Surevy shows 62% of Brits prefer wind to fracking

Apr 14, 2014 - About 62% of the British population would rather live near a wind farm than a fracking site, a new YouGov study shows.

According to the study, commissioned by UK green energy supplier Ecotricity, only 19% of the polled would prefer to live in proximity to a fracking project. About 19% of the Brits said they did not know.

The research also found that only 9% of the female population favours fracking, while the percentage for men was 29%. Wind is preferred by 68% of the women and 56% of the men.

By political convictions, the poll shows that 50% of the Conservative voters support wind, 33% favour fracking, while 17% did not know. About 76% of the supporters of the Labour party back wind, 9% chose fracking and 14% did not know. Wind was most widely supported by adherents to the Liberal Democrats, receiving 78% of the votes, while 14% chose fracking. Some 8% of the surveyed Liberal Democrat supporters did not express an opinion.

Ecotricity noted that the YouGov research contradicts the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change’s (DECC’s) own research on public attitudes to onshore wind as the government is providing “generous” support for fracking while “potentially bringing the development of onshore wind energy to an end”.

The latest DECC results show that onshore wind parks are backed by 64% of the surveyed, while only 28% like the idea of fracking. Last week, the UK Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Eric Pickles, extended the scrutiny period for renewable energy projects to 12 months from six months previously.

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