Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
  • Publication
    Beauty and the budget: A segmentation of residential solar adopters
    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.
  • Publication
    Red is the new blue – The role of color, building integration and country-of-origin in homeowners ’ preferences for residential photovoltaics
    The wider diffusion of solar photovoltaics (PV) is crucial to lower the environmental impact of the residential sector, which is responsible for a large share of energy consumption in many industrialized countries, including Switzerland. By conducting an adaptive choice-based conjoint (ACBC) with a representative sample of Swiss homeowners planning to undertake a roof renovation project, we investigate the extent to which financial and non-financial factors drive homeowners’ preferences for PV in Switzerland. We reveal that the color and country of origin of the PV modules are the main drivers for increasing share of preference for PV. In addition, we estimate the price premium that homeowners are willing to payfor building-integrated PV (BIPV) versus rack-mounted PV. We find a premium in willingness to pay of 21.79% for a roof with a BIPV installation in comparison with a rack-mounted PV installation. We further show that an increase in revenues from electricity sales (e.g. via feed-in tariffs), when transparently disclosed over an aggregated time frame, would be almost equally effective in spurring demand for PV as a decrease of initial investment costs (e.g. via one-off investment grants). Implications for energy policy and marketing are discussed.
    Scopus© Citations 34