On the crossroad – renewable energy sources or shale oil? Understanding patterns of social attitudes in Jordan

• Published date: 01 March 2022
• Author: Nadejda Komendantova,Leena Marashdeh,Ahmed Al‐Salaymeh,Sara Al Twassi,Rasha AlBeek,Kholoud Hassouneh
• Date: 01 March 2022
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/opec.12219

On the crossroad –renewable energy

sources or shale oil? Understanding patterns

of social attitudes in Jordan

Nadejda Komendantova* , Leena Marashdeh**, Ahmed Al-Salaymeh**,

Sara Al Twassi**, Rasha AlBeek** and Kholoud Hassouneh***

*International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, IIASA, Schlossplatz 1, LaxenburgA-2361, Austria.

Email: komendan@iiasa.ac.at

**Mechanical Engineering Department, School of Engineering, The University of Jordan, Amman11942,

Jordan. Email: leena_marashdeh@yahoo.com Email: salaymeh@ju.edu.jo Email: Sara.Tws.st@gmail.com

Email: R.AlBaik@ju.edu.jo

***Architectural Engineering Department, School of Arts and Design, The University of Jordan,

Amman11942, Jordan. Email: k.hassouneh@ju.edu.jo

Abstract

Energy policy in Jordan is a contested issue as several options for deployment of technologies

exist. Shale oil and renewable energy sources are two energy generation technologies which are

currently being intensively considered by the Jordanian energy policy process and there are shale

oil and renewable energy projects which are currently in operation, in planning or in construction.

Each of these options relates to various perceptions of risks and benefits of a given technology and

has its opponents and supporters. Understanding of how inhabitants of communities where

infrastructure is planned perceive these energy generation technologies is crucial as infrastructure

will impact the life of the community and the feedback from the community can improve the

deployment of infrastructure. The major focus of this paper is on attitudes of local communities

where shale oil and renewable energies are in operation. To identify of how various environmental,

technical, social and environmental factors influence attitudes including awareness and perceptions

of these two energy generation technologies we conducted large scale surveys in four different

communities of Jordan. Two of these communities (Ma’an and Tafileh) had renewable energy

projects and other two communities (Lajoun and Attarat) had projects on shale oil extraction and

power generation.

1. Introduction

The new energy strategy 2020–2030 was launched in 2020. According to the strategy,

the major aims of Jordan are to achieve energy security, maximise the deployment of

local energy resources, and reduce the cost of energy. For example, only in 2019, Jordan

imported about (91 per cent) of its energy needs at high costs (Ministry of Energy and

©2021 The Authors. OPEC Energy Review published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Organization of the

Petroleum Exporting Countries. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd, 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK

and 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148, USA.

This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs

License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is

non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.

3

Mineral Resources, 2019). The National Energy Strategy includes targets to increase the

contribution of renewable energy and shale oil sources to the national energy supply.

The new strategy states that in 2020 Jordan has 11 per cent of its energy mix is from

renewable energy, accounting to 21 per cent in the electricity generation mix, and will

reach to 31 per cent in 2030. Currently 39 per cent of the primary energy is being used to

generate electricity and the 61 per cent of the remaining energy is for transport, heating

and industry. The locally produced energy share does not exceed 4.7 per cent of the

current total primary energy.

Energy policy in Jordan is a contested issue considering the availability of several

electricity generation alternatives, recent increase in energy tariffs and ongoing public

protests against various kinds of infrastructure projects. Currently several technological

options are in discussion by the government of Jordan, including shale oil and renewable

energy sources (RES). Understanding attitudes of inhabitants from communities where

such infrastructure is being planned, constructed or under operation might help to

implement the projects with less impact for environment and society and greater benefits

for the national economy but also for local communities. Without being addressed,

concerns from local communities regarding planned infrastructure might turn into public

protests and delay and lead to cancelation of the projects. For example, intensive public

protests against planned nuclear energy infrastructure in local communities resulted that

the location of the proposed nuclear power station had to be changed several times.

Therefore, the main research question of this paper is to understand the attitudes of

inhabitants from the regions which will be affected by deployment of RES and shale oil,

towards benefits of these technologies, but also towards perceived risks and impacts on

environment and on their communities. This paper aims to evaluate intension and

acceptance of private households towards shale oil and RES, while evaluating essential

for social attitudes factors which are connected to the following questions:

•What is the level of awareness about such technologies as shale oil and RES? And

which sources of information do people trust?

•What are the perceptions of risks and benefits of both technologies?

This paper also aims to address correlations between the levels of awareness about

both technologies, expectations of socio-economic benefits and perceptions of risks

(environmental, technical, social and economic).

2. Background

2.1. Energy policy targets for renewable energy sources and shale oil

The Government of Jordan is considering further deployment of RES and of shale oil

technology which creates the drivers for the deployment of these technologies. Such

OPEC Energy Review March 2022 ©2021 The Authors. OPEC Energy Review published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd

on behalf of Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries

4Nadejda Komendantova et al.