Comparing consumer perceptions of energy security, policy, and low-carbon technology: Insights from Denmark

This study investigates how energy-users from one low-carbon country - Denmark - perceive energy security threats and dimensions compared to those from ten other countries. The purpose, in part, is to discuss the relationship between consumer perceptions of energy challenges, adoption of renewable energy, climate change, and the prices of energy services. The article's primary source of data is a survey distributed in eight languages (English, Danish, Mandarin, Portuguese, Russian, Arabic, German, and Japanese) to 2495 respondents in Brazil, China, Denmark, Germany, India, Kazakhstan, Japan, Papua New Guinea, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, and the United States. Survey results are used to test five propositions about energy security related to Denmark: the influence of culture, being “green,” the centrality of oil and gas, the salience of energy trade, and the necessity of affordable prices. The study concludes that Danish respondents rate energy security dimensions lower than most other countries, that responses invalidate a number of propositions stated in the academic literature, and that energy security is a complex topic both in theory and in practice. Furthermore the results suggest that consumer perceptions and attitudes about decentralized policy options (from the bottom-up) rate lower than governmental and institutional ones (from the top-down).