Community Education About Wind Power 2
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Gwen Andersen directs the Renewable Energy Center which aims to educate communities about wind power through various outreach methods including meetings with local groups, conferences, articles, social media and university classes. The guidelines for outreach are to remain positive and avoid controversial topics like climate change or coal criticism. Religious presentations on wind power have been well received, showing potential for interfaith cooperation on renewable energy issues.
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Community Education About Wind Power 2
- 1. Community Education about Wind Power Gwen Andersen,Director
- 2. The Setting
- 5. The Renewable Energy Center
- 6. The Approach Meet with anyone Township supervisors Insurance groups K-12 schools Conferences, expos Newspaper column Facebook www.facebook.com/renewable energycenter YouTube University classes
- 7. The Guidelines Eco-America rocks Never mention climate change Never criticize coal Stay positive at all times Keep it simple
- 10. Thank you Gwen Andersen Renewable Energy Center Saint Francis University 814-472-2873 gsa001@mail.francis.edu www.facebook.com/renewableenergycenter www.francis.edu/rec.htm LinkedIn: Community Wind Network
- 11. Will Religion Work? Franciscan presentation received very well Interfaith Power and Light Pope Evangelicals
Editor's Notes
- Good afternoon. I’m Gwen Andersen, Director of the Renewable Energy Center at Saint Francis University. I wanted to share our experience and approach to community education about wind power.
- The setting: half the population does not believe in climate change and will shut you out if you mention it any criticism of coal is viewed as insulting people's heritagerenewables are hippie liberal nonsense wind turbines are ugly "our mountains" are being destroyed to send power to "those rich people in NJ and NY" (even sophisticated, educated people around here believe that)A wind supporter wrote a letter to the editor suggesting that people consider wind turbines “penance” for our inefficient ways.In addition, there are broader issues. We as a country no longer study math or science or engineering. We as a country are dismissive of science and intellectuals. We choose to believe what we want to believe regardless of evidence. This is pertinent for beliefs about wind power.
- Lot of anger, in ads, in editorials, in community meetingsThere is an organization actively fighting wind energy. They came out with a full paper ad that claims wind power produces small amts of expensive, unreliable electricity is a tax scam is the reason electric rates are going upincreases GHG emissions reduces property values makes people sick oppresses the poor exterminates birds and bats
- From an anti-wind web site in January 2010On May 10, 2010, someone shot at two men working in a nacelle. The shooter used a high caliber rifle. There were acts of vandalism at Gamesa’s Portage wind project. The Adams Township Highland Wind Farm is owned by EverPower Wind Holdings Inc.
- Poor little 401(c)3 Part of Saint Francis University, a Catholic school in a Catholic areaAs part of its Franciscan heritage the school seeks to serve the community and to care for natureThe REC mission is to educate communities about environmentally and economically sound energyThanks to the Department of Energy: Undergraduate RE concentration in our Environmental Engineering program MBA RE concentration, with online classes that can also be taken for a certificate Small hands-on wind turbine class for tradesmen/non-college students this summer Community presentations Anemometer loan projectThanks to the USDA and thePenelec Sustainable Energy Fund Wind resource reports to agricultural producers and small businesses Online county wind maps Free online renewable energy business directoryBeing with a University raises our credibility. Being a Catholic University in this area raises our credibility. Being Franciscan, with the emphasis Saint Francis placed on nature, enhances our credibility.
- Engage our opponents – sometimes you can learn from them. An anti-wind group criticized our previous website for having material from AWEA, an industry association. Now our website only has material from the government. Keep it balanced – if we were to only point out the positives we would lose credibility. When we acknowledge the problems with renewable energy our credibility goes up.
- http://www.ecoamerica.org/docs/ACVS_Summary_FINALweb.pdf American Climate Values SurveyAmericans don’t have the attention span for anything complicated. Complex loses.
- The message I’ve gotten the best response to is “community owned means the community gets the benefit.”Part of the “jobs, jobs, jobs” is to point out not only that wind and solar generate more jobs per unit of electricity but also that coal jobs are clearly on the declineIt is easy in this day and age to believe invisible things hurt us. Most of us have gotten tired of hearing it and simply don’t listen anymore. Some people are truly worried. Explaining the problems with Pierpont’s “study” won’t work because a) its complicated b) people are used to being lied to. The cigarette industry claimed for decades that cigarettes don’t hurt people. Every time we learn that something, like the supposed connection between vaccines and autism, is not true, it encourages us to dismiss alarmism. Every time we learn that something is true, like asbestos and lung cancer, it encourages alarmism. My message is to keep it simple and make sure everyone benefits. People know that fossil fuel hurts people. They know that wind is healthier. They just want whatever we use to be in someone else’s backyard. People who are making money off of wind aren’t worried about the health impacts. Only people who are going to see and hear them but never get a dime are worried about the health impacts. Therefore, developers need to engage in extensive community discussion and education and they need to spread money liberally so everyone benefits from the turbines being there. Use local businesses. This is the great thing about community and small wind and why we all love it so much.
- Most people do not know that Pennsylvania used to have electricity rates 15% higher than the national average. IF they understand rate caps have come off they do not understand why.They believe that nuclear power means cheap energy. They believe renewable energy means more expensive energy.They are not interested in data, facts, evidence, or science. Once you’ve gotten people to have a laugh and feel like they are in the “in-crowd” you can explain why this is the prevalent belief – RECs bought and sold. But this is complicated, so the key thing is to explain why this is not true and line loss is much more understandable than RECs. Focus on the visual and keep your explanation from getting too technical. Likewise, we explain why people believe that wind kills so many birds – when a bird flies into the turbine you see the body. When mining or pollution kills birds, you don’t. Then we put it into context by pointing out that wind actually kills fewer birds than fossil fuel or nuclear. We advocate for energy efficiency. The only energy that has no consequence is the energy you do not use. This is a credible message.
- Do you have questions of me?
- My question for you – 50% of Americans do not believe and are not listening. Is this another venue to reach them, given the authority people accord to their religious leaders? “God gave us this gift, it is our responsibility to take care of it”Counter push in Evangelical circles calling Creation Care a liberal plot to promote Cap and Trade and stating that God gave us dominion over the earth so we can do whatever we want to it.Since I first asked the question I’ve learned that ministers typically do not have the power I thought they had. If they push their flocks too hard in directions they don’t want to go, they are fired.