Measuring public acceptance with opinion mining: The case of the energy industry with long-term coal R&D investment projects

Authors

  • Kalle Nuortimo

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.37380/jisib.v8i2.319

Keywords:

Carbon Capture and Storage, CCS, greenhouse gas control, market deployment, opinion mining, public acceptance, web-intelligence

Abstract

New Web 2.0-based technologies have emerged in the field of competitor/marketintelligence. This paper discusses the factors influencing long-term product development,namely coal combustion long-term R&D/Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) technology, andpresents a new method application for studying it via opinion mining. The technology marketdeployment has been challenged by public acceptance. The media images/opinions of coal powerand CCS are studied through the opinion mining approach with a global machine learning basedmedia analysis using M-Adaptive software. This is a big data-based learning machine mediasentiment analysis focusing on both editorial and social media, including both structured datafrom payable sources and unstructured data from social media. If the public acceptance isignored, it can at its worst cause delayed or abandoned market deployment of long-term energyproduction technologies, accompanied by techno-economic issues. The results are threefold:firstly, it is suggested that this type of methodology can be applied to this type of researchproblem. Secondly, from the case study, it is apparent that CCS is unknown also based on thistype of approach. Finally, poor media exposure may have influenced technology marketdeployment in the case of CCS.

References

Abrahams, A. S., Jiao, J., Fan, W., Wang, G. A.,

and Zhang, Z. (2013). What's buzzing in the

blizzard of buzz? automotive component

isolation in social media postings. Decision

Support Systems, 55 (4): 871.

Åhman, M., Nikoleris, A., and Wyns, T. (2013).

Decarbonizing industry: emerging roadmaps

point to major need for financing radical

innovation. Carbon Management, 4 (1): 5-7.

Alphen, K., Voorst tot Voorst, Q., Hekkert, M.,

and Smits, R. (2007). Societal acceptance of

carbon capture and storage technologies.

Energy Policy, 35 (8): 4368–4380.

Ashworth, P., Boughen, N., Mayhew, M., and

Millar, F. (2009). An integrated roadmap of

communication activities around carbon

capture and storage in Australia and beyond.

Energy Procedia. 1 (1): 4749-4756.

Le Bars, Y., Murray, C., Ormai, P., Seppälä, T.,

and Bøhmer, N. Summary of the Panel

Discussion Concluding Session IV on Public

Involvement and Acceptance Panel IV: ‘Can

NIMBY be overcome?’

Bell, D., Gray, T., and Haggett, C. (2005). The

‘Social Gap’ in Wind Farm Siting Decisions:

Explanations and Policy Responses.

Environmental Politics, 14 (4): 460-477.

Berendsen, G., Middel, R., Pieters, I., Angard, F.,

and Hillerström, F. (2015). Social media

within sustainable product development: an

exploratory multiple case study on the

perception of social media usability in the new

product development process. Int. J.

Technology Intelligence and Planning, 10

(3/4): 273–293.

Bradbury, J., Ray, I., Peterson, T., Wade, S.,

Wong-Parodi, G., and Feldpausch, A. (2009).

The role of social factors in shaping public

perceptions of CCS: Results of multi-state

focus group interviews in the U.S. Energy

Procedia, 1 (1): 4665–4672.

Brouwer, A. S., van den Broek, M., Seebregts, A.,

and Faaij, A. (2015). Operational flexibility

and economics of power plants in future lowcarbon

power systems. Applied Energy, (156):

-128.

Bucchi, M. (2008). Of deficits, deviations and

dialogues: Theories of public communication

of science. Featured in: M. Bucchi and B.

Trench (Ed.) Handbook of public

communication of science and technology, New

York: Routledge International Handbooks, 57-

Budd, J.M. (2007). Information, analysis, and

ideology: A case study of science and the public

interest. Journal of the American Society for

Information Science and Technology, 58 (14):

-2371.

Budescu, D. V., Broomell, S., and Por, H.-H.

(2009). Improving Communication of

Uncertainty in the Reports of the

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

Psychological Science 20 (3): 299-308.

Burnham, J., Debande, O., Jones, O., Mihai, C.,

Moore, J. and Temperton, I. (2013). Report on

Innovative Financial Instruments for the

Implementation of the SET Plan, First-of-akind

project. JRC Scientific and Policy

Reports, Ref: EUR 26058, OPOCE LD-NA-

-EN-N,

https://ec.europa.eu/jrc/sites/default/files/ldna

enn_002.pdf, accessed 23 May 2017.

Burscher, B., Vliegenthart, R., and de Vreese, C.

(2015). Frames Beyond Words: Applying

Cluster and Sentiment Analysis to News

Coverage of the Nuclear Power Issue. Social

Science Computer Review, 1-16

Breukers, S. and Upham, P. (2015).

Organisational aspects of public engagement

in European energy infrastructure planning:

the case of early-stage CCS projects. Journal

of Environmental Planning & Management,

(2): 252-269.

Cambria, E., Schuller, B., Xia, Y., and Havasi, C.

(2013). New avenues in opinion mining and

sentiment analysis. IEEE Intelligent Systems

(2): 15-21.

Carragee, K. M. and Roefs, W. (2004). The neglect

of power in recent framing research. Journal

of Communication, 54: 214–233.

Chen, H. (2010). Business and market

intelligence 2.0. IEEE Intelligent Systems

(1): 68-71.

Chen, H., Chiang, R. H., and Storey, V. C. (2012).

Business intelligence and analytics: From big

data to big impact. MIS Quarterly, 1165-1188.

Dapeng, L. and Weiwei, W. (2009). Barriers and

incentives of CCS deployment in China:

Results from semi-structured interviews,

Energy Policy, 37 (6): 2421–2432.

de Best-Waldhober, M., Daamen, D, and Faaij, A.

(2009). Informed and uninformed public

opinions on CO2 capture and storage

technologies in the Netherlands, International

Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control, 3 (3): 322–

de Coninck, H., Stephens, J. C. , and Metz, B.

(2009). Global learning on carbon capture and

storage: A call for strong international

cooperation on CCS demonstration. Energy

Policy, 37 (6): 2161-2165.

Dessler, A. E. and Parson, E. A. (2006). The

Science and Politics of Global Climate Change:

A Guide to the Debate. Cambridge: Cambridge

University Press

Dütschke, E. (2011). What drives local public

acceptance – comparing two cases from

Germany, Energy Procedia, 4: 6234–6240.

Du Toit, A. S. (2015). Competitive intelligence

research: An investigation of trends in the

literature. Journal of Intelligence Studies in

Business, 5(2).

Druckman, J. (2004). Priming the vote:

Campaign effects in a U.S. Senate Election.

Political Psychology 25 (4): 577-594.

Feldpausch-Parker, A., Burnham, M., Melnik,

M., Callaghan, M. L., and Selfa, T. (2015).

News Media Analysis of Carbon Capture and

Storage and Biomass: Perceptions and

Possibilities. Energies, 8 (4): 3058-3074.

Firestone, J. and Kempton, W. (2007). Public

opinion about large offshore wind power:

Underlying factors, Energy Policy, 35 (3):

–1598.

Fleishman, L. A., De Bruin, W. B., and Morgan,

M. G. (2010). Informed Public Preferences for

Electricity Portfolios with CCS and Other

Low-Carbon Technologies, Risk Analysis, 30

(9): 1399–1410.

Folke, C., Radgen, P., Rode, H., Irons, R., Schaaf,

H., Read, A., Möller, B. F., Schoenmakers, H.,

Imber, P., and Peter, K. (2011). E.ON’s current

CCS activities, Energy Procedia, 4: 6091-6098.

Fütterer, M. A., Carlsson, J., de Groot, S.,

Deffrennes, M., and Bredimas, A. (2014).

European energy policy and the potential

impact of HTR and nuclear cogeneration,

Nuclear Engineering and Design 27: 73–78.

Gerbner, G. and Gross, L. (1976). Living with the

television: The violence profile. Journal of

Communication 26 (2): 172-194.

Gielen, D., Podkanski, J., and Unander, F. (2004).

Prospects for CO2 capture and storage

Organization for Economic Co-operation and

Economic Development,

(OECD)/International Energy Agency (IEA),

Paris, France, p.252.

Godbole, N., Srinivasaiah, M., and Skiena, S.

(2007). Large-scale sentiment analysis for

news and blogs. ICWSM, 7 (21): 219-222.

Gough, C. (2008). State of the art in carbon

dioxide capture and storage in the UK: An

experts’ review. International Journal of

Greenhouse Gas Control 2 (1): 155–168.

Greenberg, M. and Truelove, H. B. (2011). Energy

choices and risk beliefs: Is it just global

warming and fear of a nuclear power plant

accident? Risk Analysis, 31 (5): 819-831.

Grove-White, R., Kearnes, M., Macnaghten, P.,

and Wynne, B. (2006). Nuclear futures:

Assessing public attitudes to new nuclear

power, Political Quarterly, 77 (2): 238–246.

Grubler, A. and Riahi, K. (2010). "Do

governments have the right mix in their

energy R&D portfolios?", Carbon

Management, 1 (1): 79-87.

Gupta, N., Fischer, A. R. H., and Frewer, L. J.

(2012). Socio-psychological determinants of

public acceptance of technologies: A review.

Public Understanding of Science 21 (7): 782-

Hammond, G. P., Akwe, S. S. O., and Williams, S.

(2011). Techno-economic appraisal of fossilfuelled

power generation systems with carbon

dioxide capture and storage. Energy. 36 (2):

-984.

Heras-Saizarbitoria, I., Cilleruelo, E., and

Zamanillo, I. (2011). Public acceptance of

renewables and the media: An analysis of the

spanish PV solar experience. Renewable and

Sustainable Energy Reviews, 15 (9): 4685-

Huijts, N. M. A., Midden, C. K. H., and Meijnders,

A. L. (2007). Social acceptance of carbon

dioxide storage, Energy Policy, 35 (5):

pp.2780–2789.

Huijts, N. M. A., Molin, E. J. E., and Steg, L.

(2012). Psychological factors influencing

sustainable energy technology acceptance: A

review-based comprehensive framework.

Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews,

(1) 525– 531.

IEA. (2010). Energy technology perspectives:

Scenarios & Strategies to 2050, International

Energy Agency, Paris,

https://www.iea.org/publications/freepublicati

ons/publication/etp2010.pdf accessed 23 May

Itaoka, K., Saito, A., and Akai, M. (2004). Public

acceptance of CO2-capture and storage

technology: a survey of public opinion to

explore influential factors, the Seventh

International Conference on Greenhouse Gas

Technologies, Vancouver, 5 September 2004.

Kim, Y., Kim, M., and Kim, W. (2013). Effect of

the Fukushima nuclear disaster on global

public acceptance of nuclear energy. Energy

Policy, 61: 822–828.

Kramer, G. J. and Haigh, M. (2009). No quick

switch to low-carbon energy. Nature, 462: 568-

Krause, R. M., Carley, S. R., Warren, D. C., Rupp,

J. A., and Graham, J. D. (2014). ‘Not in (or

Under) My Backyard’: Geographic Proximity

and Public Acceptance of Carbon Capture and

Storage Facilities. Risk Analysis, 34 (3): 529–

Lohwasser, R. and Madlener, R. (2012).

Economics of CCS for coal plants: Impact of

investment costs and efficiency on market

diffusion in Europe. Energy Economics, 34 (3):

–863.

Li, Y. and Li, T. (2013). Deriving market

intelligence from microblogs

doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dss.2013.01.023

Liu, B. and Zhang, L. (2012). A survey of opinion

mining and sentiment analysis. Mining text

data. Springer. 415-463.

Mathews, J. A., Kidney, S., Mallon, K., and

Hughes, M. (2010). Mobilizing private finance

to drive an energy industrial revolution.

Energy Policy, 38 (7): 3263-3265.

Maddali, V., Tularam, G. A., and Glynn, P.

(2015). Economic and Time-Sensitive Issues

Surrounding CCS: A Policy Analysis.

Environmental Science & Technology, 49 (15):

-8968.

Midttun, A. and Gautesen, K. (2007). Feed in or

certificates, competition or complementarity?

Combining a static efficiency and a dynamic

innovation perspective on the greening of the

energy industry, Energy Policy. 35 (3): 1419-

Mitchell, R. K., Agle, B. R., and Wood, D. J.

(1997). Toward a theory of stakeholder

identification and salience: Defining the

principle of who and what really

counts. Academy of Management Review 22

(4): 853-886.

McCorkindale, T., DiStaso, M. W., and Carroll, C.

(2013). The power of social media and its

influence on corporate reputation. The

Handbook of Communication and Corporate

Reputation, 497-512.

Matthes, J. and Kohring, M. (2008). The content

analysis of media frames: Toward improving

reliability and validity. Journal of

Communication, (58): 258–279.

M-Brain. Corporate communications. Received

/2015.

Miller, J. and Krosnick, J. (2000). News media

impact on the ingredients of presidential

evaluations: Politically knowledgeable

citizens are guided by a trusted source.

American Journal of Political Science, 44 (2):

-309.

Nasukawa, T. and Yi, J. (2003). Sentiment

analysis: Capturing favorability using natural

language processing. Proceedings of the 2nd

International Conference on Knowledge

Capture, 70-77.

Nuortimo, K. (2012). Essays on exploring

alternatives in CO2-neutral power generation

product development. Licentiate thesis.

University of Oulu.

Nuortimo, Kalle & Harkonen, Janne & Karvonen,

Erkki. (2017). Exploring the global media

image of solar power. Renewable and

Sustainable Energy Reviews. 81. 2806-2811.

1016/j.rser.2017.06.086.

Nuortimo, K., Härkönen, J., and Karvonen, E.

(2017b). Exploring the social acceptance of

biomass power, Interdisciplinary

Environmental Review, 18 (1): 14–27.

Oltraa, C., Salaa, R., Solàa, R., Di Massob, M.,

and Rowec, G. (2010). Lay perceptions of

carbon capture and storage technology.

International Journal of Greenhouse Gas

Control, 4 (4): 698–706.

Palmgren, C. R., Morgan, M. G., de Bruin, W. B.,

and Keith, D. W. (2004). Initial Public

Perceptions of Deep Geological and Oceanic

Disposal of Carbon Dioxide, Environmental

Science & Technology, 38 (24): 6441–6450.

Peñalver-Martinez, I., Garcia-Sanchez, F.,

Valencia-Garcia, R., Rodríguez-García, M. Á.,

Moreno, V., Fraga, A., and Sánchez-

Cervantes, J. L. (2014). Feature-based opinion

mining through ontologies. Expert Systems

with Applications, 41 (13): 5995-6008.

doi:10.1016/j.eswa.2014.03.022

Pietilä, V. (1997). Joukkoviestintätutkimuksen

valtateillä. Tampere: Vastapaino. In Finnish.

Rainer, D. (2008). A Looming Rhetorical Gap: A

Survey of Public Communications Activities

for Carbon Dioxide Capture and Storage

Technologies. Judge Business School,

University of Cambridge.

Reis, T., Barroso, A. C., and Imakuma, K. (2014).

Monitoring and analysis of nuclear acceptance

by information retrieval and opinion

extraction on the internet. Available from

Thiago Reis, retrieved on 21 June 2016.

Ruester, S., Schwenen, S., Finger, M., and

Glachant, J.-M. (2014).A post-2020 EU energy

technology policy: Revisiting the strategic

energy technology plan, Energy Policy, 66:

–217.

Santos, S. (2015). Oxy-CFB Combustion

Technology, Its potential role in CO2-

mitigation; O2GEN workshop, 18 June 2015,

Turku, Finland.

Scheufele, D. (1999). Framing as a Theory of

Media Effects. Journal of Communication, 49

(1): 103-122.

Shah, D. V., Watts, M. D., Domke, D., and Fan,

D. P. (2002). News framing and cueing of issue

regimes: Explaining Clinton’s public approval

in spite of scandal. Public Opinion Quarterly,

(66): 339–370.

Slotegraaf, R. J., Moorman, C., and Inman, J. J.

(2003).The Role of Firm Resources in Returns

to Market Deployment, Journal of Marketing

Research, 40 (3): 295-309.

Song, M. and Thieme, J. (2009). The role of

suppliers in market intelligence gathering for

radical and incremental innovation. Journal

of Product Innovation Management 26(1), 43-

Sovacool, B. and Ratan, P. L. (2012).

Conceptualizing the acceptance of wind and

solar electricity. Renewable and Sustainable

Energy Reviews, 16 (7): 5268–5279.

Siegrist, M. (2000).The influence of trust and

perceptions of risks and benefits on the

acceptance of gene technology, Risk Analysis

(2): 195–203.

Siegrist, M., Cousin, M.-E., Kastenholz, H., and

Wiek, A. (2007a). Public acceptance of

nanotechnology foods and food packaging: The

influence of affect and trust, Appetite, 49 (2):

–466.

Siegrist, M., Keller, C., Kastenholz, H., Frey, S.,

and Wiek, A. (2007b). Laypeople's and

Experts' Perception of Nanotechnology

Hazards, Risk Analysis 27 (1): 59–69.

Slovic, P., Flynn, J., and Layman, M. (1991).

Perceived Risk, Trust, and the Politics of

Nuclear Waste. Science 254: 1603–1608.

Stieglitz, S. and Linh D.-X. (2013). Emotions and

Information Diffusion in Social Media—

Sentiment of Microblogs and Sharing

Behavior. Journal of Management

Information Systems 29 (4): 217-248

Teo, T. S. and Choo, W. Y. (2001). Assessing the

impact of using the internet for competitive

intelligence. Information & Management,

(1), 67-83.

Ter Mors, E., Weenig, M. W. H., Ellemers, N., and

Daamen, D. D. L. (2010). Effective

communication about complex environmental

issues: Perceived quality of information about

carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS)

depends on stakeholder collaboration. Journal

of Environmental Psychology, 30 (4): 347-357.

Terwel, B. W., Harinck, F., Ellemers, N., and

Daamen, D. D .L. (2009). Competence-Based

and Integrity-Based Trust as Predictors of

Acceptance of Carbon Dioxide Capture and

Storage (CCS). Risk Analysis 29 (8), 1129–

Terwel, B. W., Harinck, F., Ellemers, N., and

Daamen, D. D. L. (2011). Going beyond the

properties of CO2 capture and storage (CCS)

technology: How trust in stakeholders affects

public acceptance of CCS. International

Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control, 5 (2): 181–

Tokushige, K., Akimoto, K., and Tomoda, T.

(2007). Public perceptions on the acceptance of

geological storage of carbon dioxide and

information influencing the acceptance,

International Journal of Greenhouse Gas

Control, 1 (1): 101–112.

Valkenburg, P. and Valkenburg, W. (2016).

Media Effects: Theory and Research.. 67: 315–

Wallquist, L., Visschers, V. H. M., and Siegrist,

M. (2009). Lay concepts on CCS deployment in

Switzerland based on qualitative interviews.

International Journal of Greenhouse Gas

Control, 3 (5): 652–657.

Wallquist, L., Visschers, V. H. M., and Siegrist,

M. (2010). Impact of Knowledge and

Misconceptions on Benefit and Risk

Perception of CCS. Environmental Science &

Technology, 44 (17): 6557–6562.

Wallquist, L., Seigo, S. L., Visschers, V. H., and

Siegrist, M. (2012). Public acceptance of CCS

system elements: A conjoint measurement.

International Journal of Greenhouse Gas

Control, (6): 77-83.

Wennersten, R., Sun, Q., and Li, H. (2015). The

future potential for Carbon Capture and

Storage in climate change mitigation – an

overview from perspectives of technology,

economy and risk. Journal of Cleaner

Production, 103 (15): 724-736.

Wolsink, M. (2000). Wind power and the NIMBYmyth:

Institutional capacity and the limited

significance of public support. Renewable

Energy 21 (1): 49-64.

Wolsink, M. (2007). Wind power implementation:

The nature of public attitudes: Equity and

fairness instead of ‘backyard motives’.

Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews,

(6): 1188–1207.

Wood, E. (2001). Marketing information systems

in tourism and hospitality small- and mediumsized

enterprises: A study of internet use for

market intelligence. International Journal of

Tourism Research, 3(4): 283-299.

Wüstenhagen, R., Wolsink, M., and Bürera, M. J.

(2007). Social acceptance of renewable energy

innovation: An introduction to the concept.

Energy Policy, 35 (5): 2683–2691.

Xu, K., Liao, S. S., Li, J., and Song, Y. (2011).

Mining comparative opinions from customer

reviews for competitive intelligence. Decision

Support Systems, 50(4): 743-754.

Zhang, Z. and Huising, D. (2017). Carbon dioxide

storage schemes: Technology, assessment and

deployment. Journal of Cleaner Production,

, Part 2: 1055–1064.

Zechendorf, B. (1994). What the Public Thinks

about Biotechnology. Bio/Technology, 12:

–875.

Downloads

Published

2018-09-05