Issue: Wind

Electricity bills have joined groceries, housing, and health care as a top tier issue in the affordability crisis. Voters broadly support clean energy and view it as one of the few solutions to help lower energy costs.

Extreme weather events like winter storm Fern offer a short window of opportunity when people are seeking information related to climate change. But while most Americans believe we are experiencing more extreme weather, many still don’t see it as driven by climate change. Climate communicators need to help people connect the dots.

Recommendations on how to talk about community power, including the opportunity because voters are fed up with skyrocketing bills and. for-profit utility greed and want solution, and a recommended message that “community power” is cheaper, faster, more efficient.

This Blueprint for Affordable Energy lays out a plan to lower energy bills, confront the climate crisis, and rein in runaway corporate power.

The landscape for clean energy buildout in the US has changed dramatically in the last year. Yet one constant is the ongoing barrage of mis- and dis-information1 from a variety of actors, from industry-backed anti-wind front groups to the President. The narratives and debates continue to evolve, however, and this report collects relevant research and insights from practice from the past 12 months, to provide guidance for anti-disinformation practitioners on two key emerging topics in the clean energy information space:
Affordability: electricity costs and clean energy
Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS)

Views on grid-connected battery energy storage systems (BESS) are positive, but awareness is low: people are at an early stage of learning (and likely thinking) about this emerging technology, and over time opinions could potentially be swayed either way. Results from a national survey and a message test indicate no major opposition to BESS, and support is high after being informed about basic information, though there are some concerns about risks. When asked, people rate grid reliability as the most convincing reason for BESS, followed by its ability to support intermittent renewable energy; BESS’s positive impacts on local economies and lowering utility bills were also convincing. In testing, both high production value videos featuring testimonials from renewable energy workers as well as simpler graphic explainer videos were persuasive.

Salem Alliance for the Environment is a volunteer organization fighting the climate crisis and working for a sustainable future for Salem, MA. This resource documents the development of Offshore Wind and a Community Benefits Agreements (CBA) in Salem.