Effective information channels for reducing costs of environmentally- friendly technologies: evidence from residential PV markets
By Varun Rai, Scott A. Robinson. 2013
192 citations recorded by the source corpus.
Realizing the environmental benefits of solar photovoltaics (PV) will require reducing costs associated with perception, informational gaps and technological uncertainties. To identify opportunities to decrease costs associated with residential PV adoption, in this letter we use multivariate regression models to analyze a unique, household-level dataset of PV adopters in Texas (USA) to systematically quantify the effect of different information channels on aspiring PV adopters’ decision-making. We find that the length of the decision period depends on the business model, such as whether the system was bought or leased, and on special opportunities to learn, such as the influence of other PV owners in the neighborhood. This influence accrues passively through merely witnessing PV systems in the neighborhood, increasing confidence and motivation, as well as actively through peer-to-peer communications. Using these insights we propose a new framework to provide public information on PV that could drastically reduce barriers to PV adoption, thereby accelerating its market penetration and environmental benefits. This framework could also serve as a model for other distributed generation technologies.
Subfields: Economics and Econometrics, Pollution, Sociology and Political Science
View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/f6eedf88f92ad6a7afcd54e1ba094980a0f0be6a
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In Pollution
In Sociology and Political Science
Citations in the corpus
- A meta-analysis of residential PV adoption: the important role of perceived benefits, intentions and antecedents in solar energy acceptance (2021, background): “Accelerating the diffusion of rooftop solar photovoltaics through peer effects and social norms 2018 Energy Policy [142] Y Y Y Y N N 55 The technology of the middle class: Understanding the fulfillment of adoption intentions in Queensland’s rapid uptake residential solar photovoltaics market 2018 Re”
- Understanding the uneven diffusion of building-scale renewable energy systems: A review of household, local and country level factors in diverse European countries (2017, background): “Even though there is evidence that people learn from each other both passively by observing systems and actively, by exchanging experiences [82], there are also other factors that explain the spatially uneven adoption of building-scale renewable energy systems, namely local organizations and promoti”