Miriam Kerndt Lecture
Doug Bessette, Michigan State University
There’s a lot to love about renewable energy, large-scale wind and solar energy in particular. They generate inexpensive and emission-free electricity, reduce our reliance on fossil fuels, and contribute to community economic development. And yet opposition to these projects is rising across many communities in the US, slowing our energy transition and threatening to derail decarbonization goals. In this talk, I will discuss some of the lesser known and examined drivers of opposition, with a principal focus on community opposition to large-scale solar development in rural and agricultural communities. I will complicate pejorative NIMBY explanations of opposition and argue that many times, in many communities, opposition to aggressive solar development is warranted. Throughout my talk, I will discuss work by graduate and undergraduate students in my lab, as well as ongoing Department of Energy and National Science Foundation-funded projects focusing on community centered renewable energy development.