The impact of Offshore Wind on human well-being

Two new research reports available from The Crown Estate

 These reports may be downloaded from The Crown Estate website at:

http://www.thecrownestate.co.uk/energy-and-infrastructure/research/energy-research/reports/

Summary

Two new reports, the ‘Understanding the Impacts of Offshore Wind on Well-being’ and ‘Public Perceptions of Offshore Wind Farms’ have been published.

The two linked research reports represent the outcomes from a study commissioned by The Crown Estate from Plymouth Marine Laboratory (PML). The first report explores the positive and negative impacts arising from the UK offshore wind industry in terms of well-being. The emphasis is placed on objective measures of well-being relating to material living conditions, such as personal income and jobs, and issues relating to quality of life, such as health. The framework developed in this work combines a five capitals model and an ecosystem services approach with the Office for National Statistics well-being domains. The five capitals included are: financial, manufactured, human, social and natural capital. Governance is added as a structure in which decisions about the five capitals are made, but it is also an important driver of well-being.

The investigation described in the second (subsidiary) report had three main aims:

1) to understand public perceptions of OWFs in UK waters and their impacts on individual well-being.

2) to examine the potential role for OWFs in the UK’s energy mix.

3) to identify the perceived barriers to further OWF development.

Despite the lack of relevant data in some areas, the study concludes that, on balance, the offshore wind industry has a largely positive impact on well-being.

The suggested citations for the two reports are as follows:

Hattam, C., Hooper, T. and Papathanasopoulou, E. 2015. ‘Understanding the Impacts of Offshore Wind Farms on Well-Being’, The Crown Estate, 77 pages, ISBN: 978-1-906410-65-0

Hattam, C., Hooper, T. and Beaumont, N. 2015. ‘Public Perceptions of Offshore Wind Farms’, The Crown Estate, 50 pages, ISBN: 978-1-906410-66-7

The reports may be downloaded from The Crown Estate website at:

http://www.thecrownestate.co.uk/energy-and-infrastructure/research/energy-research/reports/

For further information contact:

Prof Mike Cowling, Chief Scientist, The Crown Estate, 16 New Burlington Place, London, W1S 2HX. Tel. 020 7851 5032