Author

Melissa Dahl

Date of Award

Spring 2011

Document Type

Thesis

Department

Political Science

First Advisor

Patrick Donnay

Abstract

Some nations have considerably more renewable energy policies than others and this research is attempting to discover why. Renewable energy use is quickly growing in our world and has become a major topic in today’s politics. Existing literature suggests various theories as to why some nations have more renewable energy policies than others. I test these theories with data from two major data sources; REN21, the Renewable Energy Policy Network for the 21st Century, and the International Energy Agency. I anticipate that nations with a larger number of effective political parties, higher GDPs, and larger population would have more renewable energy policies because there would be more citizens voicing their opinions about using greener technology and implementing stricter regulations for the use of green technology. If these results are confirmed they will shed light on the keys to developing more green energy policies.

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