1. ATTITUDES TOWARDS VARIOUS ENERGY FORMS

Attitudes towards various energy forms were measured by asking the addressees which energy form should be used more and which should be used less as decisions will be made on power generation in the next few years. The given options comprised five central energy sources which are being used today: coal, peat, natural gas, nuclear power and hydro power. This question has been repeated annually in the same form since the autumn of 1983.

1.1. Present situation

The comparison of percentages of people in favour of increase and decrease in the use of various energy forms gives a simplified picture of ’the ranking’ of these energy forms. Natural gas proved to be by far the most popular form of energy (70% of people in favour of increase and 5% in favour of decrease). The attitude towards hydro power is also very positive (60%/5%). The third option, peat, divides opinions more (50%/17%).

Today, 33% of the population is in favour of an increase in nuclear power capacity, and the same number, 33% is in favour of decreasing it. Coal is the object of the most negative attitudes, and more than every second person should like to decrease the use of coal (11%/55%). [figure 1.]