Case study: Wind Energy

Community acceptance still remains a challenge for wind energy projects. The most popular explanation for local opposition, the Not in My Backyard (NIMBY) effect (see week 2), , has received fierce criticism in the past decade. Critics argue that opposition is not merely a matter of selfishness or ignorance, but that moral, ecological and aesthetic values play an important role. In order to better take such values into account, a more bottom-up, participatory decision process is usually proposed. Research on this topic focuses on either stakeholder motivations/attitudes, or their behavior during project implementation.

The paper titled Applying Value Sensitive Design (VSD) to Wind Turbines and Wind Parks: An Exploration by Ilse Oosterlaken  proposes a third research focus, namely the ‘objects’ which elicit certain behavioral responses and attitudes—the wind turbine and parks.  More concretely, this paper explores VSD  as way to arrive at wind turbines and parks that better embed or reflect key values