Assessment of social acceptance of geothermal Energy exploitation in Southern Italy

This paper presents the preliminary results of a cultural and social acceptability assessment of geothermal energy exploitation in southern Italy; this research was carried out in the frame of the national project 'VIGOR' led by CNR (Italian National Research Council) and the Italian Ministry of Economic Development to investigate the potentials of geothermal energy exploitation in southern Italy. The research was designed asa case study and carried out in the province of Palermo, Sicily, where CNR has conducted geological prospecting in order to establish the geothermal potential in the area of Termini Imerese. The area of Termini Imerese was selected as case study as a step towards designing approaches for "upstream" public engagement, i.e. engaging citizens in the early steps of eventual technology developments that impact their daily life. The case study has two basic components: (1) Focus Groups were conducted with four different groups of citizens and stakeholders from the selected area; (2) a Survey with a sample of 400 citizens calibrated by gender, age, education and residence was carried out in the province of Palermo. Energy issues are clearly perceived as very politicized at the moment and major concerns rise from lack of confidence towards politicians, energy companies and institutions in general, to adequately manage innovation processes in the energy sector in general. Our tentative conclusions are that there is considerable openness and interest in geothermal power but there is still quite a lot of work on societal dialogue to be done to accommodate public concerns, reduce uncertainties and set the eventual development of geothermal energy exploitation on a socially and culturally sustainable path.