The interest toward alternative source of energy is declining. May it be due to the low gasoline price that reduces the economic incentive that used to drive the attention to green and cheap sources?
Comparing the different alternative energies (solar, wind, geothermic, biomass, nuclear) it is evident that they follow more or less the same trend, but on different levels: solar and wind energies capture more the attention of the public. In particular, despite a general decline of interest in the field, when looking at the solar energy we can observe still a significant level of attention in the theme. Indeed, the 3 most googled keywords in the alternative energy sector are: solar power energy, solar energy, solar power panels.
Why solar is more attractive? First of all, solar technology is easy accessible to citizens: everyone can install photovoltaic panels without incurring in unbearable costs. “Solar power panels” is not by chance one of the top 3 keyword. Second, while other alternative sources are more closely linked to the characteristics of the land, the sun is a free source of energy to which everyone can have access in every corner of the globe. Data on "wind power" confirm the intuition: indeed, most of the interest is shown in Denmark, a country that traditionally produces this energy.
On the other hand, it is worth noting that government intervention can trigger a virtuous circle that stimulates alternative energy growth: wherever public policies support renewables, citizens get more interested in the field. For example, Indian government recently committed to make India leader in solar energy; following these declarations the attention toward the theme suddenly increased.
Among the alternative sources of energy we must include nuclear energy. There are different reasons why people are interested: it is not much about the development of this source, but it stems from the concerns related to the production process that cyclically appear on worldwide media. Indeed, when looking at the last 15 years trend, we can observe a peak of negative interest right after Fukushima disaster. However, if we do not consider this outlier, we can find a trend which is similar to those of the other sources of energy.
Looking closely at Italy. As in the rest of the word, solar and wind energy are the trending topics in Italy too. Given the strong heterogeneity of the Italian territory, we can identify different trends among the different regions. Indeed, solar energy is the most googled in the North (Veneto, Piemonte, Lombardia), while wind has more success in the South (Puglia, Lazio, Campania).
The recipe for a greener world. Nowadays, it is clear that renewable energies are an essential ingredient for long-run sustainable economic growth. Therefore, it is necessary to make this topic attractive and information easily accessible. Even though the level of interest has diminished across years, it does not mean there is no growth potential. On the contrary this should be a stimulus for innovation for all players in the sector.