cs8 p24 fast public attitudes towards new ret e ont highlands
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Attitudes towards new renewable energy technologies in the Eastern Ontario Highlands
Stewart Fast and Robert McLemanDepartment of Geography, University of Ottawa
Rural Research Workshop, May 5, Ottawa
Source: Ontario Power Authority . http://fit.powerauthority.on.ca
Source: wind concerns Ontario
Eastern Ontario Highlands
Selected characteristics
AddingtonHighlands
North Frontenac
Ontario
Median age 50 54 39
Median income ($) 15,651 18,878 24,604
Workforce participation (%) 45.4 49 67
3rd generation or more (%) 78 78 46
Without high school education (%)
39 27 22
Methods
• Self administered questionnaire
• Two follow up focus groups
Eastern Ontario Highlands
Denbigh
Cloyne
Northbrook
Flinton
Kaladar
Bon Echo
Plevna
Ompah
Village rural route
Number of households sent survey
Number returned
Response Rate
Denbigh 220 53 24%
Flinton 270 60 22%
Ompah 172 35 19%
Cloyne 174 24 14%
Total 836 175 21%
Response rate for mail‐out survey for questionnaires received February 23rd to April 7th
Household heating sources in use in Addington Highlands and North Frontenac and in Canada* *from 2007 Household Energy Use Survey by Statistics Canada / Natural Resources Canada
Most important energy issues in the future
Focus group participantsPrivate citizens focus group
male retiree long‐time resident, active in local hunting and fishing organization
male, business owner, has solar panels under microFIT program, recent migrant from urban centre
male retiree active in lake association
female long‐time resident, active in community organizations, lives off grid
male, long‐time resident, volunteer firefighter, lives off grid
male retiree long‐time resident active in local organizations (2)
male retiree active member of County‐level “green energy task force” recent migrant from urban centre
Governance focus group
Township Councillors (3)
Conservation Authority (1)
Regional tourism association (1)
Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources (1)
County (1)
Crown land forestry company (1)
Focus group and survey comments
“My hydro bill is discouraging!”
“Living in an underprivileged area, with declining youth population (under 40 yrs) it is imperative that any green technologies thatcould produce and maintain economy is beneficial.”
“A lot of people in our area cannot afford the continually rising costs of hydro.”
“I would think that most people would like to be off the grid mainly for reliability as there have been numerous outages and most have a generator as back up.”
The “NIMBY” question
http://fit.powerauthority.on.ca
http://fit.powerauthority.on.ca
http://fit.powerauthority.on.ca
Focus group comments wind
• “I sure as hell know they aren’t going to put one of those wind farms on my property.”
• “You go to Wolfe Island, and it is almost a disgusting insulting thing when you look at the beauty and then this thing is just clustered with (...) it is producing nice energy but you have a huge challenge and I think it will continue wherever you go with ‘not in my backyard”’
• “I think it is being maligned…it is popular to believe it is bad.”
• “If you talk about two or three turbines on ____ Lake, there would certainly be a very different perspective from people that come up on only on weekends”
Focus group findings biomass
• “We’ve got just incredible amounts of sawdust and bark and trimmings and wood….to me this is an ideal opportunity for somebody to come along and open a pellet plant somewhere within easy distance.”
• “I love the concept over in North Addington [i.e. at the school ‐ North Addington Education Centre]. I think that is great, now if we only can get the pellets here”
• “This could be a product that has many many other spinoffs”
Key findings
1. High initial support (cost, local resources)
2. Solar ‐> Wood ‐> Hydro ‐> Wind
3. not NIMBY response
4. Permanent / Seasonal residents
5. Planners can foster positive initial attitudes
Next steps
• Workshop / meeting
• Seasonal resident perspectives
• Analytical statistics
• Talk and discourse analysis using Habermasian framework
• Continued observations of “public sphere”
• Report and recommendations to community and local governments
Public attitudes towards new renewable energy technologies in the Eastern Ontario Highlands
Stewart Fast and Robert McLemanDepartment of Geography, University of Ottawa
Rural Research Workshop, May 5, Ottawa