Trends in renewable energy production and media coverage: A comparative study

Our paper tests the use of news media data in technology diffusion analysis, building on the premise of Watts & Porter´s Life Cycle Indicators. Bibliometrics can be used in determining the level of technology diffusion, but most studies are made using patents or scientific publications as data sources. The target of this study is to examine if news media data portrays technology diffusion on part of wind, solar photovoltaic and hydroelectric energies. Correspondently, the news media data is collected from LexisNexis from a period of 1995-2008, in Germany. The news media data is first, examined to discern resemblances with technology diffusion S-curve, and second, compared with each renewable energy form´s primary production data using Spearman correlation. The results indicate that the news hits of all three renewable energy forms construct S-shaped trends similar to technology diffusion curve, and the news media data and energy production data are significantly correlated on part of wind and solar photovoltaic energies, but not on hydroelectric energy. The results serve many avenues for diffusion research on determining and comparing the trends in the renewable energy technologies and media.