Most Americans ok with wind and solar farms as neighbors

As clean energy grows, two recent polls suggest that most Americans are comfortable welcoming renewable energy projects into their neighborhoods. A national poll conducted by the University of Maryland in partnership with the Washington Post found that 75% of Americans would be comfortable living near a solar farm, and 68% near a wind farm. Meanwhile, a poll of registered California voters conducted by UC Berkeley’s Institute of Governmental Studies and cosponsored by the L.A. Times found similar trends. 69% of respondents to that poll said they would be comfortable with fields of solar panels in their community and 56% of respondents expressed that they would be comfortable with local wind turbines.

“The more power we harness from the sun and the wind, the sooner we can stop burning fossil fuels. And the sooner, the better,” said Johanna Neumann, Senior Director of the Campaign for 100% Renewable Energy at Environment America Research & Policy Center. “These polling results should give decision-makers at the local, state and national level the confidence to embrace clean energy developments.”