TY - JOUR
T1 - Policy stakeholders and deployment of wind power in the sub-national context
T2 - A comparison of four U.S. states
AU - Fischlein Miriam, M.
AU - Larson, Joel
AU - Hall, Damon M.
AU - Chaudhry, Rumika
AU - Rai Peterson, Tarla
AU - Stephens, Jennie C.
AU - Wilson, Elizabeth J
PY - 2010/8
Y1 - 2010/8
N2 - As climate change mitigation gains attention in the United States, low-carbon energy technologies such as wind power encounter both opportunities and barriers en route to deployment. This paper provides a state-level context for examining wind power deployment and presents research on how policy stakeholders perceive wind energy in four states: Massachusetts, Minnesota, Montana, and Texas. Through semi-structured interviews, state-level energy policy stakeholders were asked to explain their perceptions of wind energy technology within their state. Interview texts were coded to assess how various drivers promote or hinder the deployment of wind power in sub-national contexts. Responses were dominated by technical, political, and economic frames in all four states, but were often driven by a very different rationale. Environmental, aesthetic, and health/safety frames appeared less often in the discourse. This analysis demonstrates that each state arrived at its current level of deployment via very different political, economic, and technical paths. In addition to helping explain why and how wind technology was - or was not - deployed in each of these states, these findings provide insight into the diversity of sub-national dialogues on deployment of low-carbon energy technologies.
AB - As climate change mitigation gains attention in the United States, low-carbon energy technologies such as wind power encounter both opportunities and barriers en route to deployment. This paper provides a state-level context for examining wind power deployment and presents research on how policy stakeholders perceive wind energy in four states: Massachusetts, Minnesota, Montana, and Texas. Through semi-structured interviews, state-level energy policy stakeholders were asked to explain their perceptions of wind energy technology within their state. Interview texts were coded to assess how various drivers promote or hinder the deployment of wind power in sub-national contexts. Responses were dominated by technical, political, and economic frames in all four states, but were often driven by a very different rationale. Environmental, aesthetic, and health/safety frames appeared less often in the discourse. This analysis demonstrates that each state arrived at its current level of deployment via very different political, economic, and technical paths. In addition to helping explain why and how wind technology was - or was not - deployed in each of these states, these findings provide insight into the diversity of sub-national dialogues on deployment of low-carbon energy technologies.
KW - Renewable energy
KW - State policy
KW - Technology diffusion
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=77952804420&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=77952804420&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.enpol.2010.03.073
DO - 10.1016/j.enpol.2010.03.073
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:77952804420
SN - 0301-4215
VL - 38
SP - 4429
EP - 4439
JO - Energy Policy
JF - Energy Policy
IS - 8
ER -