Survey results released on February 27 by Boulder, Colorado-based Pike Research (News - Alert) demonstrate that U.S. consumer support for clean energy concepts — ranging from renewable energy to alternative fuel vehicles to smart grid technologies — has declined significantly since 2009. The one sector showing continuing, if minimally lower, favorability is solar energy generation, which has broad acceptance among all demographics.

Is the U.S. public losing confidence in the ability of both government and industry to build the nationwide infrastructure necessary to support clean energy? Or is the dwindling interest in green technology attributable to Republican campaign rhetoric as the 2012 presidential election approaches? Or could it simply be a case of inertia?

In a poll of more than 1,000 U.S. adults conducted during the fourth quarter of 2011, the cleantech market intelligence firm found that the average percentage of consumers with an "extremely" or "very" favorable view of 13 clean energy concepts has declined significantly — from 50 percent in 2009, to 45 percent in 2010, to 43 percent in 2011.

Among the 13 clean energy concepts, biofuels suffered the most precipitous decline in favorability, dropping 17 points from 56 percent in the 2009 edition of the Pike Research survey to 39 percent by 2011. Favorability ratings of smart grid and clean coal were tied for the second largest decline, each falling 10 points over the two-year period.

Specifically, the percentage of survey respondents stating that they had either a "very favorable" or "favorable" view for each of the 13 concepts in 2011 were as follows:

-       Solar energy: 77 percent

-       Wind energy: 71 percent

-       Hybrid vehicles: 61 percent

-       Electric cars: 55 percent

-       Natural gas cars: 51 percent

-       Clean coal: 42 percent

-       Nuclear power: 40 percent

-       Biofuels: 39 percent

-       Smart meters: 38 percent

-       Smart grid: 37 percent

-       Carbon offsets/credits: 19 percent

-       LEED certification: 18 percent

-       Cap and trade: 14 percent

Carbon offsets/credits garnered the largest percentage of "strongly unfavorable" or "somewhat unfavorable" views from survey participants, with a 25 percent unfavorable rating; followed closely by nuclear power with a 23 percent unfavorable rating; and cap and trade, with a 22 percent unfavorable rating.

LEED Certification, the green building certification program administered by the U.S. Green Building Council, suffered from a very low level of familiarity among respondents: Forty-five percent were unfamiliar with the program— the lowest level of familiarity of any of the 13 energy and environment concepts.

Solar energy garnered both the highest percentage of favorable opinions (77 percent) and the lowest percentage of unfavorable opinions (six percent) among the 13 energy and environmental concepts included in the survey. The high levels of favorable impressions across gender, income, education, and age segments suggest that it enjoys widespread appeal from the mass market. Moreover, solar energy also received the smallest percentage of “neutral” (14 percent) and “not sure/not familiar” (four percent) responses.

With a majority of respondents (47 percent) indicating a “very favorable” impression, solar energy

represents one of the least controversial green technologies in the eyes of consumers. Pike Research attributes the high level of consumer acceptance to the relatively long history of solar energy in the market, its variety of applications, and the non-intrusive nature of most solar technologies — including photovoltaic (PV) panels.

Only slightly less popular than solar energy, wind energy was viewed as either “favorable” or “very favorable” by 71 percent of respondents. Similarly, wind energy was second only to solar energy in terms of the smallest percentage of unfavorable responses (five percent). Pike Research asserts that consumers consider these two renewable energies to be important pieces in the power generation portfolio of the future.

Also similar to solar energy, behavioral segmentation analysis shows that monthly spending on electricity has less of an impact on a respondent’s attitude toward wind power than does their rate of uptake for new technologies.

After the two renewable energy concepts (solar power and wind energy), hybrid vehicles received the highest percentage of favorable responses (62 percent). Hybrid vehicles also received the second fewest “not sure/not familiar” responses among all 13 concepts covered in the survey (four percent). With a majority of favorable responses, only 10 percent unfavorable responses, and a low incidence of unfamiliarity, hybrid vehicles are another widely accepted clean technology among consumers.

In general, consumer opinions on hybrid vehicles appear fairly ubiquitous within the mass market. As expected, those respondents who categorized themselves as early adopters of new technologies held more positive views of hybrid

vehicles while those who described themselves as laggards held less favorable opinions. In addition, respondents with electric bills ranging from $100 to $200 held more favorable opinions of hybrid vehicles.

Favorable views on biofuels were less common than for any other clean transportation concept. Similar to the clean coal concept, the percentage of neutral and unfamiliar responses was almost as high as that of favorable responses. However, with 39 percent favorable and only 9 percent unfavorable responses, consumers appear to have a fairly positive impression of biofuels.

Among all of the clean energy concepts covered, nuclear power is the most controversial to consumers—not a surprise in light of the damage to the Fukushima Daiichi (No. 1) and Fukushima Daini (No. 2) nuclear plants in Japan resulting from an 8.9-magnitude earthquake and tsunami in March 2011. Of the clean energy concepts, nuclear energy received the smallest percentage of favorable responses (40 percent). Moreover, nuclear power garnered the largest percentage of unfavorable responses (23 percent) among all 13 concepts covered in the survey, and it inspired the largest percentage of neutral responses (29 percent).

A full copy of the Pike Research's white paper, Energy & Environment Consumer Survey, is available for free download on the firm's website.