Acceptability of genetically engineered algae biofuels in Europe: opinions of experts and stakeholders

Varela Villarreal, Jessica; Burgués, Cecilia; Rösch, Christine

doi:10.1186/s13068-020-01730-y

Biotechnology for Biofuels and Bioproducts

Table 8 p values after Spearman’s rank order correlation coefficients between sociodemographic ordinal variables (Appendix A: Table 4) and opinion ordinal variables (Appendix A: Table 5)

From: Acceptability of genetically engineered algae biofuels in Europe: opinions of experts and stakeholders

Sociodemographic ordinal variables	Opinion ordinal variables	Spearman’s rank order coefficient	p value
Age	Expected benefits of GE algae biofuel compared to established biofuels
	Less environmental impact	− 0.17	0.025
	Reduced GHG emissions and climate change	− 0.19	0.023
	No competition with food	− 0.02	0.915
	Superior engine performance	− 0.09	0.268
	New rural jobs	− 0.13	0.389
	Reduced fuel import dependency	0.03	0.637
	Expected benefits of GE algae biofuel compared to fossil fuels
	Less environmental impact	− 0.05	0.345
	Reduced GHG emissions and climate change	− 0.05	0.391
	Less occupational risk	− 0.25	0.326
	New rural jobs	− 0.06	0.807
	Reduced fuel import dependency	− 0.02	0.949
	Expected benefits of GE algae biofuel compared to natural strains
	Improve productivity	− 0.23	0.148
	Require less energy	− 0.23	0.109
	Need less nutrients uptake	− 0.18	0.326
	Need less use of fresh water	− 0.08	0.902
	Improve the controllability of the process	− 0.2	0.355
	Improve economic feasibility	− 0.19	0.554
	GMOs should partially replace fossil fuels	− 0.02	0.255
	Perceptions of social acceptance of GE algae biofuel
	Opinion about general social acceptance	− 0.15	0.167
	Variation of public acceptance in case of using gene-editing techniques	− 0.04	0.662
	Opinion about regulating gene-edited organisms as GMOs	0.09	0.665
	General risk perception of fuels/power sources
	Fossil fuels	0.06	0.528
	Established biofuels	0.01	0.858
	GE algae biofuel	0.06	0.972
	Solar photovoltaic power	0.06	0.851
	Wind power	0.07	0.907
	Hydropower	− 0.02	0.897
Educational level	Expected benefits of GE algae biofuel compared to established biofuels
	Less environmental impact	0.02	0.044
	Reduced GHG emissions and climate change	− 0.03	0.001
	No competition with food	0.12	0.058
	Superior engine performance	− 0.04	0.314
	New rural jobs	0.06	0.040
	Reduced fuel import dependency	− 0.02	0.126
	Expected benefits of GE algae biofuel compared to fossil fuels
	Less environmental impact	0.04	0.158
	Reduced GHG emissions and climate change	− 0.06	0.085
	Less occupational risk	− 0.08	0.619
	New rural jobs	0.02	0.068
	Reduced fuel import dependency	− 0.13	0.071
	Expected benefits of GE algae biofuel compared to natural strains
	Improve productivity	0.01	0.598
	Require less energy	− 0.03	0.021
	Need less nutrients uptake	0.06	0.696
	Need less use of fresh water	0.03	0.860
	Improve the controllability of the process	− 0.06	0.321
	Improve economic feasibility	− 0.05	0.313
	GMOs should partially replace fossil fuels	− 0.02	0.420
	Perceptions of social acceptance of GE algae biofuel
	Opinion about general social acceptance	− 0.09	0.927
	Variation of public acceptance in case of using gene-editing techniques	0.04	0.776
	Opinion about regulating gene-edited organisms as GMOs	0.06	0.216
	General risk perception of fuels/power sources
	Fossil fuels	− 0.08	0.933
	Established biofuels	0.05	0.740
	GE algae biofuel	− 0.07	0.335
	Solar photovoltaic power	0.04	0.637
	Wind power	− 0.15	0.780
	Hydropower	− 0.16	0.086
Experience in algae industry	Expected benefits of GE algae biofuel compared to established biofuels
	Less environmental impact	0	0.927
	Reduced GHG emissions and climate change	− 0.11	0.659
	No competition with food	0.01	0.397
	Superior engine performance	− 0.01	0.624
	New rural jobs	− 0.06	0.828
	Reduced fuel import dependency	0.03	0.727
	Expected benefits of GE algae biofuel compared to fossil fuels
	Less environmental impact	− 0.11	0.560
	Reduced GHG emissions and climate change	− 0.11	0.822
	Less occupational risk	0.04	0.928
	New rural jobs	− 0.01	0.989
	Reduced fuel import dependency	− 0.02	0.977
	Expected benefits of GE algae biofuel compared to natural strains
	Improve productivity	− 0.06	0.416
	Require less energy	0.03	0.488
	Need less nutrients uptake	− 0.04	0.256
	Need less use of fresh water	0.08	0.107
	Improve the controllability of the process	− 0.06	0.953
	Improve economic feasibility	− 0.15	0.174
	GMOs should partially replace fossil fuels	0.04	0.366
	Perceptions of social acceptance of GE algae biofuel
	Opinion about general social acceptance	0	0.657
	Variation of public acceptance in case of using gene-editing techniques	0.02	0.666
	Opinion about regulating gene-edited organisms as GMOs	− 0.02	0.410
	General risk perception of fuels/power sources
	Fossil fuels	− 0.09	0.450
	Established biofuels	− 0.02	0.951
	GE algae biofuel	− 0.02	0.784
	Solar photovoltaic power	− 0.02	0.714
	Wind power	− 0.03	0.808
	Hydropower	− 0.06	0.835

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ISSN: 2731-3654

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