Replication data for: Who cares about Norway's energy transition?

Experts and academics think, write, and talk a lot about energy transition, but can the same be said about the public? A comprehensive move from fossil to renewable energy implies significant structural changes and social consequences, for example linked to employment, mobility, and individual consumption patterns. Consequently, public acceptance of such an energy transition is needed for its success in democracies. However, the extent to which the concept of energy transition is familiar to the public remains poorly understood, and existing methods to gauge public opinion may overestimate the public’s familiarity with energy transition pathways. Here we invite randomly selected citizens to write down the words they associate with one of the following: “oil and gas”, “energy,” and “transition,” notably not asking about “energy transition” itself. We collect 3,232 textual responses in Norway, a crucial case for both energy supply and transition due to its dominant petroleum industry and hydroelectric power capacity. Overall, topics related to energy transition are not prevalent. Notably, “transition” responses center on reorganization in the workplace and government centralization, while few links are found between transition and energy. Furthermore, we find that associations with the word “transition” in the context of jobs are negative more than positive, suggesting risks related to using the same word for the movement from fossil to renewable energy in public communication. This suggests that the issue of energy transition appears distant for the general public to engage in, compared to the concerns of everyday life and notably concerns connected to employment.

专家与学者围绕能源转型（energy transition）展开了大量思考、著述与讨论，但普通大众对此的认知程度又如何呢？从化石能源向可再生能源的全面转型，势必引发深刻的结构性变革与社会效应——例如与就业、出行及个人消费模式相关的诸多影响。因此，在民主社会中，能源转型的成功离不开公众的接纳与支持。然而，公众对能源转型这一概念的熟悉程度至今仍未被充分厘清，且现有民意调查方法可能会高估公众对能源转型路径的认知水平。本研究邀请随机抽取的挪威公民，写下他们与以下任一词汇相关联的词语：“石油与天然气（oil and gas）”“能源”以及“转型”——特别之处在于，并未直接询问与“能源转型”相关的内容。本研究在挪威收集到3232条文本回复。挪威凭借其主导性的石油工业与水电装机容量，在能源供给与转型领域均具备关键研究价值。整体而言，与能源转型相关的话题在回复中并不多见。值得注意的是，与“转型”相关的回复多围绕职场重组与政府集权展开，而“转型”与“能源”之间的关联极少被提及。此外，研究发现，与“转型”相关的就业语境联想多为负面而非正面，这表明在大众传播中使用“转型”一词指代化石能源向可再生能源的转型，或存在一定风险。这意味着，相较于民众日常关注的议题——尤其是与就业相关的担忧——能源转型问题对普通大众而言仍较为遥远，难以引发其参与热情。