I work as an Associate Professor of Social Studies at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology NTNU in Trondheim, Norway.

I am an environmental social scientist working on the drivers and barriers affecting the development of bottom-up initiatives and social innovations involving renewables, sustainable transportation and energy consumption in buildings. My specific focus is on energy justice, climate justice and related policies. I am also interested in developing new research lines focusing on the relevance of environmental justice in sustainable development education.

Currently, I am a PI and WP leader in the H2020 ACCTING project, while in the recent past, I have worked as a senior researcher in the Department of Psychology of NTNU, engaging in the H2020 ENTRANCES and SMARTEES projects.

Previously I was a postdoctoral fellow, and now I am an Affiliate Researcher at the Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies (Pisa, Italy), where I worked on a research project in collaboration with RSE, (Ricerca sul Sistema Energetico, Milano), on energy justice and the social aspects related with the evolution of the Italian energy system.

In 2017, I was awarded my PhD at Heriot-Watt University, (School of Energy, Geoscience, Infrastructure and Society), where I researched social acceptability of onshore wind farms and the co-operative model of community ownership.

In the past, I also worked as ‘Research Associate’ at the University of Glasgow and Heriot-Watt University on a nationwide British project, (TARBASE), aiming at individuating engineering and policy solutions to reduce carbon emissions from the UK building stock. Previously, I researched social engagement in wind energy at the Institute of Energy and Sustainable Development of De Montfort University.

In 2012 and 2013, I was environment executive councillor (Assessore all’ Ambiente) in the municipality of Lucca (Italy) where I coordinated the design and implementation of the environmental policy for the whole city. In that capacity, I introduced the zero-waste strategy, obtaining a 20% increase in recycled waste, and I coordinated the design of the Sustainable Energy Action Plan for the city membership of the Covenant of Mayors.

My main research interests lie broadly in energy and social research, energy policy, sustainable behaviours and environmental policies.

Adopting an interdisciplinary social science approach, this book examines community reactions to wind farms to form a new understanding of what facilitates social acceptance.

Based on empirical research, Wind Power and Public Engagement investigates opposition to wind energy and considers the advantages as well as the limits of the co-operative model of wind farm community ownership. Giuseppe Pellegrini-Masini compares the role of co-operative schemes with community benefits schemes in increasing acceptability, and also sheds light on the impact of social factors including pro-environmental attitudes, perceived benefits and costs, place attachment, trust, as well as individuals’ resources such as information and income. Five research cases are investigated in England and Scotland, including the first local, community-owned wind farm co-operative in the UK. Critically reviewing existing social research theories, the book offers a new viewpoint, integrating rational choice and environmental attitudinal theories, from which to assess and understand the social acceptability of wind energy. It also highlights new opportunities for raising consensus in communities around locally proposed wind farms.

The book will be of great interest to students and scholars of renewable energy, energy policy, environmental sociology, environmental psychology, environmental planning and sustainability in general, as well as policymakers.


Publications

2021

2020

2019

2018

2012

2011

2010

2009

2008

2007