Living near a wind farm: its psycho-socio-enviromental impact, perception and evalutation

RAFAELLA LENOIR IMPROTA; ENRIC POL; OLGA PERALTA

Leipzig

Conferencia; International Association People-Environment Studies - Conference; 2010

International Association People-Environment Studies

<!-- /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0cm; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:PT-BR; mso-fareast-language:PT-BR;} @page Section1 {size:595.3pt 841.9pt; margin:2.0cm 2.0cm 2.0cm 2.0cm; mso-header-margin:35.45pt; mso-footer-margin:35.45pt; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> Wind power is a clean source of energy which replaces fossil fuels – responsible for climate changes. Hence the wide acceptance of wind energy production and its positive social evaluation. However, there are places in which wind farms sitings are not easily accepted by the nearby community. There is often controversy and public opposition, especially due to economic implications or interference in symbolic, identity or emotional aspects of the population where the wind farm will be placed.   The very existence of conflicts or any other problems concerning wind farm acceptance, reveals the importance of considering the psycho-social aspects involved in the implementation of renewable energy projects; these aspects being generally overlooked by environmental management. Almost all the literature on wind farms acceptance comes from developed countries. The only known  study about this issue in South America was conducted by this author in their master thesis and its findings conclusively oppose previous European studies. Neither NIMBY (not in may backyard) effects nor any other kind of ressistance were found, even when there were no benefits for the nearby inhabitants nor any kind of interaction betweeen them and the wind farm.    The aim of this research is to analyse the quantity and quality of information about wind energy, how wind farms are perceived by nearby communities and their possible socio-environmental impact in other country of South America, Argentina. The study also compares  places in which wind farms have already been  set up with others which will host a wind farm in the near future.  Participants labelled as “Community A” are residents of a community  near a wind farm. On the other hand, participants labelled as “Community B” are inhabitants of a place near the site of a wind farm which will be soon set up. The investigation is in its first phase of implementarion; for this reason the field work phase has not yet started. The field work comprises three stages. In the first stage, the physical, administrative, social and symbolic boundaries of the communities selected for the study will be delimited. In the second,  children’s  point of view on the wind farm will be analysed, both in community “A” and in community “B”. By  the use of “autophotography technique”, children between 9 and 12 years old, will be asked to photograph the places they like the most and the places they like the least in their community. Once the photographs are developed, the children will be individually interviewed and, after that, the photographs will be displayed in panels for a group interview. In the third stage, individual semi-structured interviews will be conducted with the adult population of both communities. These interviews will be guided by the use of photographs in order to stimulate the interviewee narrative. Such a strategy is adopted considering the informational richness of a graphic/non-verbal stimulus. Whenever appropriate, will be use some the photographs produced by the children. Concerning data analysis in phase two, both the content present in the photos as well as the photographic process will be analysed, placing the emphasis on the places chosen by children as the ones they like the most and the ones they like the least and whether the wind farm is present among   these photos in community A, or the site for the wind farm in community B. Both, for stage two and three, the interviews will be analysed classifying the content in axes (big themes) according to the themes. After that, the data will undergo another process of classification in order to create categories for content analysis. All in all, the results of this research may contribute to delineate a profile of the socio-environmental impact of wind farms constructions in South America, and may also help to prevent and minimise their negative effect.