Unknowing but supportive? Predispositions, knowledge, and support for hydrogen technology in the Netherlands

In most papers concerning the public evaluation of hydrogen technology it is found that the general public is generally supportive of hydrogen technology and the knowledge about hydrogen is fairly low. In this paper we hypothesize that several cultural predispositions such as environmental concern and trust in technology play a key mediating role in the degree to which knowledge can be translated into hydrogen acceptance.Using representative data for the Dutch population gathered in 2008, it is studied whether the relationship between support for hydrogen technology and knowledge about it is not equally strong for every social category in Dutch society. It shows that, pending on particular cultural predispositions, there is no clear-cut relationship at all. For some – based on their cultural predispositions already inclined to support hydrogen technology – there is a very strong relationship, for others – those inclined not to give support to hydrogen technology – there is only a very weak or even no relationship between knowledge and hydrogen support. At the end of the paper the theoretical and public relevance of these findings are discussed.