy_070817
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/pes/powerenergy_050617
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/pes/powerenergy_030417
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/pes/powerenergy_010217
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/pes/powerenergy_111216
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/pes/powerenergy_091016
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/pes/powerenergy_070816
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/pes/powerenergy_050616
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/pes/powerenergy_030416
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/pes/powerenergy_010216
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/powerenergy_010216
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/pes/powerenergy_111215
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/pes/powerenergy_091015
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/pes/powerenergy_070815
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/pes/powerenergy_050615
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/pes/powerenergy_030415
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/pes/powerenergy_010215
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/pes/powerenergy_111214
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/pes/powerenergy_091014
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/pes/powerenergy_070814
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/pes/powerenergy_050614
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/pes/powerenergy_030414
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/pes/powerenergy_010214
https://www.nxtbookmedia.com