Title: How to promote renewable energies to the public sphere in Eastern Europe

Authors: Gilbert Ahamer

Addresses: Wegener Centre for Climate and Global Change, Graz University, Austria

Abstract: In order to identify the most crucial and promising strategies to enhance public information for better Renewable Energy Sources (RES) implementation in an Eastern European country (here: Ukraine), two dozen expert interviews were performed with stakeholders from the so-called 'quintuple helix of innovation': Research & University, Civil Society & NGOs, Industry & Enterprises, Governance & Administration and Media. A gap analysis was performed based on the analyses expressed by the Ukrainian interview partners, and a suggestion for the structural improvement of a public RES-oriented website was provided. It was suggested to use the structure of the main obstacles perceived and to build onto this structure how to solve these key obstacles for further RES increases, namely: (1) Financial, e.g. how to obtain suitable and cheap credits; (2) Administrative, e.g. how to master the complex application process; (3) Technological, e.g. types of RES installations and how to choose them; (4) Social, e.g. energy cooperatives; (5) Fact-based information on RES.

Keywords: awareness; renewable energy sources; RES; benefits; needs; information; promote RES implementation; assessment; availability of information; public sphere; barriers for RES; five stakeholder groups; quintuple helix; triple helix; innovation; general population.

DOI: 10.1504/IJGEI.2021.118934

International Journal of Global Energy Issues, 2021 Vol.43 No.5/6, pp.477 - 503

Received: 22 Apr 2020
Accepted: 26 Oct 2020
Published online: 12 Nov 2021 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article