1 - 10 of 10
-
PublicationBeauty and the budget: A segmentation of residential solar adopters(Elsevier, 2019-06-07)The transition to renewable energy supply of buildings, especially distributed solar power, is a key element of climate change mitigation. As the policy landscape is shifting and financial incentives for renewables are increasingly phased out, a nuanced understanding of homeowners' intention to install solar panels is key for reaching a broad market appeal. By analysing a dataset of 408 Swiss homeowners' stated preferences in the context of building retrofits, this paper identifies two key segments of likely solar adopters, including a premium segment preferring coloured and building integrated solar modules, and a value segment with more price-sensitive customers. Differences between likely adopters and likely non-adopters, as well as between two distinct segments of likely adopters, are investigated along sociodemographic, psychographic, and social aspects. Our analysis shows that aesthetic aspects of solar panels are key for expanding the customer base, and that likely adopters are more likely than likely non-adopters to be surrounded by neighbours, friends, and relatives who have already installed solar panels. Our results also reveal that the premium segment cares more about aesthetic aspects in general purchasing decisions and shows higher ecological concern than the value segment.Type:Journal:Volume:Issue:
-
PublicationFeel good, stay green: Positive affect promotes pro-environmental behaviors and mitigates compensatory “mental bookkeeping” effects(Academic Press, 2018-04)To counteract climate change people should adopt lifestyles consisting of numerous pro-environmental actions, across different domains, sustained over long time periods. Thus, it is important to understand how initial pro-environmental behaviors can impact the likelihood of subsequent behaviors. We tested the hypothesis that people use mental bookkeeping of past behaviors, allowing them to limit pro-environmental behaviors after having performed similar ones, and investigated the role of affect in this context. Participants read campaign messages framed affectively neutral (Experiment 1) or positive/negative (Experiment 2), followed by fictitious scenarios in which they could perform a second pro-environmental behavior after having shown a first one. Participants indicated a smaller willingness to act pro-environmentally if the behaviors were similar. Positive affect increased the likelihood of showing subsequent behaviors and mitigated negative spillover driven by behavioral similarity. However, the observed effect sizes are too small to be of practical relevance for developing efficient intervention strategies.Type:Journal:Volume:
Scopus© Citations 57 -
PublicationWhat are retail investors' risk-return preferences towards renewable energy projects? A choice experiment in Germany(Elsevier, 2016-10)Citizens own nearly half the renewable energy generation capacity in Germany and have been important drivers of the country's energy transition. In contrast to citizens' important role in financing renewable energies, the energy policy and economics literature has traditionally focused on other investors, such as incumbent energy firms. To close this gap, this paper reports on a large-scale survey of 1,990 German retail investors. Conducting a choice experiment with the subset of 1,041 respondents who expressed an interest in investing in community renewable energy projects, we present a unique dataset allowing for new insights in risk-return expectations of retail investors. We find that apart from return on investment, respondents are particularly sensitive to the minimum holding period and the issuer of community renewable energy investment offerings. A minimum holding period of 10 years implies a risk premium of 2.76% points. A subsequent segmentation analysis shows that two groups of potential community renewable energy investors with different risk-return expectations can be identified: “local patriots” and “yield investors”. In contrast to professional investors, a majority of retail investors use simple decision rules such as calculating payback time or relying on their gut feeling when making investments.Type:Journal:Volume:
Scopus© Citations 101 -
PublicationWhat makes people seal the green power deal? - Customer segmentation based on choice experiment in Germany(Elsevier Science, 2014-09-10)Consumers have the power to contribute to creating a more sustainable future by subscribing to green electricity tariffs. In order to reach consumers 'beyond the eco-niche', identifying the drivers that positively influence the adoption of green electricity is of fundamental importance. This paper examines various factors that help to explain the extent to which green electricity subscribers differ from those that display strong preferences towards green electricity but have not yet 'walked the talk'. By making use of a latent class segmentation analysis based on choice-based conjoint data, this paper identifies three groups of potential green electricity adopters with varying degrees of preference for renewable energy. Findings indicate that socio-demographic factors play a marginal role in explaining the differences between green electricity subscribers and potential adopters, with the exception that actual adopters tend to be better educated. Analysis of psychographic and behavioral features reveals that adopters tend to perceive consumer effectiveness to be higher, place more trust in science, tend to estimate lower prices for green electricity tariffs, are willing to pay significantly more for other eco-friendly products and are more likely to have recently changed their electricity contract than non- adopters. Policy recommendations associated with these findings are provided.Type:Journal:Volume:Issue:
Scopus© Citations 111 -
PublicationDisclosure of Energy Operating Cost Information: A Silver Bullet for Overcoming the Energy-Efficiency Gap?(Springer, 2012-03)Consumers frequently act contrary to rational economic theory by overvaluing an initially higher purchase price while heavily discounting future energy operating costs. One opportunity to help limit the scale of over-discounting is to fully disclose the energy consumption of a product, e.g., by means of an energy label. However, not only the availability of information, but also the way in which specific information about the energy consumption is framed, is likely to affect how individuals discount future operating costs. A cost accuracy estimation experiment reveals that disclosing annual energy operating costs for the product category of televisions might risk assisting consumers in realising that the possible energy operating cost savings fall below initial estimates. A subsequent choice-based conjoint experiment shows that disclosing annual energy operating costs thus affects consumers by causing them to discount future energy operating costs of a television more heavily than when the information is disclosed in the form of 'watts.' Owing to the power of the reversed 'pennies-a-day' effect, disclosing lifetime energy operating cost information, however, proves to be most effective in guiding consumers towards more energy-efficient shopping behaviour. Implications for consumer policy and suggestions for future research are discussed.Type:Journal:Volume:Issue:
-
PublicationIntroduction and theoretical framework(Physica-Verlag, 2013)Consumption is a key lever to achieving more sustainable development. Unsustainable consumption is a major cause of global environmental deterioration, including overexploitation of renewable resources and pollution caused by fossil fuels. The European Environmental Agency report "Household Consumption and the Environment" (EEA, 2005) identifies the need areas of food, housing, personal travel and mobility as well as tourism as the four major areas of household consumption with the highest negative environmental impacts.Type:Issue:
-
PublicationFirm Strategies and Political Instruments(Physica, 2013)
-
PublicationResults of the SECO@Home Household Survey and Discrete Choice Analysis (Conjoint Studies)(Physica, 2013)
-
PublicationConsumer survey on the new format of the European Energy Label for televisions - Comparison of a "A-G closed" versus a "beyond A" scale format(ZEW, 2009-08-25)Since the mid 90s, the European Union has had a compulsory label which shows the energy efficiency class for different kinds of household appliances so that consumers could determine the energy efficiency of a labelled household appliance more easily. However, the embrace of innovation has led to the development of so many energy-efficient products that for many product categories, the highest class of the scale has already been achieved or even surpassed. The EU Energy label has become a victim of its own success with too many appliances crowded in the top of the scale, and is now about to be revised by the Commission. The purpose of this paper is to provide evidence on the effect of two discussed labelling schemes on consumer decisions regarding investigated choices for televisions. We aim to demonstrate the difference in magnitude of the effect of both schemes in realistic choice experiments in order to define how to best move forward from a policy and a marketing perspective.
-
PublicationPreferences for green electricity and eco-labels: empirical results from a market segmentation analysis in Germany( 2013-08-20)Consumers have the power to contribute to a more sustainable future by subscribing to green electricity tariffs. In order to reach consumers "beyond the eco-niche" and to develop targeted messaging, exploring the drivers that positively influence the adoption of green electricity is of fundamental importance. The research described in this paper examined various factors that help to explain the extent to which subscribers to green electricity tariffs ('Adopters') differ from potential adopters. By making use of a latent class segmentation analysis based on choice-based conjoint data the research identified three segments into which potential green electricity adopters can be classified. Findings indicate a marginal role for socio-demographic factors, although Adopters tend to be more highly educated than non-adopters. Additionally, psychographic features of Adopters tend to include a higher level of climate concern, greater expectations about consumer effectiveness and a tendency to envisage lower prices for future green tariffs. These findings highlight the importance of providing information to the customer about the value and benefits of green electricity. Policy recommendations associated with these findings are provided.
