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Jakob Knauf
Former Member
Last Name
Knauf
First name
Jakob
Email
jakob.knauf@unisg.ch
Phone
+41712242744
Now showing
1 - 6 of 6
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PublicationType: journal articleJournal: Renewable and Sustainable Energy ReviewsVolume: 175Issue: 113158
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PublicationCan't buy me acceptance? Financial benefits for wind energy projects in GermanyLocal opposition to wind energy projects in Europe and North America is growing. This often causes project delays or even failure. Financial benefits may be one way to counteract a lack of community support. This analysis seeks to explain how discounted electricity, payments to the municipality, and payments for social purposes shift the acceptance of communities about a local wind energy project. A choice-based conjoint analysis among 811 German citizens showed that financial benefits increase citizens’ acceptance of a hypothetical wind energy project in the close vicinity of their homes. Proponents and the large group of citizens with rather weak preferences for local wind energy projects appreciate all tested benefits. In contrast, benefits cannot win over the small group of opponents. The study provides evidence that benefits do not ensure the perception of fair distributive justice, even for citizens with weak preferences. The findings inform current policies that introduce benefit schemes for wind energy projects to foster community acceptance and win over majority support for projects.Type: journal articleJournal: Energy PolicyVolume: 165Issue: 112924
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PublicationType: journal articleJournal: Energy Research & Social ScienceVolume: 88Issue: 102508
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PublicationJournal: Energy PolicyVolume: 173Issue: 113340
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PublicationType: conference speech
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PublicationCommunity Investment and Social Acceptance of Wind EnergyThe Paris Agreement aims to limit the global increase in average temperature to below 2 °C. Replacing fossil fuels in the energy system with renewables is an important element of achieving this goal. Energy scenarios show that onshore wind energy will play a central role in this. According to the scenarios, the climate targets of the Paris Agreement cannot be achieved at the current annual rate of wind energy expansion. Onshore wind energy is a market-ready technology. Its rate of expansion depends strongly on the acceptance of residents. In previous research, financial participation of residents has been identified as a factor that can promote acceptance. However, there are also empirical studies that have found the opposite effect. This dissertation builds on these contrasting empirical findings. I use three academic papers to examine how financial participation of residents is related to the acceptance of onshore wind energy. Policymakers and industry actors can use the findings of this dissertation to modify the preconditions for the development of wind energy. In the first paper, I examine how a discounted electricity tariff, payments to municipalities, and payments for social purposes are related to community acceptance. Using an online survey with a choice experiment, I show that for the majority of residents all three of the participation options have a positive effect on community acceptance. Opponents of wind energy cannot be convinced through financial participation. For the second article we interviewed project developers who offer residents the opportunity to invest in wind energy projects. We used semi-structured interviews to investigate why, when, and how project developers do this. We show that they offer financial participation mainly to increase community acceptance rather than for financial motives. They use a staged approach to achieve this goal. In the third paper, we use a literature review to examine how the opportunity to invest in a local wind energy project is related to community acceptance. We show that most empirical studies find a positive relationship between these factors. To achieve this effect, trust and finding a balance between risk and control are needed. Simply offering an investment opportunity does usually not fulfil this precondition.Type: doctoral thesis