UK public shows strong support for renewables

According to a DECC public survey, nearly four fifths of the public (79 percent) said they supported the use of renewable energy to provide the UK’s electricity, fuel and heat.

Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) states that this level of support is consistent with the previous three years (79 percent, 82 percent, 80 percent for March 2012-2014 respectively).

The report shows 71 percent strongly or slightly support the idea that renewable energy developments should provide direct benefit to the communities in which they are located, which represents a decrease of 3 percent when compared to March 2013 and 2014 when it was 81 percent.

The level of support varies across renewable technologies with solar generation amounting to 81 percent of public support.

Wave and tidal generation comes second, with 74 percent of public supporting this source of renewable energy.

Support for offshore wind amounts to 73 percent, followed by onshore wind with 65 percent, and biomass with 63 percent.

Commenting on the survey, Chief Executive of the Renewable Energy Association, Nina Skorupska said: “Public support for renewables has been consistently high for many years, with the benefits to energy security and climate change clear. Renewables hold the key to decarbonising the UK and the growth of our sector goes hand in hand with future proofed resilient and cheaper bills and thousands of skilled jobs across the country.”

[mappress mapid=”376″]

Source/Chart: DECC; Image: EMEC/Illustration