Regarding sections 2.2 and 3.1, media has definitely played a role and will continue to play a role in how the public perceives renewable energies. With an increased awareness in climate change (whether you believe in it or not) over the past 10 years, the media has helped shaped the perception of many publics. It could be argued that different medias and corporations are perhaps framing the issue of renewable energy in different ways. Of course most companies invested in coal, natural gas, and oil are still pushing towards the use of these fossil fuels to meet the energy demand, but for the most part I would say that the media has framed the issue of renewables in a positive way and something that must be done immediately. This urgency of a renewable energy supply is confirmed by the government's renewable portfolio standards that I mentioned earlier. I could definitely see that an open dialogue between the public and engineers in the energy industry would push the renewable industry in the direction needed.
You are right about the positive framing that has been set up for renewable energy. I also think that there has been, in the past, negative framing about similar topics. For instance, nuclear power has seen a lot of opposition in the U.S. The Three Mile Island and Chernobyl incidents have inspired fear in many. Yet France still continues to use nuclear power as a major source of energy to power their grid. Recently, though, I think that the U.S. has started to think of nuclear as a viable alternative rather than a caged monster. Nice reference to the reading.
ReplyDeleteA great post, and I agree you're right about positive framing for renewables, and you've incorporated the reading in a smooth way here--well done. More on this sort of discussion on the blog, please.
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