Drivers of renewable technology adoption in the household sector

Abstract

This series presents research findings based either directly on data from the German Socio-Economic Panel study (SOEP) or using SOEP data as part of an internationally comparable data set (e.g. CNEF, ECHP, LIS, LWS, CHER/PACO). SOEP is a truly multidisciplinary household panel study covering a wide range of social and behavioral sciences: economics, sociology, psychology, survey methodology, econometrics and applied statistics, educational science, political science, public health, behavioral genetics, demography, geography, and sport science.The decision to publish a submission in SOEPpapers is made by a board of editors chosen by the DIW Berlin to represent the wide range of disciplines covered by SOEP. There is no external referee process and papers are either accepted or rejected without revision. Papers appear in this series as works in progress and may also appear elsewhere. They often represent preliminary studies and are circulated to encourage discussion. Citation of such a paper should account for its provisional character. A revised version may be requested from the author directly.Any opinions expressed in this series are those of the author(s) and not those of DIW Berlin. Research disseminated by DIW Berlin may include views on public policy issues, but the institute itself takes no institutional policy positions. The SOEPpapers are available at AbstractUsing representative household survey panel data from Germany, we undertake a simultaneous assessment of the importance of factors that have individually been found significant for the adoption of renewable energy systems but have never been tested jointly. These are sociodemographic and housing characteristics, environmental concern, personality traits, and economic factors, i.e. the expected costs of and revenue from the investment. Our results suggest that household decisions to invest in photovoltaic systems and solar thermal facilities are mainly driven by the economic factors.Taking account of sociodemographic and housing characteristics, environmental concern or personality traits has comparatively little relevance, while the quantitative nexus between the decision to invest and returns on the investment is robust to their inclusion.

Factors Affecting Sustainable Market Acceptance of Residential Microgeneration Technologies. A Two Time Period Comparative Analysis

“…The finding indicates that cost was a barrier and had persisted over the years, even if microgeneration system installation has become less expensive, despite the fact that subsidies have reduced the total budget need. This finding is consistent with the wider literature and the status quo in other countries; Palm and Tengvard [47] reported that Swedish households rejected small-scale photovoltaic panel (PV) and micro wind turbine installation because of financial considerations, Balcombe et al [42] pointed out that British consumers were not willing to pay extra for the environmental benefits that microgeneration technologies offered, Jacksohn et al [98] noted that German household investments in PV and solar thermal systems were mainly driven by economic factors, while Graziano and Gillingham [102] indicated that installation and operation cost were important factors for the installation of PV systems in American (Connecticut) households. Besides, as Palm [103] has noted for the case of PV adoption in Sweden, cost was a barrier persisting over the years, although installation became cheaper due to lower product costs and the application of subsidy schemes.…”

“…This result comes as no surprise if not considered collectively [46,97]. Besides, subsidies efficiency has been studied before, proving that individuals are more likely to proceed with upgrading their residence energy efficiency using microgeneration systems when rebates are offered, as reported for the cases of Sweden [98], Italy [99], and the United States [100]. Thus, the government should consider, after providing more information to the public about the domestic microgeneration systems, further increasing the subsidiaries budget [101].…”

Spatial Characteristics of the Diffusion of Residential Solar Photovoltaics in Urban Areas: A Case of Seoul, South Korea

“…As of 2017, all of the district governments offer this subsidy (only 1 in 2014, 5 in 2015, and 14 in 2016). Similarly, the revenues and costs mainly affect the decision of installation for residential solar PVs [ 34 ]. Meanwhile, a recent study [ 35 ] suggested that the decision factors to uptake RSPVs differ between earlier and later adopters.…”

Preferences for Nuclear Power in Post-Fukushima Japan: Evidence from a Large Nationwide Household Survey

“…Most found that people tend to prefer renewable energy [19][20][21][22][23]. After the Fukushima nuclear accident, as some previous studies identified, the public's view on the reliability of nuclear energy worsened, while it raised the profile of renewable energy, which drew the attention of the world [8,[24][25][26][27]. In Japan, public support for and trust in nuclear power have visibly collapsed after the Fukushima accident [28,29].…”