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Social Acceptance of Renewable Energy

Social Acceptance of Renewable Energy is a research topic within Sociology and Political Science. Science Explorer counts 11k research works in it since 1957. 42.2% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers explores the social acceptance of renewable energy innovation, focusing on public perceptions, community attitudes, and the role of place attachment in the context of wind power and other sustainable energy technologies. It discusses factors influencing acceptance, such as NIMBYism, equity, fairness, and the impact on local communities. The research also delves into the societal and economic implications of renewable energy deployment.

  • Renewable Energy
  • Social Acceptance
  • Public Perception
  • Wind Power
  • Community Attitudes
  • Energy Technology
  • Place Attachment
  • NIMBYism
  • Public Opinion
  • Sustainable Energy
Research works
11k
fractional, since 1957
In the world top 10%
4.5k
per year above
Top-10% rate
42.2%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2013–17 → 2018–22
+45%
the tick is no change

Which countries lead Social Acceptance of Renewable Energy research?

By volume, the United States and China publish the most (426 and 296 works in 2022–2025).

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 United States 426 works
  2. 2 China 296 works
  3. 3 Germany 244 works
  4. 4 United Kingdom 226 works
  5. 5 Spain 127 works
  6. 6 Italy 118 works
  7. 7 Netherlands 108 works
  8. 8 Australia 103 works
  9. 9 France 92 works
  10. 10 Poland 90 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

United States: 23.3%China: 16.2%Germany: 13.3%United Kingdom: 12.4%6 others listed: 34.8%23%largest
United States426 · 23.3%China296 · 16.2%Germany244 · 13.3%United Kingdom226 · 12.4%6 others listed637 · 34.8%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead Social Acceptance of Renewable Energy research?

By volume in 2022–2025, Delft University of Technology publishes the most Social Acceptance of Renewable Energy research, followed by University of Groningen and University of Sussex.

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Delft University of TechnologyNetherlands 18 works
  2. 2 University of GroningenNetherlands 17 works
  3. 3 University of SussexUnited Kingdom 17 works
  4. 4 Technical University of DenmarkDenmark 15 works
  5. 5 Aalborg UniversityDenmark 15 works
  6. 6 RWTH Aachen UniversityGermany 15 works
  7. 7 University College CorkIreland 14 works
  8. 8 Norwegian University of Science and TechnologyNorway 13 works
  9. 9 Aarhus UniversityDenmark 12 works
  10. 10 Utrecht UniversityNetherlands 12 works

Who are the leading researchers in Social Acceptance of Renewable Energy?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Social Acceptance of Renewable Energy include Benjamin K. Sovacool and Linda Steg.

  1. 1 Benjamin K. Sovacool Denmark 2.9k citations
  2. 2 Linda Steg Netherlands 2.4k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

Where is Social Acceptance of Renewable Energy research done?

The largest centres of Social Acceptance of Renewable Energy research in 2022–2025 are Beijing (China), London (United Kingdom), Berlin (Germany) and Paris (France). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Trondheim, Groningen and Delft.

Largest cities, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Beijing China 85 works
  2. 2 London United Kingdom 33 works
  3. 3 Berlin Germany 25 works
  4. 4 Paris France 24 works
  5. 5 Seoul South Korea 24 works
  6. 6 Trondheim Norway 23 works
  7. 7 Washington D.C. United States 22 works
  8. 8 Tokyo Japan 22 works
  9. 9 Delft Netherlands 21 works
  10. 10 Vienna Austria 21 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. TrondheimNO · 23.1 works9.3×
  2. GroningenNL · 20.3 works8.7×
  3. DelftNL · 20.7 works8.6×
← less than its size predictsmore →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Social Acceptance of Renewable Energy than the world average.

See Social Acceptance of Renewable Energy on the map

Where is the best place to study Social Acceptance of Renewable Energy?

Among universities, judged by research, University of Groningen, Technical University of Denmark and University College Cork score highest, combining excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%50%100%mean 50.54%fractional works in this node (log) →share in the world top 10% →University of Groningen: 17, 65.6%Technical University of Denmark: 15, 53.3%University College Cork: 14, 52.0%Delft University of Technology: 18, 45.7%University of Sussex: 17, 39.3%Wageningen University & Research: 10, 74.4%RWTH Aachen University: 14, 47.9%Norwegian University of Science and Technology: 14, 51.1%Aalborg University: 15, 33.9%Utrecht University: 12, 42.2%University of Gronin…Technical University…University College C…Delft University of …
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the table below. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1 University of GroningenNetherlands 92.865.6%11.6×17 +243.7%
2 Technical University of DenmarkDenmark 77.353.3%9.7×15 +133.4%
3 University College CorkIreland 73.252.0%18.9×14 +122.9%
4 Delft University of TechnologyNetherlands 70.345.7%8.7×18 +93.0%
5 University of SussexUnited Kingdom 70.239.3%28.0×17 +122.7%
6 Wageningen University & ResearchNetherlands 69.874.4%9.1×10 +5.5%
7 RWTH Aachen UniversityGermany 61.347.9%6.7×14 +477.2%
8 Norwegian University of Science and TechnologyNorway 58.951.1%8.1×14 +3.6%
9 Aalborg UniversityDenmark 57.033.9%9.4×15 +29.2%
10 Utrecht UniversityNetherlands 56.442.2%7.2×12 +163.7%

Universities only. Score blends excellence (30%), specialisation (25%), size (20%), growth (15%) and international reach (10%), 2015–2022; growth compares 2010–14 with 2015–19.

Is Social Acceptance of Renewable Energy research growing?

Output in 2018–2022 was 45% higher than in 2013–2017, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Social Acceptance of Renewable Energy.

19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon — one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.