by J. F. Shapiro, D. E. White and D. O. Wood. / Supported in part by the U.S. Army Research Office (Durham) under Contract no. DAAG29-76-C-0064. / Bibliography: leaf [8].

This study examines individual roll call votes on energy issues taken in Congress during the years 1973 to 1983. Logit analysis is used to compare the influence of partisan identification; personal ideology, as measured by support and opposition to the conservative coalition; and district or state energy characteristics, including energy consumption and production. The potential for misleading results due to the multicollinearity of party and ideology is eliminated through the use of a residual variable representing the non-party component of ideology. The results indicate that members of Congress demonstrated considerable variability in voting on energy matters. The House of Representatives was more responsive to variations in energy constituencies. Both the House and the Senate showed a different response when the substantive character of energy issues varied. Questions with an economic impact were more influenced by partisanship, while environmentally related issues were more strongly influenced by ideology. The gross impact of changes in public opinion and changes in the presidency are noticeable throughout, but most especially after the election of Ronald Reagan, when many of the policy changes made previously were dismantled. The results of this study support the basic proposition that individual roll call votes are a product of constituency influence. The results also indicate that the political partisanship and ideology of members are representative of a member's supportive and reelection constituency. The statistical methods used allowed a direct comparison of the influence of party, ideology, and variables representing the characteristics of member's districts. The results obtained substantiate the importance of constituent influence in congressional voting.

Photocopy of typescript. / Digitized by Kansas Correctional Industries

Talk given at the Fourth Annual Meeting of the National Organization for the Professional Advancement of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers.

Thesis. 1977. M.C.P.--Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning. / MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND ROTCH. / Bibliography : leaf 91. / by Lynne A. Monaco. / M.C.P.

Thesis. 1975. B.S.--Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning. / Bibliography: leaves 72-73. / by Carol J. Mancke. / B.S.

This study was designed to determine whether Time, Newsweek and U.S. News & World Report news magazines expressed. opinions in their coverage of four topics concerning the 1979 energy crisis: United States government, OPEC, oil companies, and consumers. A content analysis of all stories in the three magazines from May to December 1979 indicated that Time was the most opinionated, U.S. News & World Report was second, and Newsweek was most neutral in coverage of the energy crisis. The percentage of article space allotted had no apparent effect upon the magazines' handling of those topics.

Community solar is a renewable energy practice that's been adopted by multiple U.S. states and is being considered by many more, including the state of Oregon. A recent senate bill in Oregon, called the "Clean Electricity and Coal Transition Plan", includes a provision that directs the Oregon Public Utility Commission to establish a community solar program for investor-owned utilities by late 2017. Thus, energy consumers in Portland will be offered participation in community solar projects in the near future. Community solar is a mechanism that allows ratepayers to experience both the costs and benefits of solar energy while also helping to offset the proportion of fossil-fuel generated electricity in utility grids, thus aiding climate change mitigation. For community solar to achieve market success in the residential sector of Portland, ratepayers of investor-owned utilities must socially accept this energy practice. The aim of this study was to forecast the potential social acceptance of community solar among Portland residents by measuring willingness to participate in these projects. Additionally, consumer characteristics, attitudes, awareness, and knowledge were captured to assess the influence of these factors on intent to enroll in community solar. The theory of planned behavior, as well as the social acceptance, diffusion of innovation, and dual-interest theories were frameworks used to inform the analysis of community solar adoption. These research objectives were addressed through a mixed-mode survey of Portland residents, using a stratified random sample of Portland neighborhoods to acquire a gradient of demographics. 330 questionnaires were completed, yielding a 34.2% response rate. Descriptive statistics, binomial logistic regression models, and mean willingness to pay were the analyses conducted to measure the influence of project factors and demographic characteristics on likelihood of community solar participation. Roughly 60% of respondents exhibited interest in community solar enrollment. The logistic regression model revealed the percent change in utility bill (essentially the rate of return on the community solar investment) as a dramatically influential variable predicting willingness to participate. Community solar project scenarios also had a strong influence on willingness to participate: larger, cheaper, and distant projects were preferred over small and expensive local projects. Results indicate that community solar project features that accentuate affordability are most important to energy consumers. Additionally, demographic characteristics that were strongly correlated with willingness to enroll were politically liberal ideologies, higher incomes, current enrollment in green utility programs, and membership in an environmental organization. Thus, the market acceptance of community solar in Portland will potentially be broadened by emphasizing affordability over other features, such as community and locality. Additionally, I explored attitudinal influences on interest in community solar by conducting exploratory factor analysis on attitudes towards energy, climate change, and solar barriers and subsequently conducting binomial logistic regression models. Results found that perceiving renewable energy as environmentally beneficial was positively correlated with intent to enroll in community solar, which supported the notion that environmental attitudes will lead to environmental behaviors. The logistic regression model also revealed a negative correlation between community solar interest and negative attitudes towards renewable energy. Perceptions of solar barriers were mild, indicating that lack of an enabling mechanism may be the reason solar continues to be underutilized in this region.

Based on federal and state experience of the late 1970's and early 1980's, this paper examines various policy alternatives that government could implement in promoting renewable energy. The paper assumes that government has an interest in promoting renewables. Therefore, it makes no attempt to advocate why federal or state governments should promote renewable energy. It merely presents a variety of options that these governments might choose to promote renewables as a viable alternative to meet present and future energy demands. The Carter and Reagan administrations at the federal level and the Brown, Deukmejian, and Wilson governorships in California are examined. This time period was selected because of the significant changes which occurred during the 1970's and 1980's in the energy economy and political arena and their resulting impact on the renewable energy industry. The contrast between one decade and the next starkly revealed the effects that government policy had in both cultivating and undermining a relatively infant industry. The thesis presents a detailed case study of Luz International to illustrate those effects. The discussion focuses on the factors affecting the policy formulation process, with emphasis on the importance of the executive office, interest groups, and the legislature. This thesis argues that energy policy formulation is governed or shaped largely by factors that are beyond the control of the renewable energy industry. Examples of such factors are benefit coalitions, short-term mentality of elected officials, and lack of public awareness. Effective policy to facilitate the commercialization of renewable energy technologies must account for the conditions of the marketplace and the political process. / Master of Urban Affairs

This study analyzed President Gerald Ford's efforts in selling his energy package in February, 1975. Six major speeches and news conferences were examined in terms of Richard Weaver's rhetorical theory. Five criteria of this theory were studied: appeals to man's good values, choice of argumentation, use of "god" and "devil" words, adaptation to the historical setting of the speech, and ethical character of the speaker. This analysis concluded that Ford was a good Weaverian rhetorician because he appealed to good values in language well adapted to each audience, adapted well to historical settings, and elevated his ethos considerably. However, Ford sold himself but not his program because he relied too heavily on his own ethos and circumstantial argumentation and slighted refutation arguments