Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
as key justiications for facilitating a transition away from conventional
energy sources. However, clearly these costs were signiicantly under-
estimated when the technologies were becoming entrenched in these
nations; otherwise, the investments would not have been made in the
irst place.
Second, the general public tends to add a risk premium to new tech-
nologies. As an example, the blossoming wind power program in Canada's
province of Ontario has suddenly encountered severe public resistance
stemming from fears that the noise of turbines can have adverse psycho-
logical repercussions for humans and animals. hese fears continue to be
perpetuated despite studies released by the Canadian government that such
fears are unfounded.
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hese two observations are broadly supported by research from Nobel
laureate Daniel Kahneman and colleagues who contend that an endow-
ment efect exists which causes individuals to place a higher value on things
that they already possess.
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his can partially explain why the majority of
citizens in nations such as Japan and France continue to support nuclear
power in spite of the global alarm caused by the Fukushima disaster. It does
not, however, explain why a nation like Germany—in contrast to Japan
and France—would turn its back on nuclear power.
Shedding light on this anomaly requires deeper understanding of other
forces that inluence risk assessment. In addition to the endowment efect,
risk assessment is inluenced by factors such as aluence, the perceived
availability of substitute technologies, education, media practice, and social
norms. Aluence tends to make societies more risk-averse, because there's
more to lose. he perceived lack of substitute technologies makes groups
more risk-tolerant, as exempliied by Japan's continued support for nuclear
power. Education can either enhance risk tolerance or enhanced risk aver-
sion toward a given technology, depending on the nature of knowledge
being imparted. he manner in which the media reports on issues inlu-
ences risk perception. Liberalized media markets exhibit a greater diver-
sity of opinion, thereby better informing the general public as to the risks
of each technology. Social norms also inluence a society's perspectives on
risk. As Geert Hofstede postulates, some societies are simply more risk tol-
erant than others.
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he key insight for policymakers in regard to analyzing public support for
incumbent and competing energy technologies is that a host of complex fac-
tors conlate to inluence risk perception. For example, in risk-averse Japan,
prior to the Fukushima disaster nuclear power risk tolerance was cultivated
through a conservative media that rarely contested government policy,
three decades of disaster-free nuclear power operation, and government
