A new analysis of social media posts unveils a significant shift in public sentiment towards solar energy from 2016 to 2022, showcasing a growing political divide and its implications for sustainable energy policy.
Public support for solar energy, while still substantial, has shown a marked decline and increase in polarization from 2016 to 2022, primarily driven by opposition in Republican-leaning regions. This revelation comes from a new study led by researchers at North Carolina State University and published in the Journal of Computational Social Science.
“The U.S. saw significant growth in the solar energy sector between 2013 and 2022, but that growth has not been spread evenly across the country – some areas have seen more deployment of solar energy technologies than other areas,” corresponding author Serena Kim, an assistant professor of public administration at NC State University, said in a news release.
To understand this phenomenon, the researchers analyzed over 8 million social media posts related to solar energy on a platform previously known as Twitter, spanning nearly a decade. These posts, tagged with location data, were examined to quantify public sentiment toward solar energy through advanced analytical tools.
“We wanted to assess attitudes toward solar energy at both the local and regional level, as well as how those attitudes have changed over time,” Kim added.
The study results indicate that public support for solar energy peaked in 2016, with 65% of posts expressing positive sentiments and only 7% being negative. By 2022, however, public support had decreased to 58%, while negative sentiments rose substantially to 28.4%.
“One of the telling findings here is that the proportion of neutral posts decreased from 41.9% in 2016 to 13.3% in 2022,” added Kim. “This tells us that sentiment toward solar energy has become significantly more polarized.”
Geographically, the study showed stark differences. States like Vermont, Massachusetts, New York, New Mexico and Colorado were the most supportive, while Alabama, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Idaho and North Dakota registered the highest opposition.
“In addition to regional differences, we also found significant differences over time associated with an area’s political preferences,” Kim added. “For example, in 2016, support for solar power in Republican-leaning municipalities was only 2% lower than that in Democratic-leaning municipalities. But by 2022, support for solar power in Republican municipalities was 30% lower.”
Kim emphasized the importance of understanding public sentiment to craft effective policies for expanding cleaner and decentralized energy resources.
“If we are interested in expanding cleaner and decentralized energy resources, we need to understand public sentiment toward technologies like solar energy,” she added. “This work is a step in that direction, offering insight into how that sentiment is changing – and suggestions as to what is driving that change.”
The findings have significant implications for policymakers and advocates seeking to promote sustainable energy solutions. As public opinion increasingly diverges along political lines, strategies to advance solar energy must address these divides to achieve widespread adoption.
The study’s results, including city- and state-level data on public perceptions, are publicly available at here.
Co-authors of the study include Crystal Soderman, a doctoral candidate at the University of Colorado Denver, and Lan Sang, a doctoral student at the University of Colorado Boulder.