Explanations for Wind Turbine Installations: Local and Global Environmental Concerns in the Central Corridor of the United States?

Abstract

Even where physical conditions appear perfectly suited for wind power production, there is significant variation in the number of turbines installed. This pattern suggests that physical conditions are a pre-requisite for, but not a determinant of, that production. This study reports the results of an analysis of the county-level correlates of wind power installations in the north–south corridor of the central United States, which contains much of the country’s greatest land-based wind resources. This study focuses on the relative effects of social capital, global climate change concern, and local biodiversity, while controlling for other potential explanations that previous research has identified as leading to support for or to opposition to turbine installation. We find (1) that greater local biodiversity is associated with fewer turbine installations; (2) that the percent of the public who believe humans are causing climate change is not associated with the number of installed turbines; and (3) that a higher degree of county-level social capital is associated with fewer installations. These findings suggest the predominance of local considerations over global ones when it comes to the actual siting of turbines.

Keywords

• wind power
• turbine installation
• social capital
• globalist
• localist worldview