Successful Implementation of Renewable Energy

Global warming of Earth’s atmosphere is an increasing problem in our society today. The burning of fossil fuels is releasing greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere, which has led to global temperature increases and negative environmental impacts. Yet, fossil fuels still compose about 88% of our total energy use. However, renewable forms of energy such as wind power, solar power, and tidal power are available. This is a turning point for society, but outside factors such as public opinion must be considered before renewable energy projects are implemented. Public opposition already affects areas of renewable energy like tidal power. This project will focus on a proposed tidal project in Maine that is in conflict with a local Native American tribe. Tribe leaders are concerned about the effect on local fisheries and have said that the project would cause “unacceptable destruction” to their resources. The tidal project has not yet been implemented partly due to the economic and social concerns of local citizens. The focus of this project is to investigate the effect of public opinion on renewable energy projects, using the Maine tidal project as a case study. Research will be conducted through telephone interviews. This work is essential to the scientific community because developers need to know whether or not a project in a given area will be feasible. This project aims to determine the cause and effect of local public perceptions of renewable energy, so that developers can take this information into account when planning new projects.