Diffusion of environmentally-friendly energy technologies: buy versus lease differences in residential PV markets

By Varun Rai, Ben Sigrin. 2013

166 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Diffusion of microgeneration technologies, particularly rooftop photovoltaic (PV), represents a key option in reducing emissions in the residential sector. We use a uniquely rich dataset from the burgeoning residential PV market in Texas to study the nature of the consumer’s decision-making process in the adoption of these technologies. In particular, focusing on the financial metrics and the information decision-makers use to base their decisions upon, we study how the leasing and buying models affect individual choices and, thereby, the adoption of capital-intensive energy technologies. Overall, our findings suggest that the leasing model more effectively addresses consumers’ informational requirements and that, contrary to some other studies, buyers and lessees of PV do not necessarily differ significantly along socio-demographic variables. Instead, we find that the leasing model has opened up the residential PV market to a new, and potentially very large, consumer segment—those with a tight cash-flow situation.

Subfields: Economics and Econometrics, Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/a11399e84aefe2d7953ba68c41e702108771808d

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In Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment

Citations in the corpus

Explaining interest in adopting residential solar photovoltaic systems in the United States: Toward an integration of behavioral theories (2017, background): “Some studies eference Rogers’ [20] diffusion of innovations theory to explain the nfluence of information channels and peer effects on RPV adoption 15,17], others evaluate the extent to which adopters engaged in ational economic evaluations of RPV [8] , while still others examine eterminants of adop”
Three is a crowd? Exploring the potential of crowdfunding for renewable energy in the Netherlands (2016, methodology): “, 2012) and as a leasing model (Rai and Sigrin, 2013), while it has also been dubbed as company control model with a relatively small role for the consumer of electricity who is only providing the site of the microgeneration system (Sauter and Watson, 2007).”