Marine Energy Social and Economic Data Collection Toolkit

Marine energy projects have the potential to create significant benefits by stimulating economic growth, generating revenue, creating jobs, improving local infrastructure and services, and providing energy security and resilience. However, if projects are not carefully planned and do not include communities in the development process, there could be adverse effects or changes that do not align with local cultures and community values or that provide inequitable distribution of costs and benefits. Collecting social and economic data is necessary to anticipate these effects, and to develop and appropriately site marine energy projects that suitably address community needs, incorporate and address community values, and satisfy consenting requirements. Despite the importance of this information, consistent methodology for social and economic data collection to inform marine energy development is lacking. There is little documentation from past projects, and if documentation exists, it is not often clear how the social and economic data have been collected or analyzed. This toolkit aims to close some of these gaps by facilitating easy access to information on social and economic data, how to collect it (baseline and impacts), with examples; provide social science background for traditionally more technical audiences; and guide data collection efforts with a template.

This toolkit was initiated out of two workshops held at the European Wave and Tidal Energy Conference (Cork, Ireland, 2017) and Environmental Interactions of Marine Renewables (EIMR, Kirkwall, UK, 2018) by Offshore Renewables Joint Industry Programme (ORJIP) and Ocean Energy Systems-Environmental. Additional work on these topics is discussed in the 2020 State of the Science Report chapter on Social and Economic Data Collection, and has since been elevated through continuing work with the United States Department of Energy's (U.S. DOE) Water Power Technologies Office under the Deployment Readiness Framework.

Template for Data Collection

The template for data collection builds on the Good Management Practices for the collection of social and economic data for marine energy developed by OES-Environmental and the findings of the OES-Environmental 2020 State of the Science Report chapter on Social and Economic Data Collection. The intended audiences for these templates include marine energy developers and their consultants that need to conduct a socioeconomic assessment as part of their regulatory requirements; strategic planners at the government level that are interested in programmatic socioeconomic assessments (e.g., U.S. DOE); and researchers interested in assessing socioeconomic cumulative effects of marine energy.

The template organizes the social or economic data that can be collected for baseline and impact assessments by themes with 54 key metrics, provides resources and methods for how to collect that data and the typical units that are used in reporting that data. The last two columns are left blank for a user to fill in notes or data collected on the metrics selected.

Download the fillable template here. For more information on the metrics described, refer to the Social and Economic Data Tool below or the Definitions document.

Tool

The table below provides a list of metrics identified as common in the literature for social and economic data collection for marine energy and other relevant development projects. It is sortable by category and searchable by text to connect metrics with approaches for quantification. Full references for the definitions provided for each metric are available in the Definitions document.

View the Instructions document for detailed information on using the tool.

Category	Metrics	Synonyms or related metrics	Methods	Examples from marine energy	Examples from other relevant industries	Tools
Social	acceptance the positive or neutral reaction of citizens when a project is proposed in their local area	social license	choice experiment, contingent valuation, eye-tracking technology, indicator system, interviews, multi-criteria decision making matrix, participatory methodologies, perception studies, pestel analysis, principle component analysis, shared socioeconomic pathway narratives, social media analysis, survey	Posterari and Waseda 2022, Jenkins et al. 2018, DeSanti 2020	Zaunbrecker et al. 2016, Bidwell 2023, Dion 2019, Devine-Wright & Wiersma 2020, Kim et al. 2019, Westerberg et al. 2015, Walker et al. 2014, Rand & Hoen 2017, Rodriguez-Segura et al. 2023, Agyekum et al. 2021, Booth et al. 2022, Petrova et al. 2016
Social	accessibility the degree to which a process, product, device, service, environment, or facility is usable by as many people as possible		interviews, social life cycle assessment, structural equation modeling, survey		Alwah et al. 2021	UrbanAccess
Social	adaptation adjustment to changes in environmental or social conditions, particularly in the context of renewable energy	resilience capacity	framework, loop analysis, scenario planning, survey		Bennett et al. 2016, Firmansyah & Dharmawan	Climate Adaptation Knowledge Exchange
Social, Economic	aesthetics visual or other beauty-related aspects of a landscape or seascape		environmental impact assessment, focus group, GIS, interviews, participatory value mapping, principle component analysis, seascape landscape visual metholodology, spatial modeling, survey, vespa framework		Sullivan et al. 2013, White et al. 2020, BOEM 2021
Economic	affordability the state of being cheap enough for people to be able to buy		interviews, survey, techno-economic analysis		Dubois & Meier 2016, Deller 2018	(Un-named) TEA for Tidal Energy, State and Local Planning for Energy (SLOPE) Platform
Social, Economic	barriers / enablers the aspects of a project, process, or community that either facilitate or prevent success		GIS, interviews, workshop		Brummer 2018, Lucas et al. 2017, Petrova et al. 2016	(Un-named) PESTEL/SWOT framework
Social	behaviors human responses to change or patterns of resource use		hypothetical experiment, interviews, questionnaire		Klein & Coffey 2016
Economic	capacity a non-static aspect describing the human, technical, economic, or social resources available in a community to participate	adaptation resilience	case study, comprehensive vulnerability framework, economic analysis, focus group, fuzzy logic model, geospatial analysis, industry research, interviews, observations, participatory methodologies, scenarios, social capital analysis, structural equation modeling, survey	Marine Energy Wales 2020, Kazimierczuk et al. 2023	Tull et al. 2016	AEDG Community Metric Explorer
Economic	capital expenditure (CAPEX) an investment of money to aquire or upgrade fixed assets, typically a one-time cost that enables future growth		case study, economic analysis, GIS-te software tool, input-output model, scenarios	Draycott et al. 2018, Marine Energy Wales 2019, OES-Environmental 2020, Marine Energy Wales 2020, Têtu and Chozas 2021, Soukissian et al. 2023		Wall Street Prep Capex Guide
Social	climate concerns perspectives of individuals / community on the severity of impacts due to anthropogenic climate change or contributions to further environmental degradation		case study, economic framework, interviews, survey, workshop	Dreyer et al. 2017, Trueworthy and DuPont 2021	Brummer 2018, Hagen and Pijawka 2015	National Aggregates of Geospatial Data Collection (NAGDC)
Social, Economic	community benefits positive impacts to a broad societal group generated by a project	compensation	case study, economic model, focus group, hypothetical experiment, interviews, social impact assessment	Soukissian et al. 2023	Thomas et al. 2022
Social	community structure the relationships among the people, groups, institutions, stakeholders, and management of a community	demographics	census data, ethnographic fieldwork (participant observations), focus group, interviews, media content analysis, photovoice, Q study, social amplification of risk framework, social capital analysis, social impact assessment, theory of social structures, workshop		Equimar 2012, Gjorgievski et al. 2021, International Hydropower Association 2021	Energy Transitions Playbook
Economic	compensation payment or remuneration for work or services performed or for harm suffered	community benefits	equator principles, framework, life cycle assessment, risk assessment, social ecological model, survey		van Wijk et al. 2021, Kerr et al. 2017
Social, Economic	conflict any disagreement or difference of opinions between individuals or groups involved or impacted in the planning of a project		case study, fuzzy multi-criteria analysis, GIS, interviews, interviews, microgrid modeling, power system modeling, spatial modeling, survey, techno-economic analysis		Omenge et al. 2020, Akita et al. 2020	(Un-named) Spatial decision support tools
Economic	cost any aspect related to the payment required for items or services associated with a project	affordability levelized cost of energy (LCOE) capital expenditure (CAPEX) payback period	arcwind, cost breakdown structure, cost-benefit analysis, economic analysis, economic dispatch model, economic feasibility analysis, jedi model, multi-criteria decision making matrix, scenarios, simulations, static computable general equilibrium model, survey, techno-economic analysis	Hernández-Fontes et al. 2020	Robertson et al. 2020	DTOcean, REopt
Social, Economic	cultural values the core principles and ideals on which a community exists and relies upon. These can be linked to the physical landscape, social identity and beliefs, or knowledge and customs/history	place attachment vision	case study, contingent valuation, ethnographic fieldwork, focus group, hedonic valuation models, interviews, participatory methodologies, Q study, social capital analysis, social media analysis, spatial analysis, stakeholder analysis, survey, theory of social structures, value mapping, vespa framework		Loring & Hinzmann 2018	(Un-named) Spatial decision support tools
Social	demographics the social characteristics and statistics of a community, including: age, race, ethnicity, gender, education, employment, etc.	community structure education employment gender	analysis, census data, focus group, household survey, interviews, observations, policy and program analysis, workshop	Devine-Wright 2011, Marine Scotland Science 2015		CDC Social Vulnerability Index, Community Subsistence Information System, FEMA Resiliency Analysis and Planning Tool, My Tribal Area, National Aggregates of Geospatial Data Collection (NAGDC), US census data Bureau 2020 Population and Housing State Data, Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool
Social	displacement a situation in which people or traditional owners/users are forced to leave or feel excluded from a space where they have historically lived, visited, or operated within		case study, computable general equilibrium model, survey		Cohen & Pettit 2019, Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre 2018, Kafas et al. 2018	Displacement Risk Indicators, DISPLACE Spatial Model
Economic	economic feasibility the degree to which the economic advantages of something to be made, done, or achieved are greater than the economic costs		analytical hierarchy process method, dynamic computable equilibrium model, economic feasibility/viability analysis, focus group, fully modified ordinary least square (fmols) regression model, industry research, input-output model, interviews, jedi model, life cycle assessment, natural capital evaluation framework, portfolio model, Q methodology, qualititative descriptive analysis, short-run granger causality tests, survey, techno-economic analysis	An Economic Evaluation of Wave Energy Conversion Devices, Economic-financial modeling for marine current harnessing projects	EU Arcwind project, Filguiera-Vizoso et al. 2022, Pires et al. 2022, Castro-Santos & Filguiera-Vizoso 2019	(Un-named) TEA for Tidal Energy, DTOcean, HOMER Pro, REopt, RETScreen, Selkie MRE Technoeconomic GIS
Economic	ecosystem services the direct and indirect contributions of natural systems to human systems, including cultural, provisioning, regulating, and supporting services		case study, driver-activity-pressure-state-impact-response framework, ecosystem service assessments, GIS, interviews, natural capital evaluation framework, observations, participatory mapping, participatory methodologies, scenarios, survey, value mapping, vespa framework, workshop		Trifonova et al. 2022, Reyers et al. 2013, Brown et al. 2014	Critical Habitat Mapper, InVEST, InVEST Wave Energy Model component, Marine Mapping Tool
Social	education the level of formal schooling received by individuals in the community and the distribution of knowledge		census data, expert elicitation, indicator system, interviews, map tool, polls, Q methodology, survey, workshop		Smith 1995	USDA Economic Research Service
Social, Economic	emissions the term used to describe the gases and particles which are put into the air by various anthropogenic sources, typically focusing on carbon dioxide		dynamic computable equilibrium model, input-output model, life cycle assessment, model, short-run granger causality tests, swot analysis		Ewing-Thiel & Manarolla 2014	AirToxScreen, SCATTER
Economic	employment available jobs and work opportunities created by a project	income	census data data, economic impact analysis, economic model, indicator system, input-output model, interviews, microsimulation, Q methodology, social life cycle assessment, surveys, value chain analysis	Marine Energy Wales 2019, OES-Environmental 2020, Marine Energy Wales 2020, Quirapas and Taeihagh 2020, Marine Energy Wales 2021, Soukissian et al. 2023	US Bureau of Labor 2023	Community Subsistence Information System, My Tribal Area, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) Program, USDA Economic Research Service
Social	energy justice and equity the concepts of equity, affordability, accessibility, and participation in the energy system and energy transition regardless of race, nationality, income, or geographic location		case study, energy equity gap, energy justice metric (ejm) tool, environmental justice framework, interviews, policy and program analysis, social life cycle assessment, survey, vespa framework	Jenkins et al. 2018, Caballero et al. 2023	Levenda et al. 2021, Barlow et al. 2022, Heffron et al. 2022, Mueller & Brooks 2020, Energy Equity Framework 2022, Fortier et al. 2019, Energy Justice Workbook, Sovacool et al. 2019	Energy Justice Dashboard, Justice40 Map, SMILE Spatial Microsimulation, Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool
Economic	energy security the uninterrupted availability of energy at an affordable price	cost affordability	cost-benefit analysis, socioeconomic analysis, workshop	Manasseh et al. 2017, Quirapas and Taeihagh 2020, Kazimierczuk et al. 2023	Sovacool and Mukherjee 2011, Ralph & Hancock 2019	Assessment of Capabilities in Energy Security (ACES) Tool
Economic	exports resources, goods, and services that are produced domestically but sold abroad		case study, survey, workshop, computer general equilibrium model, interviews, comprehensive index		Carneiro et al. 2016, Ralph & Hancock 2019
Social, Economic	fisheries commercial, subsistence / cultural, or recreational harvest of fish, shellfish, or other species from the sea		ecological-economic agent-based model, environmental impact assessment, existing data from fisheries management, fishing effort data analysis, interviews, participatory methodologies, Q methodology, spatial analysis, static computable general equilibrium model, survey, workshop	Kazimierczuk et al. 2023	Qu et al. 2023, de Figueiredo Xavier et al. 2022, Munroe et al. 2022, Perry and Heyman 2020, Kleiber et al. 2018	Fishery Performance Indicators Tool, Global Fishing Watch, NOAA Community Social Vulnerability Indicators
Economic	funding money given by a government, organization, or other entity for an event or activity		case study, model, survey, techno-economic analysis, bibliometric analysis, social network study		Aleixandre-Tudo et al. 2019, Lam & Law 2018	EERE Exchange, European Commission SEDIA
Social	gender characterics or behavioral aspects of women, men, or other gender identies that are socially constructed, including norms, behaviors, and roles, as well as relationships and dynamics within a community		bibliometric and cluster analysis, industry surveys		Pearl-Martinez & Stephens 2016, Bagdi et al. 2023	GenderWave, WHO Gender Assessment Tool
Economic	grid aspects related to the existing electrical distribution system in a community and interconnection with broader regional systems		database, economic dispatch model, GIS Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis, survey		Cohen et al. 2022, Mendoza-Vizcaino et al. 2019, Amaro et al. 2022	REopt
Economic	gross value added (GVA) the amount generated by any unit engaged in the production of goods and services, used to measure the contribution made by an industry or sector and is calculated by the output minus consumption		case study, computable general equilibrium model, economic dispatch model, input-output model, scenarios, stochastic modeling, value chain analysis, workshop	Marine Scotland Science 2015, OES-Environmental 2020, University of Edinburgh 2021, Soukissian et al. 2023
Social	health the physical and mental wellness of individuals in a community	well-being	census data, indicator system, interviews, media content analysis, self-assessment, social amplification of risk framework, survey	Soukissian et al. 2023		AirToxScreen, Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool
Economic	income The payment people or organizations receive for providing labor, resources, or services		census data, comprehensive vulnerability framework, interviews, survey	Soukissian et al. 2023		Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) Program, USDA Economic Research Service, US census data Bureau 2021 Income in the US
Economic	levelized cost of energy (LCOE) summary metric that combines the primary technology cost and performance parameters: capital expenditures, operations expenditures, and capacity factor	cost affordability	case study, cost analysis, cost-benefit analysis, economic viability/feasibility analysis, fuzzy multi-criteria analysis, GIS, microgrid modeling, power system modeling, remote community optimization model, scenarios, simulation, techno-economic analysis	Têtu and Chozas 2021	Filguiera-Vizoso et al. 2022	DTOcean, State and Local Planning for Energy (SLOPE) Platform
Economic	livelihood a means of making a living that encompasses individual or group capabilities, assets, income and activities required to secure the necessities of life	well-being	case study, econometric models, household survey, interviews, spatial-dpsir, survey		Andrews et al. 2021
Social	navigation aspects related to the movement of vessels in the ocean, navigable waterways, or around a marine energy project		big data, case study, environmental impact assessment, fuzzy comprehensive evaluation theory, GIS, navigation risk assessments, spatial model, survey, workshop		Rawson et al. 2022, Mehdi et al. 2018	Kpler Marine Traffic
Economic	net present value (NPV) a formula used to determine the current value of an investment, project, or business in the future incorporating discounting		cost-benefit analysis, economic analysis, economic feasibility analysis, swot analysis, techno-economic analysis	Kim et al. 2012	Filguiera-Vizoso et al. 2022, Castro-Santos & Filguiera-Vizoso 2019	Economics of Energy Efficiency Calculator, NPV Calculator
Social	participation involvement of individuals or groups in any aspect of a project		analysis of public dialogue, case study, focus group, interviews, modular participatory processes, observations, semi-systematic narrative meta-synthesis, social life cycle assessment, survey, vespa framework, workshop		Park et al. 2022, Klain et al. 2015, IRENA 2021
Economic	payback period the number of years required to recover the original cash investment	cost affordability	cost-benefit analysis, economic feasibility analysis, techno-economic analysis		Filguiera-Vizoso et al. 2022	Omni Calculator
Social	perceptions a belief or opinion, held by individuals or groups about how things seem		case study, census data, cluster analysis, expert elicitation, fisheries management toolbox, focus group, integrated model of behavioral prediction, interviews, participant observations, participatory methodologies, pestel analysis, procedural analysis, public meeting, scenario planning, stakeholder analysis, survey	Beyond LCOE: A multi-criteria evaluation framework for offshore renewable energy projects	Scottish Government 2022, Petrova et al. 2016, Glasson et al. 2022	(Un-named) Interdisciplinary framework
Social	place attachment the emotional bond between person and place	cultural values	interviews, participatory methodologies, perception studies, survey	Devine-Wright 2011, Jenkins et al. 2018, DeSanti 2020	Thomas et al. 2022
Social, Economic	policies and governance formal or informal structures of leadership and the ideas or plans used for decision-making in development of projects		case study, expert elicitation, interviews, msp, policy analysis, review of legislation, strategic environmental assessment, survey, workshop		Lynn et al. 2000, Fischer & Miller 2017, Patton & Sawicki 2013	Marine Energy Toolkit, Renewable Energy Permitting Wizard
Social, Economic	resilience the capacity to tolerate, absorb, cope with, and adjust to changing social, economic or environmental conditions while retaining key elements of structure, function, and identity	adaptation capacity	case study, focus group, GIS, interviews, participant observation, participatory methodologies, scenarios, social vulnerability mapping, survey	Quirapas and Taeihagh 2020, Kazimierczuk et al. 2023	Silver et al. 2019, Sterling et al. 2017	Energy Resilience in the Public Sector State and Local Solution Center, FEMA Resiliency Analysis and Planning Tool, RADE: Resilience Assessment & Data Explorer, State Energy Resilience
Social	risk a measure of the extent to which someone or a community is threatened by a potential circumstance or event, and includes i) the severity of adverse impacts if the event occurs, and ii) the likelihood of occurrence		case study, PESTEL analysis, risk analysis, cost-benefit analysis, focus group, interviews, survey	Kazimierczuk et al. 2023		Ready.gov Risk Assessment Tool
Social	safety being protected from harm or danger or the precautions taken to avoid harm to individuals or a community		big data, GIS, indicator system, interviews, social impact assessment		Shiau & Chuen-Yu 2016
Social	social license refers to the perceptions of local stakeholders that a project, a company, or an industry that operates in a given area or region is socially acceptable or legitimate	acceptance	case study, discrete choice survey, focus group, interviews, participatory methodologies, social impact assessment, stakeholder analysis, survey	Kazimierczuk et al. 2023
Social	spatial aspects This term contains aspects of marine spatial planning, co-users of ocean space, topography, distribution of resources and people across a landscape, and all other spatially represented information. Note that this term is not a metric itself, but rather a categorization of types various types of data.		case study, ecospace model, GIS, marine spatial plan, participatory mapping, participatory methodologies, spatially continuous resource economic analysis model, visual impact assessment quantiative indicators, workshop	Marine Scotland Science 2015, Soukissian et al. 2023		(Un-named) GIS multi-criteria decision analysis, (Un-named) Interdisciplinary framework, (Un-named) Spatial decision support tools, Critical Habitat Mapper, InVEST Wave Energy Model component, Marine Cadastre National Viewer, Marine Energy Atlas, Marine Energy Toolkit, National Aggregates of Geospatial Data Collection (NAGDC), Renewable EnerGIS, Renewable Energy Data Explorer, Selkie MRE Technoeconomic GIS, SMILE Spatial Microsimulation, Tribal Energy Atlas, WavEC Oasis
Economic	supply chain sequence of processes involved in the production and distribution of a commodity		case study, deployment scenarios, survey, value chain analysis	Marine Energy Wales 2019, OES-Environmental 2020, Marine Energy Wales 2020, University of Edinburgh 2021, Marine Energy Wales 2021
Economic	tourism impacts a broad concept encapsulating the direct, indirect, and induced effects of projects on existing tourism or recreational opportunities		combined travel cost-contingent survey, crowd-sourced photographs, environmental impact assessment, focus group, GIS, interviews, media content analysis, mixed logit model, participant observations, participatory methodologies, preference surveys, principle component analysis, recreation model, regression model, semi-systematic narrative meta-synthesis, short-run granger causality tests, stakeholder analysis, stated preference study, survey, tourism and recreation impact assessment, vacation rental data, value mapping, workshop	Marine Energy Wales 2020, Voke et al. 2013	Machado & de Andres 2023, Sessions et al. 2016, Unhasuta et al. 2021, Kalvet et al. 2020, Canteiro et al. 2018
Social	trust the degree to which a community or individuals perceive governance structures, authorities, organizations or processes to be fair, reliable, and in their best interests		case study, interviews, observations, Q methodology, social capital analysis, survey	Simas et al. 2012	Firestone et al. 2020
Social	vision comprises the community values, wishes, fears and desires for the future.	cultural values	guide, Q study, workbook, interviews		Loring & Hinzmann 2018
Social, Economic	vulnerability the susceptibility of an individual, a community, assets, or system to the impacts of hazards due to the conditions determined by physical, social, economic, and environmental factors or processes		ai chatbot, case study, composite index of key pressures, comprehensive vulnerability framework, computable general equilibrium model, focus group, GIS, indicator-based vulnerability assessment framework, interviews, loop analysis, observations, participatory methodologies, Q methodology, scenarios, semi-structured interviews, social capital analysis, spatial-dpsir, stakeholder analysis, survey, vulnerability index		Heleno et al. 2022, Tull et al. 2016	CDC Social Vulnerability Index, FEMA Resiliency Analysis and Planning Tool, NOAA Community Social Vulnerability Indicators, State and Local Planning for Energy (SLOPE) Platform
Social, Economic	well-being Social: an end state in which basic human needs safety, health, happiness) are met and people are able to coexist peacefully in communities with opportunities for advancement. Economic: having ones most basic survival needs met and sustainable income and assets so to prosper	livelihood health	analysis, case study, community wellbeing framework, decision support tool: community vibrancy dashboard, focus group, indicator development, interviews, media content analysis, participant observations, participatory methodologies, Q methodology, survey, workshop	OES-Environmental 2020, Soukissian et al. 2023	Hattam et al. 2015, Thomas et al. 2022, Szymkowiak et al. 2021, Gollan & Barclay 2020	NOAA Community Social Vulnerability Indicators

Additional sources of information on the toolkit and process of development are available below.

Freeman, M.; Rose, D.; Kaplan, M. (2024). Assessing Social and Economic Effects of Marine Energy: Tools and Recommendations. Paper presented at the Pan-American Marine Energy Conference (PAMEC 2024), Barranquilla, Colombia. https://tethys.pnnl.gov/publications/assessing-social-economic-effects-marine-energy-tools-recommendations
Rose, D.; Freeman, M.; Kaplan, M. (2023). Informing development of a socioeconomic data collection toolkit for marine energy: a literature review. Paper presented at 15th European Wave and Tidal Energy Conference (EWTEC 2023), Bilbao, Spain. DOI: 10.36688/ewtec-2023-397. https://tethys.pnnl.gov/publications/informing-development-socioeconomic-data-collection-toolkit-marine-energy-literature
OES-Environmental State of the Science 2024 - Chapter on Social and Economic Effects (Coming in July 2024!)
Deployment Readiness Framework

If there are any updates you'd like to suggest or remaining questions, please reach out to deborah.rose@pnnl.gov.