Abstract
Marine energy has emerged as a viable solution to the dual challenges of meeting rising energy demands and reducing carbon emissions, but renewable and non-renewable energy projects have long faced challenges related to legitimacy and public buy-in, which are crucial for success. To avoid obstacles like skepticism, opposition, or derailment, the introduction of technologies to harness energy from ocean waves, currents, and tides requires an understanding of political, social, and cultural contexts. Through a survey of North Carolina residents, this study assessed support for marine energy development and its potential drivers. In addition to attitudes and demographic factors, this assessment examined the roles of foundational values, beliefs about the ocean, and expectations about marine energy. Residents expressed support for marine energy at both the state and national levels. Like other renewable energy sources, there was stronger support for development at the national level than state level. Greater perceived benefits, weaker perceived risks, greater importance of ocean values, and stronger conservative political orientations were associated with support for marine energy suggesting reliance on value ideologies, symbolic interpretations of the ocean, and perceptions of impacts to assess the need for marine energy installations. Findings underscore how, in the current nascent stage of the U.S. marine energy industry, pre-existing and deeply held beliefs and values are important to how people think about its introduction. Understanding the breadth and depth of beliefs and values and designing engagement processes that speak to them will be critical components of the industry's quest for social acceptance.