Scholar urges change in renewable energy approach

Maria StefanovichPolicymakers would do well to change their approach to “selling” renewable energy by focusing on more than  just the potential environmental good.

So writes Maria Stefanovich, Oregon Sea Grant Malouf Scholar, in an editorial in a recent issue  of Sea Technology Magazine.

Stefanovich cites an Oregon  energy policy survey by researchers at OSU that found strongest support for wave energy development among conservative,  “human values”-centered males – a group not conventionally viewed  as friendly to  “green” projects.

Instead of focusing entirely on the environmental benefits of renewable energy, Stefanovich writes,  “policymakers may be more effective in getting the public to adopt renewable energy more quickly if they leverage the public’s economic bias and stress the socioeconomic benefits that wave energy could provide.”

A native of Bulgaria with degrees in Marketing, Advertising, and Public Relations from the Affiliated Institution of the University of Sheffield in Greece, and   in Business Administration and Southeast European Studies the American University in Bulgaria, Stefanovich came to Oregon State University in 2007 to pursue a PhD in Environmental Science.

She is the 2009 recipient of Sea Grant’s Robert E. Malouf Marine Studies Scholarship.

Read Stefanovich’s editorial in Sea Technology.

Surveys about adapting to changing climate reveal coastal concerns

Coastal officials and owners of coastal property in East and West coast states don’t need to be persuaded that climate change is happening. They believe that both government and individuals should begin taking action now to adapt to expected effects. These are among several insights from surveys conducted in Oregon and Maine by the Sea Grant programs in those states. The surveys, launched in parallel in early 2008, are believed to be the largest studies to date to focus on United States’ coastal populations and the challenge of adapting to the expected effects of coastal climate change, such as a rise in sea level.

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