WSL takes social factors into account when choosing a location for renewables
Researchers from the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL) and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich want to include social factors in the site selection for renewable energy. Until now, technical and economic factors have been decisive.
Researchers from the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research(WSL), the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich(ETH) and the Vienna University of Technology have developed an innovative approach to selecting sites for renewable energy plants. According to a WSL press release, they are moving away from traditional methods that primarily take technical and economic factors into account. The new approach was developed by lead author Boris Salak (WSL/Vienna University of Technology) and his colleagues Felix Kienast and Marcel Hunziker (WSL) as well as Adrienne Grêt-Regamey, Ulrike Wissen Hayek and Reto Spielhofer (ETH).
The study shows that different planning priorities entail different spatial, environmental and social costs, lead author Boris Salak is quoted as saying. “We have found that there is no one ‘right’ planning priority, but that this is a process of weighing up priorities. We see that optimisation according to social aspects is a good compromise between the other two priorities.” This optimisation brings the highest acceptance and is spatially as effective as optimisation according to energy efficiency.
In a representative survey throughout Switzerland, participants were shown two scenarios. The pictures showed wind turbines, photovoltaic systems on roofs or in open spaces and high-voltage power lines. Respondents were asked to decide which image was most appealing to them or whether none of the energy scenarios shown appealed to them.
According to the WSL, the population clearly favours the agricultural Central Plateau over near-natural landscapes for the development of energy landscapes.