Simone Carr-Cornish

Exploring the acceptance of a domestic distributed energy market in Australia

A distributed energy system involves the use of small local power generators to supplement or replace the centralised domestic electricity supply. The widespread adoption of small local power generators presents a path for early action on climate change by reducing the emissions associated with a centralised fossil fuel electricity system. A strong potential influence on the emergence of a domestic distributed energy market in Australia is the willingness of the public to accept distributed generation. To study the potential acceptance of distributed energy we considered the environmental concern and consumer technology adoption literature. We then surveyed 706 householders from four Australian states during 2007. Our analysis of these data pointed to the publics willingness to accept the use of distributed generators, identified attitudinal and demographic characteristics related to higher acceptance, and assessed preferences regarding the technologys features. These findings provide a basis for understanding the behaviour of the public in the advent of a domestic distributed energy market. Implications are presented for decision-makers involved with domestic distributed energy and for researchers of products that have both environmental and technological characteristics.

An Application of Social Science to Inform the Stakeholder Engagement of an Emerging Geothermal Industry in Australia

At the peak of geothermal energy development in Australia, government policy suggested geothermal energy would be a greater part of Australia’s energy supply. As the geothermal industry emerged, social scientists at Australia’s national science agency conducted a series of studies to explore perceptions of this industry. This chapter outlines the history and potential of the geothermal resource in Australia, the rationale and main findings of three social science studies conducted and their implications for building the industry’s capacity for stakeholder engagement. Specifically, the three studies identified: (1) the industry’s perspective of its social licence; (2) the representation of the technology in the news media; and (3) community perceptions. While the Australian geothermal industry has stalled due to economic and technical challenges, the social science studies presented in this chapter offer relevant insights for other emerging geothermal or energy industries, globally.

A case study of farming in Australia’s high rainfall zone: exploring past and future potential farming intensification and biodiversity management

This case study explored the intentions of farmers to intensify their farming in Australia’s high rainfall zone (HRZ). The zone spans across eastern Australia and small portions of South Australia and south-western Western Australia. The zone supports both high farming productivity and significant biodiversity, and has the potential for future intensification. The research aim was to identify past and future planned changes to farming intensification, the motivations for such changes and the existing approaches for conserving biodiversity. Seventeen farmers were interviewed from across the zone’s three regions. These interviews afforded in-depth exploration of intensification from a perspective that was scarce in the literature. The interviews indicated that the majority of farmers had increased cropping over the last five years, whereas both cropping and the grazing of sheep were likely to increase over the next five years. Farmers reflected a strong commitment to biodiversity conservation initiatives, although the ability to carry out these initiatives was reported to be contingent on resources that were constrained during land use change and intensification. Given that such change brings both biodiversity conservation opportunities and threats, these findings can inform agricultural extension and policy that is concerned with the intensification of farming in the HRZ.