Renewable Energy Adoption and Natural Disasters in the United States
Abstract
This research investigates the hypothesis that states within the United States which have experienced a greater number of major natural disasters are more likely to adopt renewable energy systems. Research in adoption and diffusion, adaptive management, community resilience and natural hazards provides a theoretical understanding for this hypothesis. These fields support the idea that direct experiences can shape how individuals perceive risk(Dominicis, et al., 2014), adapt to change (Mase, et al., 2016), view pro-environmental political policies (van der Linden, 2015), and influence behavior (Rudman et al., 2013). The research also suggests experiences with natural disasters could lead to higher rates of renewable energy adoption as an adaptive mechanism that improves energy security, community resilience and mitigates long-term natural disaster risk (Park, et al., 2013). Physical realities also connect renewable energy adoption and disaster experience wherein the destruction of existing infrastructure provides the opportunity to improve community resilience by shifting energy sourcing to decentralized and renewable technologies. In addition to the social and physical realities that accompany natural disaster events, individuals and communities participating within an adaptive cycle may act in ways that mitigate future losses. The results of global and spatial regression analysis support the hypothesis that major natural disaster events appear to be an important factor that works within a complex society-energy system to increase the adoption of renewable energy.
Keywords
Renewable energy, Natural disasters, Energy resilience, Energy adoption