Place attachment and preferences for wind energy – A value-based approach

Abstract

Research indicates that local energy projects may disrupt different dimensions of people's sense of place, such as place attachment, causing local resistance within a community. Place-based concepts have therefore been extensively studied in social energy science to explain resistance to energy projects. However, what has been less studied is the integration of place-based concepts within a value-based framework to explain resistance. We present a conceptual framework wherein place attachment enhances people's value (utility) of a natural area by generating a person-place relationship. The framework bridges the concepts of values and resistance against wind energy, predicting higher losses of values from a natural area transformed into a wind energy site when a stronger place attachment is present. To test the conceptual framework, we conduct a discrete choice experiment (DCE) to assess the role of place attachment in the valuation of impacts of a place-specific wind energy project. Consistent with the framework, we find that place attachment (i) enlarges people's stated compensation to accept wind energy and (ii) increases wind energy resistance by leading to a higher propensity to choose the no-wind farm status quo option systematically across choice scenarios. Our results suggest that wind energy resistance should be recognized as a rational response when people value environmental amenities adversely affected by potential energy sites.