Study: 75% Of Americans Support Solar Panels On Public Lands

The Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) released new national polling data showing that 75 percent of those surveyed support the development of solar energy plants on public lands. The poll was conducted by Gotham Research Group. Solar industry and environmental leaders, as well as Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords (AZ-8th) and pollster Jeff Levine joined SEIA President Rhone Resch on a call to discuss the results.

“The polling data we are releasing today confirms what we already knew,” said SEIA President and CEO Rhone Resch. “The American public overwhelming supports the development of solar energy. It is time for our elected officials to respond to this high public demand and enact policies that allow solar to compete with other energy sources on a level playing field.”

The survey also revealed that solar power was the top choice (38 percent) as the best use of public land. Respondents also selected solar farms and wind power (22 percent each) as the top energy sources that the government should prioritize for support, beating out natural gas (16 percent), nuclear (16 percent), oil (11 percent) and coal (4 percent).

“When Americans talk about solar energy, they usually envision rooftop systems, which are great. But it’s important to also realize the significant role that utility-scale solar has to play. Large solar installations use economies of scale to achieve significant cost savings and help Americans to get the most solar ‘bang for the buck.’ It’s great to confirm that the rest of America is just as excited about utility solar as we are,” said Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ).

“We have seen what utility-scale solar such as the eSolar Sierra SunTower project can do. We know that solar energy can be generated cleanly, reliably and with a stable fuel price,” said Marc Ulrich, Vice President of Renewable & Alternative Power, Southern California Edison. “Solar is California’s great untapped renewable resource.”

The industry leaders also discussed the promising outlook for utility-scale solar in the U.S. Five new pilot plants came on line in 2009 and there are more than 100 utility-scale solar projects under development. These projects represent more than 17 gigawatts of capacity, enough to provide clean power to 3.4 million households and to create more than 100,000 American jobs.

“The sun provides more energy in an hour than all the coal mines and oil wells do in a year. This solar energy is limitless and pollution free,” said Sean Garren, Clean Energy Advocate, Environment America. “Solar energy will play a major role in weaning the nation from dangerous, polluting, unstable and, in many cases, increasingly expensive forms of energy. America can and must figure out how to tap the heat and power of the sun.”

The findings of the survey are based on polling conducted from February 24 through February 26, 2010, among a representative sample of 500 U.S. adults, age 18+. The margin of error on the total sample of 500 is +/- 4.4 percent.

seia.org