{"id":686,"date":"2017-01-25T16:41:48","date_gmt":"2017-01-25T21:41:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/l-stires.com\/thinking-slowly\/?p=686"},"modified":"2017-01-25T16:41:48","modified_gmt":"2017-01-25T21:41:48","slug":"the-public-wants-renewables","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/l-stires.com\/thinking-slowly\/the-public-wants-renewables\/","title":{"rendered":"The Public Wants Renewables"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>As President Trump (gulp!) signed executive orders reviving the Keystone XL<\/a> oil pipeline and expediting the Dakota Access pipeline, the Pew Research Center this week released the results of a survey<\/a> of attitudes toward energy development priorities. The survey was conducted on January 4-9 with a representative sample of 1502 U. S. adults.\n

Respondents were asked: \u201cWhich one of the following do you think should be the more important priority for addressing America\u2019s energy supply?\u201d Here are the results:<\/p>\n

The percentage choosing renewables was up from 60% the last time the question was asked, in December 2014.<\/p>\n

There continues to be a large divide<\/a> between Democrats and Republicans on this issue, as shown below. However, it should be noted that there was a virtual tie among Republican and Republican-leaning respondents, with 45% choosing renewable energy and 44% choosing fossil fuels.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The other demographic that produced large differences was age<\/a>, as shown here:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

While\u00a0Trump plans to weaken the power of the Environmental Protection Agency,\u00a0 a Pew survey conducted between\u00a0November 30<\/a> and\u00a0December 5 found that 59% of U. S. adults say stricter environmental laws and regulations are worth the cost, while 34% say they cost too many jobs and hurt the economy.<\/p>\n

It should be noted that attitudes toward renewable energy are much less polarized than attitudes toward climate change<\/a>, where 88% of Democrats and Democrat leaners see climate change as a major threat to our well-being, compared to only 12% of Republicans and Republican leaners. This could mean that Americans have decided\u00a0that investing in renewable energy would be a\u00a0good idea even if the climate were not changing.<\/p>\n

Imagine how many Americans would favor expansion of wind and solar energy if the corporate media were to present accurate information about the costs<\/a> of alternative forms of energy.<\/p>\n

You May also be interested in reading:<\/strong><\/p>\n

China Gets Smart While We Get Stupid<\/a><\/p>\n

Cheap Solar Changes Everything<\/a><\/p>\n

The Cost of Climate Inaction<\/a><\/p>\n<\/body>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"