Perspectives of informed citizen panel on low-carbon electricity

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Perspectives of informed citizen panel on low-carbon electricity portfolios in Switzerland and longer-term evaluation of informational materials Sandra Volken, Georgios Xexakis, and Evelina Trutnevyte Environ. Sci. Technol., Just Accepted Manuscript • DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.8b01265 • Publication Date (Web): 12 Sep 2018 Downloaded from http://pubs.acs.org on September 14, 2018

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Environmental Science & Technology

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Perspectives of informed citizen panel on low-carbon electricity

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portfolios in Switzerland and longer-term evaluation of informational

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materials

4 Sandra P. Volken1, Georgios Xexakis1,2, Evelina Trutnevyte1,2*

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ETH Zurich, CH-8092 Zurich, Switzerland

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Institute for Environmental Decisions (IED), Department of Environmental Systems Science,

Renewable Energy Systems, Institute for Environmental Sciences (ISE), Section of Earth and

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Environmental Sciences, Department of F.-A. Forel for Environmental and Aquatic Sciences,

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University of Geneva, CH-1211 Geneva 4, Switzerland

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* corresponding author (Uni Carl Vogt, Boulevard Carl Vogt 66, CH-1211 Geneva 4,

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Switzerland; +41 22 379 06 62; [email protected])

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ABSTRACT

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Low-carbon transition is gaining momentum, but relatively little is known about the

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public preferences for low- and zero-carbon electricity portfolios given their environmental,

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health, and economic impacts. Decision science literature argues that conventional opinion

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surveys are limited for making strategic decisions because the elicited opinions may be distorted

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by misconceptions and awareness gaps that prevail in the public. We created an informed citizen

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panel (N=46) in Switzerland using technology factsheets, an interactive web-tool Riskmeter, and

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group discussions. We measured the evolution of the panel’s knowledge and preferences from

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initial (uninformed) to informed and longer-term views four weeks after. In terms of energy

ACS Paragon Plus Environment

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transition, our elicited technology and portfolio preferences show strong support for the low-

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carbon electricity sector transition, especially relying on hydropower, solar power, electricity

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savings and efficiency, and other renewable sources. As these informed preferences are

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structurally different from the futures considered by many energy experts, we argue that these

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preferences should also inform the Swiss Energy Strategy 2050’s implementation. In terms of

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methodologies in decision science, our factsheets, Riskmeter, and group discussions all proved

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effective in forming the preferences and improving knowledge, but we also intriguingly found

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that in a longer run the participants tended to revert back to their initial opinions. The latter

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finding opens up multiple new research questions on the longer-term effectiveness of

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informational tools and stability of informed preferences.

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Keywords: public preferences; low-carbon transition; electricity generation; informed citizen

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panel; technology impacts; usability evaluation

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TOC art

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1. Introduction

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The transition to low-carbon electricity generation has gained momentum,1, 2 and it is key

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to achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement to mitigate climate change to well below 2°C3-5.

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Delineating robust pathways for the future in the fields of energy and climate change mitigation

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requires bridging the analytical, factual assessment with the value-laden perspectives of the

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wider public and key stakeholders6-10. In Europe, the wider public is increasingly supporting the

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low-carbon transition as a whole11, 12 and renewable electricity generation in particular13-15. Most

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existing studies to date have compared public preferences for low-carbon electricity generation

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to conventional fossil fuel plants13, 15-17 and hence have found such increasing public support.

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Yet, the contemporary debate in science and among many policymakers is no longer about

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whether to mitigate climate change by switching to low-carbon alternatives, but how exactly to

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do it4. Few studies have investigated the public preferences for low- to zero- carbon electricity

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portfolios because they typically include substantial shares of fossil fuels and only several low-

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carbon alternatives, such as solar, wind, or nuclear power13, 15-17.


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No fundamental change, such as the low-carbon transition, can occur without unintended

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environmental consequences18-21. A solid understanding of the public preferences for low-carbon

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transition pathways should thus account for the multi-dimensional impacts of this transition as

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well. Besides electricity generation costs or life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions16, 22, only a few

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studies have additionally elicited the public’s preferences for trading off other impacts, such as

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local air pollution, supply security, or land use explicitely23,24,25 or implicitly26. Yet, the

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environmental, health, and safety impacts of the low- and zero-carbon technology portfolios are

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much broader: nuclear power and large hydropower carry severe accident risks27, 28, hydropower

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has negative effects on aquatic life21, enhanced geothermal systems could induce seismicity29, 30,

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solar photovoltaic involve hazardous materials and toxic effluents during manufacturing21,

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renewable technologies require more land31, and so on. Relatively little is known about the

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public preferences for such a broader spectrum of environmental, health, and safety impacts of

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the fully low-carbon portfolios. In fact, technologies with often-debated disadvantages, such as

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nuclear power and its accident risk or wind power and its landscape impacts, often appear less

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acceptable than their counterparts. Technical expert communities sometimes assume that, if the

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public was aware that all low-carbon technologies have negative environmental, health and

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economic impacts, more negatively viewed technologies would become more acceptable. There

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is evidence that multi-dimensional information about the pros and cons of low-carbon

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technologies can induce making trade-offs17,18, 20, 23, 32, 33, but this has not been extensively tested.

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Public preferences have mainly been assessed by public opinion surveys11,

13, 25, 32, 34

.

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However, decision science literature argues that the elicited preferences may be biased due to

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various knowledge gaps and misconceptions8, 14, 35, 36. For example, past studies have shown that

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natural gas may be perceived as renewable37, nuclear power as emitting greenhouse gases38, or


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enhanced geothermal systems as potentially causing a volcanic eruption39. Although the

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outcomes of such opinion surveys are useful, they are incomplete guides for strategic long-term

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decision making. The elicited opinions may not be truly consistent with the values of the public,

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as they are distorted by unfamiliarity and misconceptions35. The public may not yet even have

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well-articulated values40 before going through the process of value articulation41 and preference

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formation42. Thus, the preferences measured in conventional surveys might fail to reflect the

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future support for emerging or even existing, less known technologies, for which the public has

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not yet formed stable preferences. If any interventions are to be undertaken to actually shape

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public support43, it is essential to set the well-informed public preferences as a benchmark

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instead of relying only on unrepresentative preferences of experts and policymakers8, 44.

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Previous researchers have adopted various approaches to form and elicit informed public

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preferences for future energy portfolios. Mayer et al.14, 17 have used factsheets providing brief lay

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summaries about individual electricity technologies and their environmental impacts. Such

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factsheets have proved effective in informing the public about medical choices45. Trutnevyte et

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al.20 have also used factsheets, but described full energy portfolios rather than single

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technologies. Mayer et al.17, Bessette et al.22, Pidgeon et al.46, and Demski et al.16 have used

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interactive tools in workshops or on the web, where the involved members of the public could

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create their preferred energy portfolios by combining technologies given various technical,

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resource, and environmental constraints. When tested for usability47, such tools facilitate learning

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about the complexity of the energy transition46 and help elicit more stable preferences47.

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Deliberative workshops14,

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, deliberative opinion polls48, consensus conference49, and focus

groups15, 50 are additional tools that enable learning through group discussions. Although some


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earlier studies have combined several such tools14,

17, 20

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could be gathered on the usability and short- and longer-term effectiveness of these tools47, 51, 52.

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, more empirical evaluative evidence

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With the aim to contribute to the search for robust energy futures as well as to decision

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science literature on investigating the longer-term effectiveness of informational tools by non-

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experts, we created an informed citizen panel (N=46) in the German-speaking part of

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Switzerland to elicit the informed public preferences for low- and zero-carbon electricity

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generation portfolios given information about the multi-dimensional environmental, health, and

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economic impacts. We used technology factsheets, group discussions, and an interactive web-

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tool and empirically evaluated their usability and effectiveness in a series of measurements

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before, during, and after our process47, 53. The choice of creating an informed citizen panel in

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Switzerland is particularly relevant. In May 2017, the Swiss population has approved the

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implementation of the Energy Strategy 205054 in a nation-wide referendum and, for the first time

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worldwide, legitimized a fundamental energy transition based on renewable energy and energy

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efficiency. As the Energy Strategy 2050 sets broad transition goals, its implementation now

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requires further choices on which low-carbon electricity generation technologies to deploy and to

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what extent. Switzerland, thus, already now faces decisions that many other countries will

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hopefully face soon as well.

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2. Materials and methods

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2.1 Procedure

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Based on decision science literature, Figure 1 shows the procedure that was used to create

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the informed citizen panel, follow the formation of its preferences for low-carbon electricity

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portfolios, and to evaluate the informational tools. The participants were recruited throughout


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May 2017 by advertising the study on online platforms and in various public places. The

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advertisement asked the people to register by completing the online survey#0 with demographic

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questions (demographics) and a question on the person’s preference for expanding specific types

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of electricity generation in Switzerland to 2035 (technology preferences; 7-point Likert scale

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from 1=completely disagree to 7=completely agree).

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From 120 people who registered, we selected 55 participants who received an invitation

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to take part in the study. From these 120 people, we first excluded those who worked in the

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energy field in order to have only laypeople. Then, we purposefully sampled these 55

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participants to invite a balanced group in terms of gender, age, living place (urban or rural area),

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and, if possible, education. Using the technology preferences, we ensured that people with as

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broad a range of high, medium, and low support for various technology categories (renewable

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energy, nuclear, import, natural gas, and efficiency) would be invited in order to foster learning

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through different perspectives in group discussions.

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Figure 1. Procedure for creating the informed citizen panel and questions asked per stage

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These 55 participants were invited to complete the online survey #1 with questions on the

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self-rated knowledge about electricity supply (self-rated knowledge, 6 items with 7-point Likert

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scale, available in Supplementary Information (SI)), interest in the topic in general and in the last

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four weeks (self-rated interest, 6 items each with 7-point Likert scale), willingness-to-act on

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energy (willingness-to-act, 7 items with 7-point Likert scale), a knowledge test on electricity

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supply in Switzerland and in general (general energy knowledge; 20 true-or-false questions),

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technology preferences, the respondent’s initial preference for Swiss electricity portfolio

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(portfolio preferences (unrestricted), the respondents had to split 100% of the supply by their

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preferred technologies without any technical, energy resource, or other restrictions), and on the

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most important environmental, health, or economic impacts for evaluating each technology

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(impact ratings).

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The participants then received a workshop invitation letter with printed factsheets on

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electricity technologies and their impacts (Section 2.2) and a request to spend up to an hour

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reading these factsheets. Four workshops that lasted 2.5 hours and involved 8–15 participants

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were organized; the 46 participants that showed up were randomly assigned to these workshops

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and to the two discussion groups within each workshop. The workshops followed a script

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adapted from similar studies14, 17, 50, 55. After an introduction, each participant completed survey

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#2, which tested whether the participants were familiar with and understood the information in

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the factsheets (factsheet knowledge test). Subsequently, the participants discussed the individual

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electricity technologies and their learning from the factsheets in two sub-groups facilitated by a

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moderator. After a 25-minute discussion, the participants completed survey#3 that repeated the


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questions on technology preferences and impact ratings that the participants answered about a

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month ago in survey#1.

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Next, a moderator introduced the interactive web-tool Riskmeter (Section 2.2), where the

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participants could build and submit an electricity supply portfolio for Switzerland in 2035 under

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technical and energy resource constraints (portfolio preferences (Riskmeter)). The participants

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could ask questions about using the Riskmeter, but not about the electricity topics. Afterwards,

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the participants completed survey#4 that included Riskmeter usability test questions, such as

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true-or-false questions about the Riskmeter portfolio they have created and about the Riskmeter

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itself. The participants were then asked to discuss their portfolios in a group for 25 minutes. A

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screen that displayed all initially submitted portfolios was shown to start the discussion. After the

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discussion, the participants could revise their submitted portfolios again (portfolio preferences

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(Riskmeter)) and were asked to rate their satisfaction with their portfolio (satisfaction with the

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Riskmeter portfolio).

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Finally, the participants completed survey#5 that included four identical sets of evaluation

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questions (evaluation of tools, 10 items with 7-point Likert scale, available in SI) for the

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factsheets, Riskmeter, group discussions, and the workshop overall. Four weeks after the

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workshop, they received a link to the last online survey#6 that repeated all questions from

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survey#1 and the questions on the evaluation of tools from survey#5. To answer these questions,

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they did not have access to the factsheets anymore because they were asked to give the factsheets

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back just before the workshops. Forty-five respondents completed survey#6. The participants

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received monetary compensation for their participation.

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2.2 Materials


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Our

informational

factsheets

(available

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English

at

https://portfolio-

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builder.riskmeter.ch/static/basic_riskmeter/pdf/factsheets_en.pdf) described 13 alternatives that

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could contribute to the Swiss electricity mix in 2035: (1) three hydropower types, including large

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dams, large run-of-river, and small hydropower; (2) five new renewable technologies—solar

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cells (photovoltaic), wind, deep geothermal, woody biomass, and biogas; (3) nuclear power (as

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the Energy Strategy 2050 foresees nuclear phase-out in the long-run, only the existing Swiss

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plants were considered, as some of them may still operate to 2035), (4) waste incineration and

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large natural gas power plants (the latter was the only carbon-intensive Swiss source and it was

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included in this study because it is part of the wider Swiss energy debate and because it also

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helps investigating how our participants trade off climate change and other impacts), (5) net

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electricity import from abroad (net on the annual basis), and (6) electricity savings and efficiency

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improvements to reduce the electricity demand.

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Each technology, its current status, resource potential, and environmental, health, and

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economic impacts were described qualitatively and quantitatively on a double-sided A4 paper.

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The impacts included climate change (CO2eq), local air pollution (PM10eq, SOx and NOx), water,

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landscape and land use (m2 of land use), flora and fauna, accidental impacts, resource use and

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waste (kWh of non-renewable energy used for 1 kWh of electricity), electricity costs (Rp. per

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kWh), and electricity supply reliability. The impacts were assess using data from literature21, 56,

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prioritizing the Swiss-specific data as much as possible57,

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explanations for non-experts. The factsheets were accompanied by a glossary and a

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supplementary overview table that applied a five-color indicator system to reflect the severity of

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impacts across technologies. In order to tailor our factsheets to the information needs of our

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participants59, we conducted 12 semi-structured interviews before this study39. In these

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and including qualitative


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interviews, we checked what non-experts know about electricity generation in Switzerland and

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its environmental, health, and economic impacts as well as what awareness gaps and

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misconceptions need to be addresses in the factsheets. The factsheets were reviewed for

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understandability by a public communication specialist.

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In the workshops, we used an interactive web-tool Riskmeter (www.riskmeter.ch, Figure

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2) that we developed to build a Swiss electricity portfolio in 2035 under technology and energy

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resource constraints60. The Riskmeter required the manipulation of electricity produced by each

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technology in TWh/year to meet the Swiss electricity demand of 70 TWh/year in 2035. With the

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exception of nuclear, the technologies that are already built today and will last to 2035 were set

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as the minimum, and the Riskmeter users could not exclude them from their portfolio. In the case

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of nuclear, the minimum was set to zero because the Swiss Energy Strategy 205054 foresees

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stepwise nuclear phaseout in Switzerland to 2035. The maximum potential of each technology

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due to resource or technical constraints was also set and could not be exceeded by the Riskmeter

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users60. If the users aimed to produce more electricity in Switzerland than is needed annually, the

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net export value was calculated. As the participants varied the amount of TWh/year produced by

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each technology, they could also observe the technology shares in the overall portfolio and the

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contribution of individual power plants (the right panel of Figure 2). In contrast to other studies

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that incorporated climate or economic impacts into the interactive portfolio builders14, 33, we

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chose to have information on technology impacts only in factsheets. In this way, we were sure

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that we do not distort the judgements of our participants about which impacts are more important

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and require more attention (see Section 3.5). The Riskmeter has been pretested with energy

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experts as well as non-expert users to optimize its usability.

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Figure 2. Interactive web-tool Riskmeter (www.riskmeter.ch) showing the average preferred portfolio of the informed citizen panel (N=46, survey#5). The means and standard deviations of the individual supply options are as follows: large hydro dams (20.3±1.1 TWh/year), large runof-river hydropower (18.7±1.0 TWh/year), solar cells (11.3±5.7 TWh/year), nuclear (5.0±8.0 TWh/year), small hydropower (4.5±0.9 TWh/year), electricity savings (3.7±2.5 TWh/year), waste incineration (2.7±0.5 TWh/year), wind (2.0±1.5 TWh/year), large natural gas (1.0±2.5 TWh/year), net import (0.9±3.4 TWh/year), deep geothermal (0.8±1.3 TWh/year), biogas (0.7±0.4 TWh/year), woody biomass (0.3±0.3 TWh/year). The red lines mark the minimum of each option for the users (i.e. the technologies are already built and will last to 2035).

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2.3 Participants

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Our 46 participants came from the German-speaking part of Switzerland; 73% lived in

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the canton of Zurich and 48% lived in a medium or large city (over 30,000 or 100,000

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inhabitants, respectively). They were all born in Switzerland and lived here for over 10 years.

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The age of our participants ranged from 18 to 77 years (M=42.1, SD=16.6; median=44); thus our

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participants were slightly younger than the general Swiss population (M=41.37 years)61. 50 %

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were female, similar to the Swiss gender ratio of 50.9%61. 66.7% had graduated from high school

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(the Swiss Matura), and 40% had completed at least a bachelor’s degree at a university; our


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participants were therefore better educated than the Swiss average of 11.6% with high school

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graduation and 16.9% with a bachelor’s degree at a university62. Most importantly, as discussed

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in Section 2.1, our informed citizen panel was not set up to be representative, but rather to be as

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diverse as possible in demographics and initial technology preferences.

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3. Results and discussion

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3.1 Initial, informed and longer-term preferences consistently show support for

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renewable electricity and efficiency

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Figure 3 shows the evolution of technology preferences elicited from our participants

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before the study (survey#1), after reading factsheets and a group discussion (survey#3), and in

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the longer term four weeks after the workshops (survey#6). The preferences per discussion group

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are provided in the SI. The initial, informed, and longer-term preferences indicate a strong

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preference of the participants for both solar cells and electricity savings and efficiency. This

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findings is consistent with previous research in Switzerland6, 20. For solar cells, the technology

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ratings decreased significantly (t=3.122, p=0.003) after participants read the factsheets and

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discussed them, but four weeks after the workshop the preferences returned closer to the initial

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values (t= –2.379, p=0.022 between survey#3 and survey#6). For electricity savings and

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efficiency, the initial preferences in survey#1 increased even more in survey#3 after the

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factsheets and group discussion (t= –2.916, p=0.006). Similar to solar cells, the factsheets had a

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(positive) short-term effect only as the preferences dropped again closer to initial values four

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weeks after the workshops (t= 2.367, p=0.022 between survey#3 and survey#6).


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Figure 3. Measured technology preferences in terms of respondents’ view of expanding specific types of electricity generation in Switzerland to 2035 (7-point Likert scale, 1=completely disagree to 7=completely agree). Statistically significant differences (p

Perspectives of informed citizen panel on low-carbon electricity

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