Can Michigan’s Upper Peninsula Achieve Justice in Transitioning to 100% Renewable Electricity? Survey of Public Perceptions in Sociotechnical Change

Adewale A. Adesanya
Additional contact information
Adewale A. Adesanya: Environmental and Energy Policy Program, Social Sciences Department, Michigan Technological University, Houghton, MI 49931, USA

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 1, 1-25

Abstract: The cost of energy in the Western Upper Peninsula (WUP), a rural and northern part of the state of Michigan, is among the highest in the United States. This situation has resulted in hardship for WUP residents due to exorbitant electricity bills. While interest in renewable electricity (RE) has increased in the region, the unanswered questions are what factors would make WUP residents more or less supportive of a transition to 100% RE, and how does the support for a 100% RE transition differ between counties in the WUP? This research analyzed factors that would make residents more or less supportive of a 100% RE transition in the WUP. This research investigated public perceptions through a quantitative residents’ survey ( N = 347). Using logistic regression, the results show that residents’ likelihood to participate in a municipality-led initiative that will reduce their consumption by 5% is statistically significant to their probability of support for wind energy development at p < 0.05. Furthermore, the likelihood of 100% RE transition support is very high across WUP counties, with a similar trend for project preferences. The results in this research can provide a roadmap for future community-engaged planning on 100% RE in various counties in the region.

Keywords: public perception; 100% renewable electricity; survey; energy transition (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/1/431/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/1/431/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:1:p:431-:d:475118

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().