An Analysis and System Proposal Regarding Social Acceptance of Geothermal Development with Mathematical-Sociology Approach

地熱発電の社会受容性に関する数理社会学的分析と制度提案

Although Japan has the third-largest geothermal potential in the world, its installed capacity of geothermal power plants ranks in 10th globally. One of the reasons why the geothermal development has been stagnant in Japan is the oppositions from local hot spa owners. This problem is academically classified as social acceptance of geothermal development, and previous studies conducted detailed case studies to find out how to improve the social acceptance and to build a successful consensus among stakeholders. This study aims to suggest effective knowledge and systems contributing to the improvement of social acceptance of geothermal development by applying mathematical-sociology methods such as game theory and agent-based simulation to the analysis of the consensus-building situations.

日本は世界第３位の地熱資源量を有しているが、実際の設備容量では世界第１０位であり、地熱開発はあまり進んでいない。開発の阻害要因として、温泉関係者からの反対という社会的課題が存在する。この研究では、ゲーム理論やAgent-Based Simulationといった数理社会学の手法を活用し、合意形成の状況を分析することで、地熱発電の社会受容性向上に資する知見や制度提案を目指す。