Duane T. Wegener (PI), Wallace E. Tyner (Co-PI), & Leigh S. Raymond (Co-PI) Purdue University
The world faces a daunting energy challenge; to supply increasing energy demands while preserving the environment. Much uncertainty surrounds which alternative fuels will become sustainable and economically viable, and people are likely to have difficulty comparing the different policy options that might encourage development of various alternative fuels. In the US, ethanol seems poised to serve as a more significant source of energy, but policy choices continue to substantially determine the nature and scale of ethanol's role. A multi-disciplinary team of researchers will address the economic consequences of the most likely forms of US ethanol policy and the public and political reactions to these policies. Economic modeling will identify conditions that enhance or reduce risk for investors and that place or remove financial burden on consumers for support of the ethanol industry. Focus group and survey research will identify prevalent public environmental values as well as reactions to possible ethanol policies and predictors of who holds certain views. Interviews will directly compare public perceptions with those of political elites regarding a variety of issues affecting ethanol use, including support for subsidies, emissions trading, and the use of genetically modified plants to produce biofuels. The modeling, focus group, and survey research will also inform laboratory research on decision processes related to ethanol. The laboratory research will examine both "top of the head" (heuristic) and more thoughtful ways in which people's existing values and attitudes influence their choices between alternative ethanol policies or between politicians who support different policies.
This research will help to advance basic science in agricultural economics, political science, social psychology, and decision theory, and the results may also help to inform policy decisions at the state and federal level. Research on economics and public/political perceptions may also influence related research in the natural sciences, as genetic features of energy crops may be modified specifically to make energy production more economically feasible or to make the technology more publicly/politically acceptable. These activities all address the important question of when and how people ultimately adopt emerging energy technologies in order to decrease our reliance on limited and environmentally polluting sources.
