According to a new survey just released renewable energy is the United Kingdom’s second most popular investment category after property and is number one among young people.
When questioned by One Poll on their preferred investment areas, a third of the 2000 respondents chose renewable energy, while 43 per cent named property.
However, these positions were reversed when the question was posed to 18 to 24 year olds, where 39 per cent plumped for green energy and 36 per cent for property.
British environmental news website BusinessGreen reports overall, traditional energy was chosen by just 23 per cent of respondents as their preferred investment area.
That choice came ahead of manufacturing on 19 per cent, consumer goods on 15 per cent, hospitality on 14 per cent, and transport on 12 per cent.
BusinessGreen reports the survey also revealed 71 per cent of people were concerned about where their money was invested.
At the same time three quarters said they would be unhappy if their money was invested in companies that damage the environment or were otherwise unethical, a trend most pronounced in the over 55 age group.
While 72 per cent named risk and 75 per cent financial return as of high importance when investing, green energy was widely seen as satisfying both of these requirements.
BusinessGreen reports around 55 per cent of respondents said they viewed renewable energy as a medium to low risk investment, while 68 per cent said they would find an investment in renewable energy with an eight per cent return attractive.
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number of government support schemes ensure many green energy projects will return between five and eight per cent over their lifespan, with some well located projects delivering higher returns.
The results are broadly in line with a series of government and other surveys suggesting renewable energy is far more popular among the general public than certain parts of the media and political establishment have claimed.
BusinessGreen reports for example, one of the most recent surveys, a Survation poll for the Mail on Sunday newspaper, found more than 70 per cent of people would be happy to have a wind farm nearby, while a ComRes survey in September revealed 84 per cent of the public would support more solar panels in their area.
Bruce Davis, co-founder and joint managing director of Abundance Generation, the crowd-funding platform which commissioned the latest survey, said: “We’re now not only seeing majority public support for renewable energy, but people actively wanting to put their money in it too.
“Britain is a nation in love with property, so it’s no wonder this is at number one, but to see renewable energy favoured above old energy is a great vote of confidence in the sector.”
