Abstract
Ocean renewable energy, while to date a small piece of the renewable energy transition, will likely play a larger role in meeting energy needs in the coming decades. While offshore wind has so far been the primary focus of ocean-based renewable energy siting, other technologies like wave energy are of potential interest. However, achieving a renewable energy transition, particularly in democratic societies, is difficult without public support, and renewable energy projects – including ocean-based renewables – are facing opposition, often from locally affected communities. To address opposition to renewable energy projects, we must first understand public perceptions of renewable energy. Using survey data from U.S. West Coast respondents on their views of wave energy (n = 2999), we offer a method of clustering views on wave energy according to responses across a variety of survey questions (i.e., support, familiarity, risk and benefit perceptions). We find five perspectives among our respondents: Cautious (34%), Disengaged (24%), Advocate (19%), Neutral (14%), and Concerned (8%). Using multinomial logistic regression, we then explore relevant factors shaping these perspectives, including sociodemographics, place attachment, and perceptions of decision-making processes. Our findings have implications for future communication around ocean renewable energy but also present a new approach to understanding perceptions of energy development that could be applied to other technologies. The clustering approach allows more nuance than conventional support-opposition binaries and could help explain the social gap between broad support for renewable energy but local opposition to specific projects.