Geothermal resources in Italy: Tracing a path towards public engagement

Abstract

Italy has a pioneering role in the geothermal sector: from ancient Romans thermal baths, to the development of the first geothermal power plant, the Country has contributed to the development of this technology. Italian geothermal power plants are located in Tuscany, where part of the local population is opposing to old and new geothermal developments. In this chapter we describe the current expectations and concerns of the Italian citizens regarding geothermal energy and we report on two social acceptance assessment case studies conducted by the Italian National Research Council in Southern and Central Italy, applying both quantitative (survey) and qualitative (focus groups) methods. As the energy question is increasingly recognized to be both technical and social domains, public engagement experiences in the field are rapidly growing internationally and other studies are also mentioned and described. Our review show that the opinions around geothermal energy among the Italian public are shrouded in uncertainty and many participants ask for more information on pros and cons in order to contribute to the discussion. The debate on geothermal energy development in Italy is strongly entangled with values, ethics, local identity and political issues. Lack of trust in the decision makers was the main reason for public concerns even if the presence of environmental and health risks were also questioned by part of the population.