Wind of Change

Wind and solar power in rural areas are facing resistance by the local population. Where windparks should have been built, residents are mobilizing for referenda against renewables based on NIMBY views. This has to at least two bad outcomes: the developers face sunk costs and more importantly the transition to carbon neutral energy is not happening.

Convince a critical mass of people with personal - economic and communal benefits to endorse wind energy. How: two parallel approaches

1st - DEMDIS: Democratic deliberation in an online forum format that captures all community voices. It performs a "vibe check" about the opinions of the local inhabitants.

2nd - local information hub "Wind of Change" Local, personalised information / comparison tool that maps the exact benefits of windparks to the needs and wants of the town. This is partially informed by the DEMDIS discussion.

Outcome: With passing time, information levels among the population increases. Consequently approval rate of the Wind energy. This is reflected in the DEMDIS discussion.

All the local inhabitants in a municipality considered for a wind project. Divided to three target audiences: 1. Windthusiasts (want the project, need resources to disseminate) 2. Wind maybes (Want project, dont know how) 3. Windhaters (against project, can be convinced)

Wind of Change Info-Portal displays target audience specific details about the project (such as benefits, tackling disinformation, facts, jesus) meeting each needs of all target groups. Webpage even allows people to invest in building renewable facilities, see money increase/decrease in local municipality budgets based on how developed their municipality regarding the renewables. Visualisation allows webpage visitors to see how will the windmills change the local panorama once they upload pictures of their window/terrace views.

The webpage contains the timeline which guides you through the successful participation process to avoid resilience. People can express their concerns and ideas to be included in the decision-making process. Chosen local ambassadors interact with people to raise awareness and discuss concerns. We use DEMDIS forum to map the emotions in the community. The outcomes of the research are then used to develop the public agreement between the investor and the municipality discussing profit redistribution and other involvement of the investor in the local community.

Spread the awareness about the renewables with the help of our project. Following big step should be promote the project among local municipalities, collect feedback from developers - make appropriate changes if needed.