Wind in the sails or choppy seas?: People-place relations, aesthetics and public support for the United States’ first offshore wind project

Firestone, Jeremy; Bidwell, David; Gardner, Meryl P.; Knapp, Lauren

doi:10.1016/j.erss.2018.02.017

Cited by 64 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…A sizeable portion of energy landscape scholarship has focused on visualizing energy systems, mainly through maps and photos (Calvert, Greer, & Maddison-MacFadyen, 2019;Pasqualetti, 2009;Pasqualetti, Gipe, & Righter, 2002) Geographers have also sought to understand how everyday engagements with energy systems, particularly renewable energy, shape place. Geographers examining people-place relations have largely studied how such relations influence perceptions of energy projects (Devine-Wright & Batel, 2017; Firestone et al, 2018). Geographic inquiries into the territorial logics of energy projects have studied the discursive, legal, and financial the processes through which areas are territorialized to make them suitable for low carbon projects (Harlan, 2018;McCarthy & Thatcher, 2017;McEwan, 2017).…”

Section: The Academic Borderland Of Energy Geographiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…or ethnographic descriptions of how engaging energy systems helps to influence cultural practices (CastánNadaï & Labussière, 2010).Other scholars have also engaged landscape theory to understand and visualize attachment to place and attitudes toward energy project siting, especially in the Global North (Devine-Wright & Batel, 2017;Firestone, Bidwell, Gardner, & Knapp, 2018;Maehr, Watts, Hanratty, & Talmi, 2015;Sherren et al, 2016;Wuebben, 2017).Within human geography and GIScience, geographers have been examining the cultural practices engendered by energy systems by engaging geographic concepts of space, place, and territory. According to Bridge (2018), the socalled spatial adventure currently underway within energy studies (Castán Broto & Baker, 2018) has coalesced around three broad themes: (a) how energy differentially shapes energy-society relations across time and space; (b) how engagements with energy systems enable everyday life; and (c) the dynamic, contested, and uneven processes through which energy influences a range of issues, including consumption, politics, and technology development.…”

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confidence: 99%

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The evolving borderland of energy geographies

Baka

Vaishnava

2020

Geography Compass

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Energy geographers have characterized energy as a borderland topic because of its ability to straddle and interconnect different geographic concepts and debates. In this review, we evaluate how the borderland of energy geographies has been emerging in recent years by analyzing scholarship on energy published in top geography journals and a leading energy studies journal, Energy Research & Social Science. In part 1 of our review, we evaluate how the borderland of energy geographies is evolving by mapping the geographic range of empirical studies, the processes and types of energy systems being researched and the key geographic concepts/theories engaged across the four main sub‐fields of geography. We find that energy geographies scholarship has primarily centered on the Global North, remains focused on the extractive and production phase of energy development and is evolving across and within three of the four sub‐fields of geography. Energy transitions, governance, justice, space, and landscape are key topics and concepts examined. Notable underrepresentations include a relative lack of energy geographies scholarship within physical geography, as well as limited studies that engage geographic concepts to study the transportation sector, unconventional energy development and the food‐energy‐water nexus. In part 2, we identify three broad research themes to expand the frontier of energy geographies: (a) geographies of energy knowledge production, particularly indigenous knowledge; (b) materializing energy, especially through engaging political‐industrial ecology; and (c) advancing geographic thought by critically assessing how studying energy advances/challenges/transforms core geographic concepts and debates. Collectively, our review demonstrates that energy geographies have established firm footing within and across geography. Deepening engagement with emerging trends elsewhere in geography and the social sciences will not only help to better conceptualize what a geographic perspective on energy means but will also help to make clearer sense of the rapid economic, social, environmental, and political transformations currently underway within the global energy system.

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Section: The Academic Borderland Of Energy Geographiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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confidence: 99%

The evolving borderland of energy geographies

Baka

Vaishnava

2020

Geography Compass

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“…It has become clear that social scientists play a key role in parsing out the social dimensions of energy decisions that go far beyond the mere availability of technology or resources (Hui & Walker, 2018;Bridge, 2018;Stephens, Wilson, & Peterson, 2008), and that social science is crucial in identifying the positive and negative impacts and meaning of energy transitions on society (Stern, 2017;Butler, Parkhill, & Luzecka, 2018;Benham, 2016). In response to this call for more social science in energy research, an increasing number of energy research studies are addressing human dimensions of energy systems, including the importance of place (Firestone, Bidwell, Gardner, and Knapp, 2018;Devine-Wright & Howes, 2010;Hui & Walker, 2018;Bridge, 2018), public engagement (Buhr & Wibeck, 2014;Eaton et al, 2017;Klain et al, 2017), cultural narratives (Bidwell 2017;Malone et al, 2017;Harris, 2017;Moezzi, Janda, & Rotmann, 2017), ethics (Smith & High, 2017;Frigo, 2017;Howe & Boyer, 2016), and social uncertainty (Li & Pye, 2018;Purkus, Gawel, & Thrän, 2017), among others.…”

Section: Current Trends In Social Science Energy Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

The social dynamics of turbine tourism and recreation: Introducing a mixed-method approach to the study of the first U.S. offshore wind farm

Smith

Smythe

Moore

et al. 2018

Energy Research & Social Science

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Understanding the complex dynamics that influence energy transitions requires mixed methods and collaborations among researchers, resource managers, and communities. This essay details how an interdisciplinary team of researchers used a mixed-method approach to study the social dimensions of tourism and recreation as they relate to the first offshore wind farm in the United States, the Block Island Wind Farm. Although impacts to tourism from wind energy systems are widely cited as a concern by communities and policymakers, little work has sought to define what constitutes tourism and recreation impacts or provided empirical evidence of impacts from operating projects. Researchers adopted an iterative approach to research that combined discrete studies using media content analysis, ethnographic participant observation, and stakeholder focus groups, to understand the social effects of the wind farm on the tourism and recreation experience and the quality of life in Block Island and coastal Rhode Island. We detail key insights from our experimentation with an iterative mixed-method approach at Block Island and offer lessons for future studies using collaborative approaches to understand both the tangible and the intangible social dynamics of energy system transitions.

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“…Additionally, the authors find little variation in the percentage of respondents who would switch from their current beach to an alternative one with an OSWF with respect to the distance of the OSFW from the beach, which is also consistent with the "warm glow" effect. Firestone et al (2018) provide additional evidence of the "warm glow" effect after studying determinants of support for the BIWF, Our study is novel and a strong application of revealed preference data, however several limitations exist. Because the AirBnb rental property data used to proxy for tourism represents one segment of the tourist population, we are unable to capture behavioral responses from other important segments, like single-day visitors and those who book short-term lodging accommodations through other rental platforms.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Furthermore, many of the studies mentioned above capture preferences prior to OSWF installation, and preferences and support may change once OSWFs are installed. For example, Firestone et al (2018) survey residents of Block Island, near-coastal Rhode Island, and coastal Rhode Island both before and after operation of the BIWF to understand changes in and determinants of support for the BIWF. Compared to those in the pre-installation period, levels of support in the postoperation period increased across all three strata, yet only among the coastal Rhode…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nonmarket Valuation of Marine Resources in the Northeast: Implications for Recreational Fisheries Management and Offshore Wind Energy Development

Carr-Harris¹

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Sound natural resource management considers the full range of costs and benefits of policy action. Understanding these implications as they pertain to nonmarket goods or externalities requires an accurate assessment of consumer preferences and behavior. The chapters of this dissertation ascertain this knowledge in the context of recreational Atlantic striped bass fishery management and offshore wind development in the northeast United States. Atlantic striped bass are the most prominent and heavily targeted recreational species found along the coast from Maine to North Carolina. Yet due in part to heavy recreational fishing effort, the species may be currently overfished. Given this status, it is pertinent to explore the concurrent impacts of potential policy action on angler participation, angler welfare, and recreational fishing mortality such that efficient compromises between conservation and socioeconomic objectives of fisheries management can be made. In Chapter 1, we evaluate the economic incentives faced by recreational striped bass anglers using data from a recently-administered recreational striped bass angler survey. We estimate angler preferences for and the nonmarket value of keeping and releasing small (22"), medium (29"), and trophy-sized (38") fish. We find that for each size-class, anglers prefer keeping to releasing striped bass and that the nonmarket value of Atlantic striped bass increases exponentially with catch size. Illuminating the tradeoffs made by recreational striped bass anglers, our results indicate that one harvestable trophy-sized fish can be exchanged for about two medium-sized or three small ones. vi Resource Economics, the NMFS, the Rhode Island Sea Grant, and the University of Rhode Island. Finally, to my family, who encouraged and supported my graduate school career-I love you, and I'll never be able to fully repay you for what you have helped me achieve in school and in life. vii

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Wind in the sails or choppy seas?: People-place relations, aesthetics and public support for the United States’ first offshore wind project

Cited by 64 publications

References 41 publications

The evolving borderland of energy geographies

The evolving borderland of energy geographies

The social dynamics of turbine tourism and recreation: Introducing a mixed-method approach to the study of the first U.S. offshore wind farm

Nonmarket Valuation of Marine Resources in the Northeast: Implications for Recreational Fisheries Management and Offshore Wind Energy Development

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