People Have Positive View of Solar and Wind Energy

February 11th, 2011 by Zachary Shahan

We’ve seen a number of polls showing that people like solar and wind energy, but here’s one more, which includes a few other interesting findings.

A new poll by Pike Research has found that solar and wind were the most favorably-viewed concepts of a list of various energy and environment technologies, systems, and programs. They were even considerably more popular than hybrid and electric vehicles.

79% of respondents “favorably” or “very favorably” viewed solar energy and 75% had such impressions of wind energy. The results for “clean coal” and nuclear were 47% and 42%, respectively.

Here are the percentages for the full list of concepts Pike Research polled people on:

Solar Energy: 79%
Wind Energy: 75%
Hybrid Vehicles: 64%
Electric Cars: 57%
Biofuels: 47%
Clean Coal: 47%
Nuclear Power: 42%
Smart Meters: 37%
Smart Grid: 37%
Carbon Offsets/Credits: 24%
LEED Certification: 19%
Cap and Trade: 15%

Beyond how favorable respondents considered these concepts, the survey looked into familiar people were with them. I was quite surprised to see that only 47% of respondents were familiar with LEED Certification, the green building certification program administered by the U.S. Green Building Council, even less than cap and trade, carbon offsets/credits, smart meters, and the smart grid. (I sort of wonder if many respondents weren’t just feigning familiarity with some of these.)

For more, check out Pike Research’s free “Energy and Environment Consumer Survey.”

Photo Credit: bby_

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Tags: cap & trade, carbon offsets, Clean Coal, hybrid cars, hybrid vehicles, LEED, LEED Certification, poll, polls, smart meters

About the Author

Zachary Shahan spends most of his time here on CleanTechnica as the director/chief editor. Otherwise, he's probably enthusiastically fulfilling his duties as the director/editor of Solar Love, EV Obsession, Planetsave, or Bikocity. Zach is recognized globally as a solar energy, electric car, and wind energy expert. If you would like him to speak at a related conference or event, connect with him via social media. You can connect with Zach on any popular social networking site you like. Links to all of his main social media profiles are on ZacharyShahan.com.