Solar Water Heating in Queensland: The Roles of Innovation Attributes, Attitudes and Information in the Adoption Process

Foster, John

doi:10.1080/08109029308629355

Cited by 8 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…The OU/EST surveys show that microgeneration space and water heating systems currently mainly attracts 'pioneers' interested in innovative green technologies and able to pay the upfront installation costs, who are also driven by a desire to reduce their carbon emissions coupled with the hope to save money and enjoy the pleasure of using low or zero carbon energy. These findings reinforce our previous research on the drivers for UK consumer adoption of household renewables [15], as well as that of similar research in Germany, Austria, Australia and the USA [16][17][18]. Our surveys identify those considering or adopting microgeneration -estimated to be limited to about 1 3 % of British householders [8] -as currently largely confined to a niche market of environmentally concerned, middle class householders, and mainly those living in larger rural properties off the UK's mains gas network.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Adoption and Use of Household Microgeneration Heat Technologies

Caird¹,

Roy²

2010

LCE

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The development and rapid household adoption of smallscale, low and zero carbon microgeneration technologies are key elements of UK and EU strategies to meet the challenge of climate change. Microgeneration heat technologies, including solar thermal hot water, heat pumps and biomass heating systems, have an especially important role in reducing the carbon emissions from buildings. But despite government policies to promote microgeneration, adoption by UK householders is very slow. Surveys by the Open University and Energy Saving Trust examined why over 900 UK householders decided to adopt these technologies and why many do not. These surveys describe the niche market for microgeneration heat as largely confined to environmentally concerned, older, middleclass householders, mainly living in larger properties off the mains gas network. Although these pioneer adopters are generally highly satisfied, for microgeneration heat to expand beyond its market niche, several issues need to be addressed, including: price reductions and subsidies? independent information on the suitability, performance, payback and effective use of equipment? ‘one- stop’ support from consideration to operation? improved system compatibility with smaller properties and existing buildings and heating systems? and more userfriendly and informative controls

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Adoption and Use of Household Microgeneration Heat Technologies

Caird¹,

Roy²

2010

LCE

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“…The most prevalent factor was 'lack of knowledge', which was analysed in nine studies and regarded as a significantly negative vote in seven studies [72,73]. The vote-counting results were indecisive for 'safety' and 'complexity' [8,74].…”

Section: Technical Predictorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Residential Solar Water Heater Adoption Behaviour: A Review of Economic and Technical Predictors and Their Correlation with the Adoption Decision

et al. 2021

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The successful deployment of the solar water heater (SWH) in the residential sector relies on the household’s bounded rational decision-makers to accept this system. The decision is shaped by a wide spectrum of predictors that form heterogeneous behaviour. Over the past years, research has employed a wide range of these predictors to understand their role in the decision and predict the behaviour and diffusion rate of SWHs. This review primarily identifies economic and technical predictors of 100 quantitative and qualitative studies on the residential SWH adoption decision. For the identified predictors, their characteristics and popularity are explored in a structured and coherent framework. The review further investigates the correlation between the identified predictors and the adoption decision from 97 of the 100 initially reviewed studies. The outcome of the research revealed 123 (56 economic and 67 technical) predictors that were classified into seven categories. ‘Financial incentives’ and ‘perceived attitude towards government policies’ are among the most popular economic predictors, whereas ‘house type’ and ‘knowledge of SWH’ were the most frequent technical factors in the research. Analysing the correlation between 99 predictors and the decision also unfolded that certain attitudinal attributes have a stronger influence on the residential SWH take-up than some common factors (e.g., electricity cost, technical variables).

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Improving the energy performance of UK households: Results from surveys of consumer adoption and use of low- and zero-carbon technologies

2008

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This paper presents results from a UK Open University project which surveyed consumers' reasons for adoption, and non-adoption, of energy efficiency measures and renewable energy systems -collectively called low and zero carbon technologies -and their experiences of using these technologies. Data was gathered during 2006 via an online questionnaire with nearly 400 responses, plus 111 in-depth telephone interviews. The respondents were mainly environmentally-concerned, 'green' consumers and therefore these are purposive rather than representative surveys. The paper outlines results, for four energy efficiency measures (loft insulation, condensing boilers, heating controls, and energy-efficient lighting) and four household renewables (solar thermal water heating, solar photovoltaics, micro-wind turbines and wood-burning stoves). These green consumers typically adopted these technologies to save energy, money and/or the environment, which many considered they achieved despite rebound effects. The reasons for considering but rejecting these technologies include the familiar price barriers, but there were also other obstacles that varied according to the technology concerned. Nearly a third of the surveyed consumers had adopted household renewables, over half of which were wood stoves and 10% solar thermal water heating systems. Most adopters of renewables had previously installed several energy efficiency measures, but only a fifth of those who seriously considered renewables actually installed a system. This suggests sell energy efficiency first, then renewables. There seems to be considerable interest in household renewables in the UK, especially among older, middle-class green consumers, but so far only relatively few pioneers have managed to overcome the barriers to adoption.

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Solar Water Heating in Queensland: The Roles of Innovation Attributes, Attitudes and Information in the Adoption Process

Cited by 8 publications

References 3 publications

Adoption and Use of Household Microgeneration Heat Technologies

Adoption and Use of Household Microgeneration Heat Technologies

Residential Solar Water Heater Adoption Behaviour: A Review of Economic and Technical Predictors and Their Correlation with the Adoption Decision

Improving the energy performance of UK households: Results from surveys of consumer adoption and use of low- and zero-carbon technologies

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