OCTOBER 2004

Groups Hone Clean Energy Messaging

By Kathy Belyeu
AWEA Staff

lthough we now know where the general public stands on all things political, those involved in the wind industry may still be interested in hearing what the general public thinks and feels about renewable energy.

SmartPower, a non-profit marketing organization created by five private foundations and the Connecticut Clean Energy fund, has coordinated some consumer research into what the general public feels about renewable energy technologies, such as wind and solar power. Briane Keane, SmartPower’s executive director, explained the research findings in a presentation at the Ninth National Green Power Marketing conference held in early October in Albany, N.Y. The answers may be somewhat surprising to those in the industry.

Take the phrase, “renewable energy,” for instance. Is that the best way to describe electricity produced from wind and solar power? In a survey of 1,000 Americans across the country, the researchers found that Americans aren’t very familiar with that term. Survey responders were asked which term best describes electricity generated by sources such as wind and water. The term that won the most responses (32%) was “natural energy.” “Clean energy” came next with 28%. Fifteen percent preferred “alternative energy”; 12% preferred the term “renewable energy”; and only 4% preferred the term “green energy” and “green power.” Because of a potential confusion between “natural energy” and “natural gas,” the researchers concluded that “clean energy” works best for a broad audience.

Using focus groups, the researchers tried to get a better understanding of what emotions consumers felt about “clean energy.”

First, participants were asked to write an “obituary” for fossil fuels to gauge how urgently people felt a need to use cleaner technologies. The researchers were somewhat surprised to find that people were far less critical of fossil fuels than most clean energy advocates would imagine. Most people identified them with the warmth, comfort, and pleasure that they can bring to our modern lives. They clearly saw pollution and dependence on foreign sources of energy as problems, but thought that they were necessary evils because there was not a reliable alternative. Clean energy was seen as “eccentric” with “kinks to work out.”

Next, to get an idea of what participants understood about clean energy, they were asked to draw pictures of what a clean energy world would look like. The most surprising finding from that exercise was that most people put the date of that fictitious world far into the future, one as far out as 2525. Researchers concluded from this exercise that people were familiar with wind and solar technologies, but did not perceive them as ready now to make a significant contribution.

When showed a series of ad-like images, the messages that seemed to trigger the most positive reactions came from ads that emphasized that clean energy was powerful, real, and closer than you think. The TV ads that the campaign ran in Rhode Island are available at http://www.smartpower.org/clean_energy_marketing.html .

The researchers found that selling clean energy on its environmental attributes isn’t working well. Although Americans agreed protecting the environment was important, it was an old message. People were also afraid that using clean energy would require sacrifices.

The researchers concluded that consumers already know that clean energy is better for our health and better for the environment. Advocates now need to start working on convincing them that it is ready now to be a viable alternative to traditional energy sources.

SmartPower is coordinating the Clean Energy advertising campaign to increase public awareness of clean energy. The Clean Energy campaign and logo were developed as part of a collaborative effort among several states – Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania – working under the auspices of the Clean Energy States Alliance (CESA). For more information on CESA, go to http://www.cleanenergyfunds.org. For more information about this research, contact SmartPower at e-mail info@smartpower.org, or phone (860) 249-7040.

In addition to SmartPower’s resources, AWEA and a number of other groups have produced informational resources to help make explaining the benefits of clean energy easier:

• AWEA’s main messaging document begins with the phrase, “wind power is a reality today.” It goes on to list the main benefits of using more wind power, the policies that AWEA supports, and recent market growth statistics. The full document is available in AWEA’s newsroom at http://www.awea.org/pubs/factsheets/WindEnergyBasics2004-06-18.pdf.
   

• Companies and organizations awarded for their leadership can serve as case studies for effective clean energy purchasing and marketing. Information about what each of these people or organization did to merit their award is available in the Awards program booklet, which is available for download at http://www.epa.gov/greenpower/pdf/2004awards.pdf.
   

• In order to help utilities large and small navigate their way through the green power market, AWEA has published the “Green Pricing Resource Guide,” designed to introduce power providers to all the concepts they need to be aware of to create a successful green pricing program. The guide was funded through the Department of Energy and written by Ed Holt and Meredith Holt. The guide provides the case for why a utility would want to create a green pricing program, including satisfying customers and shareholders, educating customers and utilities themselves, improving environmental performance, and promoting electricity price stability, as well as meeting state requirements. It then goes through the nuts and bolts of creating a program, examining how to acquire the renewable supply, how to price and market it, and finally, how to retain customers and evaluate the program. It looks in detail at what has worked – as well as what hasn’t – for other green pricing programs. The main focus of the guide is on green pricing programs, although most of the insights apply or can be adapted to green power marketing in restructured markets, and to a lesser extent to renewable energy certificates. It is now available on AWEA’s Web site at: http://www.awea.org/greenpower/greenPricingResourceGuide040726.pdf. AWEA is proud to add the guide to its growing collection of information on green power, available at http://www.awea.org/greenpower/index.html.
   

• The Guide to Purchasing Green Power has been published as a joint product of the DOE’s Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Green Power Partnership, the Sustainable Enterprise Program of the World Resources Institute (WRI), and the Green-e Renewable Energy Certification Program administered by the Center for Resource Solutions (CRS). The collaborators expect it to be useful to businesses, government agencies, universities, and organizations that want to diversify their energy supply and reduce the environmental impact of their electricity use. The Guide incorporates advice from dozens of experts, including facilities and energy managers, buyers, and researchers. It describes environmental benefits and provides organizations with guidelines on how to procure green power and understand green power product certification and verification. Finally, sections of the Guide describe how organizations can approach the development of on-site renewable power generation. For agencies of the federal government that are trying to achieve an aggressive renewable-energy goal, the Guide summarizes the guidelines and procurement rules they must follow in buying green power. Download the full report at http://www.epa.gov/greenpower/pdf/purchasing_guide_for_web.pdf

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