TY - RPRT
TI - SafeWave Deliverable 7.1 Societal Response to Wave Energy
AU - Uyarra, M
AU - Menchaca, I
AU - Pouso, S
AU - Bald, J
AU - Zubiate, L
AU - Marina, D
AU - Le Bouhris, E
AU - Soulard, T
AU - Jamet, S
AU - Dunphy, N
AU - Gonçalves, J
AU - Cruz, E
AB - Despite the clear benefits of marine renewable energies (MRE), opposition has often been posed to MRE development projects. This opposition has hindered and even slowed down the process to Europe´s energy transition towards clean energies. Wave energy is, with a bit more than two decades of modern history, at an early stage of development. So far, there is only one wave energy production farm (i.e., Mutriku (Spain)) operating in Europe. Other developments are still in the pilot/prototype phase. This deliverable aims to understand current/potential opposition that wave energy developments may receive in future, especially when expanding this source of energy. To this aim and through “Task 7.1. Societal response to wave energy”, different sources of information (both scientific and social media) have been explored placing special emphasis to content communicated, communicators and target audiences. Outputs of this research indicate that to date, opposition to wave energy is rather limited. It primarily derives from affection on i) existing uses, as they may conflict with wave energy developments, ii) local communities (especially, fishermen), for which the benefits are unclear, and iii) the environment, being the affection on specific ecosystem components not fully known. Despite much of the wave energy information available on the media is produced and communicated by scientists and engineers (which should be considered a reliable source of information and therefore, should not raise concerns), most of the content communicated focus on the drivers, the technological developments and human benefits (supply of energy demand and reduction of CO2 emissions). Little information is available on the potential negative impacts of wave energy projects on the environment, which may raise alarms. Furthermore, the target audiences of the different media sources vary between channels; YouTube, Facebook and Google have a wider audience than Twitter, which may seek a more « professional » audience. A holistic communication approach to wave energies, where it is clear to the audience the drivers and human benefits, but also the social, environmental and economic impacts, as well as the alternatives, may help society to be ocean energy literate and provide this society with tools to better balance the different energy alternatives and reduce potential opposition. Successful solutions and new ones arising from this project are compiled in this deliverable to guide wave energy developments in the future.  
DA - 2021/03//
PY - 2021
SP - 80
PB - AZTI
UR - https://www.safewave-project.eu/project-outputs/
LA - English
KW - Marine Energy
KW - Wave
KW - Human Dimensions
KW - Social & Economic Data
ER -