Public Acceptance and Support of Renewable Energy in the North-East Development Region of Romania

Abstract

Concern about energy in the European Union (EU) has been a recurrent issue from the very beginning. Though initially addressed at the state level, energy is now a shared competency as stressed by article 194 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. New challenges, added from time to time, need public support in order to be properly addressed. Such is the case of substituting traditional energy production with renewable energy sources. Our paper seeks to determine whether the Romanian public opinion favors such an evolution, which is traditionally associated with significant investment efforts. The study is focused on the north-east development region, which has the highest population and registered the fastest economic growth in 2019. The topic was explored through a survey applied to a sample of 649 household respondents. The results suggest strong support for introducing renewable energy sources, serious concerns about climate change, and a preoccupation for energy saving. Concerns regarding climate change or various economic factors, behaviors oriented towards reducing energy waste, as well as perceived knowledge on the matter are the factors with the biggest impact on supporting electricity production based on renewable energy sources. However, TV and online exposure have a negative impact on support. Demographics, along with social and political values remain mostly not significant.

Expected benefits and foreseen steps in creating energy communities in Romania

“…To assess the regional acceptance of RES in Romania, we cite a paper by Jijie (2021), that investigates if the Romanian public opinion favours such an evolution [1]. The study is established on the northeastern region of Romania.…”

“…The main the factors supporting electricity production based on RES are: concerns regarding climate change or various economic factors and behaviours oriented towards reducing energy waste. According to the same paper [1], several expected impacts of turning to RES to produce electricity were assessed through focused questionnaires, and responses were measured on a 5-point Likert scale, as seen in Figure 1.…”