IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jeners/v16y2023i5p2176-d1078832.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A Survey of Renewable Energy, Climate Change, and Policy Awareness in Israel: The Long Path for Citizen Participation in the National Renewable Energy Transition

Author

Listed:
  • József Kádár

    (Haifa Center for German and European Studies, University of Haifa, Abba Khoushy Ave 199, Haifa 3498838, Israel
    The Arava Institute for Environmental Studies, Kibbutz Ketura, D.N. Hevel Eilot 8884000, Israel)

  • Martina Pilloni

    (Chemical and Geological Science Department, University of Cagliari, SS 554 Bivio Sestu, 09042 Cagliari, Italy)

  • Tareq Abu Hamed

    (The Arava Institute for Environmental Studies, Kibbutz Ketura, D.N. Hevel Eilot 8884000, Israel
    Dead Sea and Arava Science Center, Tamar Regional Council 86910, Israel)

Abstract

The social acceptance of energy policies and renewable energy technologies is crucial in the era of the renewable energy transition. Yet, little is known about Israel’s transition in this regard. One thousand five hundred Israeli citizens were engaged through a survey to examine their perceptions of climate change and awareness regarding renewable energy technologies and national energy policy. Individual-level factors such as gender, age, and education were included in the survey to assess their possible influence on replies. The main findings were the following: (i) climate change impact is not felt as an immediate threat by the majority, and there is (ii) a lack of accurate knowledge about renewable energies; (iii) a lack of awareness regarding national energy and climate policy; and (iv) a lack of trust in citizens’ role in energy decision making. These findings are evaluated as a barrier to public engagement within the renewable energy development process in Israel.

Suggested Citation

  • József Kádár & Martina Pilloni & Tareq Abu Hamed, 2023. "A Survey of Renewable Energy, Climate Change, and Policy Awareness in Israel: The Long Path for Citizen Participation in the National Renewable Energy Transition," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(5), pages 1-16, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:16:y:2023:i:5:p:2176-:d:1078832
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/16/5/2176/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/16/5/2176/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Vardimon, Ran, 2011. "Assessment of the potential for distributed photovoltaic electricity production in Israel," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 36(2), pages 591-594.
    2. Yingying Sun & Ziqiang Han, 2018. "Climate Change Risk Perception in Taiwan: Correlation with Individual and Societal Factors," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(1), pages 1-12, January.
    3. Jason Chilvers & Rob Bellamy & Helen Pallett & Tom Hargreaves, 2021. "A systemic approach to mapping participation with low-carbon energy transitions," Nature Energy, Nature, vol. 6(3), pages 250-259, March.
    4. Stefano Carattini & Steffen Kallbekken & Anton Orlov, 2019. "How to win public support for a global carbon tax," Nature, Nature, vol. 565(7739), pages 289-291, January.
    5. Sofia Spyridonidou & Georgia Sismani & Eva Loukogeorgaki & Dimitra G. Vagiona & Hagit Ulanovsky & Daniel Madar, 2021. "Sustainable Spatial Energy Planning of Large-Scale Wind and PV Farms in Israel: A Collaborative and Participatory Planning Approach," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(3), pages 1-23, January.
    6. Linda Steg, 2018. "Limiting climate change requires research on climate action," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 8(9), pages 759-761, September.
    7. Wolsink, Maarten, 2007. "Planning of renewables schemes: Deliberative and fair decision-making on landscape issues instead of reproachful accusations of non-cooperation," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(5), pages 2692-2704, May.
    8. Itay Fischhendler & Daniel Nathan & Dror Boymel, 2015. "Marketing Renewable Energy through Geopolitics: Solar Farms in Israel," Global Environmental Politics, MIT Press, vol. 15(2), pages 98-120, May.
    9. Hansla, Andre & Gamble, Amelie & Juliusson, Asgeir & Garling, Tommy, 2008. "Psychological determinants of attitude towards and willingness to pay for green electricity," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(2), pages 768-774, February.
    10. Cohen, Jed J. & Reichl, Johannes & Schmidthaler, Michael, 2014. "Re-focussing research efforts on the public acceptance of energy infrastructure: A critical review," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 4-9.
    11. Teschner, Na'ama & McDonald, Adrian & Foxon, Timothy J. & Paavola, Jouni, 2012. "Integrated transitions toward sustainability: The case of water and energy policies in Israel," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 79(3), pages 457-468.
    12. Palm, Jenny, 2018. "Household installation of solar panels – Motives and barriers in a 10-year perspective," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 1-8.
    13. Li, Francis G.N. & Trutnevyte, Evelina & Strachan, Neil, 2015. "A review of socio-technical energy transition (STET) models," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 290-305.
    14. Mauger, Romain, 2018. "The voluminous energy transition legal framework in France and the question of its recognition as a branch of law," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 499-505.
    15. Evangelia Dialyna & Theocharis Tsoutsos, 2021. "Wave Energy in the Mediterranean Sea: Resource Assessment, Deployed WECs and Prospects," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(16), pages 1-18, August.
    16. Adrian Brügger & Suraje Dessai & Patrick Devine-Wright & Thomas A. Morton & Nicholas F. Pidgeon, 2015. "Psychological responses to the proximity of climate change," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 5(12), pages 1031-1037, December.
    17. Dalia Štreimikienė & Vidas Lekavičius & Gintare Stankūnienė & Aušra Pažėraitė, 2022. "Renewable Energy Acceptance by Households: Evidence from Lithuania," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(14), pages 1-17, July.
    18. Lawrence Hamilton, 2011. "Education, politics and opinions about climate change evidence for interaction effects," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 104(2), pages 231-242, January.
    19. Scheer, Dirk & Konrad, Wilfried & Wassermann, Sandra, 2017. "The good, the bad, and the ambivalent: A qualitative study of public perceptions towards energy technologies and portfolios in Germany," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 89-100.
    20. Assali, Alia & Khatib, Tamer & Najjar, Angham, 2019. "Renewable energy awareness among future generation of Palestine," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 136(C), pages 254-263.
    21. Schweizer, Pia-Johanna & Bovet, Jana, 2016. "The potential of public participation to facilitate infrastructure decision-making: Lessons from the German and European legal planning system for electricity grid expansion," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 64-73.
    22. Paul M. Kellstedt & Sammy Zahran & Arnold Vedlitz, 2008. "Personal Efficacy, the Information Environment, and Attitudes Toward Global Warming and Climate Change in the United States," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(1), pages 113-126, February.
    23. Gross, Catherine, 2007. "Community perspectives of wind energy in Australia: The application of a justice and community fairness framework to increase social acceptance," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(5), pages 2727-2736, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Aleksandar Anastasovski & Maria Beatrice Andreucci & József Kádár & Marco Delli Paoli, 2024. "Energy Storage in Urban Areas: The Role of Energy Storage Facilities, a Review," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(5), pages 1-31, February.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Gordon, Joel A. & Balta-Ozkan, Nazmiye & Nabavi, Seyed Ali, 2022. "Beyond the triangle of renewable energy acceptance: The five dimensions of domestic hydrogen acceptance," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 324(C).
    2. Zerrahn, Alexander, 2017. "Wind Power and Externalities," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 141(C), pages 245-260.
    3. Landeta-Manzano, Beñat & Arana-Landín, Germán & Calvo, Pilar M. & Heras-Saizarbitoria, Iñaki, 2018. "Wind energy and local communities: A manufacturer’s efforts to gain acceptance," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 121(C), pages 314-324.
    4. Petrova, Maria A., 2016. "From NIMBY to acceptance: Toward a novel framework — VESPA — For organizing and interpreting community concerns," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 1280-1294.
    5. Simón, Xavier & Copena, Damián & Montero, María, 2019. "Strong wind development with no community participation. The case of Galicia (1995–2009)," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    6. Yanay Farja & Mariusz Maciejczak, 2021. "Economic Implications of Agricultural Land Conversion to Solar Power Production," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-15, September.
    7. Langer, Katharina & Decker, Thomas & Roosen, Jutta & Menrad, Klaus, 2016. "A qualitative analysis to understand the acceptance of wind energy in Bavaria," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 248-259.
    8. Boyle, Evan & Galvin, Martin & Revez, Alexandra & Deane, Aoife & Ó Gallachóir, Brian & Mullally, Gerard, 2022. "Flexibility & structure: Community engagement on climate action & large infrastructure delivery," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).
    9. Hogan, Jessica L. & Warren, Charles R. & Simpson, Michael & McCauley, Darren, 2022. "What makes local energy projects acceptable? Probing the connection between ownership structures and community acceptance," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 171(C).
    10. Ioannidis, Romanos & Koutsoyiannis, Demetris, 2020. "A review of land use, visibility and public perception of renewable energy in the context of landscape impact," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 276(C).
    11. Haggett, Claire, 2011. "Understanding public responses to offshore wind power," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(2), pages 503-510, February.
    12. Gorsevski, Pece V. & Cathcart, Steven C. & Mirzaei, Golrokh & Jamali, Mohsin M. & Ye, Xinyue & Gomezdelcampo, Enrique, 2013. "A group-based spatial decision support system for wind farm site selection in Northwest Ohio," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 374-385.
    13. Pepermans, Yves & Loots, Ilse, 2013. "Wind farm struggles in Flanders fields: A sociological perspective," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 321-328.
    14. Dessi, F. & Ariccio, S. & Albers, T. & Alves, S. & Ludovico, N. & Bonaiuto, M., 2022. "Sustainable technology acceptability: Mapping technological, contextual, and social-psychological determinants of EU stakeholders’ biofuel acceptance," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    15. Knoblauch, Theresa A.K. & Trutnevyte, Evelina & Stauffacher, Michael, 2019. "Siting deep geothermal energy: Acceptance of various risk and benefit scenarios in a Swiss-German cross-national study," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 807-816.
    16. Galvin, Ray, 2018. "‘Them and us’: Regional-national power-plays in the German energy transformation: A case study in Lower Franconia," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 269-277.
    17. Kortsch, Timo & Hildebrand, Jan & Schweizer-Ries, Petra, 2015. "Acceptance of biomass plants – Results of a longitudinal study in the bioenergy-region Altmark," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 690-697.
    18. Sigurd Hilmo Lundheim & Giuseppe Pellegrini-Masini & Christian A. Klöckner & Stefan Geiss, 2022. "Developing a Theoretical Framework to Explain the Social Acceptability of Wind Energy," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(14), pages 1-24, July.
    19. Kyriaki Psara & Christina Papadimitriou & Marily Efstratiadi & Sotiris Tsakanikas & Panos Papadopoulos & Paul Tobin, 2022. "European Energy Regulatory, Socioeconomic, and Organizational Aspects: An Analysis of Barriers Related to Data-Driven Services across Electricity Sectors," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(6), pages 1-25, March.
    20. Leer Jørgensen, Marie & Anker, Helle Tegner & Lassen, Jesper, 2020. "Distributive fairness and local acceptance of wind turbines: The role of compensation schemes," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 138(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:16:y:2023:i:5:p:2176-:d:1078832. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.