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Title: New trends in solar: A comparative study assessing the attitudes towards the adoption of rooftop PV

Abstract

The factors affecting the adoption of conventional solar PV have been broadly addressed in the recent literature. However, it is still to determine the public's acceptance of innovations of the traditional solar PV architecture. Building applied photovoltaic technology (BAPV) is a technological innovation that can be installed over existing building surfaces. This study compares an evaluation of the conscious and subconscious attitudinal, control and normative beliefs of American homeowners when randomly primed with two brochures depicting the purchasing, installation, and commissioning of solar PV systems, developed according to the characteristics of conventional and an adhesive “plug and play” BAPV system. The survey instrument (N = 400 survey participants) was designed in consonance to the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB). When comparing the direct measures for each solar PV technology, no significant differences were found. This may indicate that for those unfamiliar with PV technology, placing an adhesive backing module on the roof is standard procedure and does not impact purchasing intentions. The evaluation further showed that unlike the subconscious control beliefs, social norms and attitudes have a significant impact on forming intentions to adopt solar PV. The implications of these findings for strategy, policy and future research are explored.

Authors:
 [1];  [1];  [1]
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  1. Fraunhofer Center for Sustainable Energy Systems CSE, Boston, MA (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Fraunhofer Center for Sustainable Energy Systems CSE, Boston, MA (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Renewable Power Office. Solar Energy Technologies Office
OSTI Identifier:
1613327
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 1547858
Grant/Contract Number:  
EE0006035; 1541148
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Energy Policy
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 128; Journal ID: ISSN 0301-4215
Publisher:
Elsevier
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
14 SOLAR ENERGY; building-applied photovoltaics (BAPV); solar PV; PV adoption; Theory of Planned Behavior; structural equation modeling

Citation Formats

Abreu, Joana, Wingartz, Nathalie, and Hardy, Natasha. New trends in solar: A comparative study assessing the attitudes towards the adoption of rooftop PV. United States: N. p., 2019. Web. doi:10.1016/j.enpol.2018.12.038.
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Abreu, Joana, Wingartz, Nathalie, & Hardy, Natasha. New trends in solar: A comparative study assessing the attitudes towards the adoption of rooftop PV. United States. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2018.12.038
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Abreu, Joana, Wingartz, Nathalie, and Hardy, Natasha. Tue . "New trends in solar: A comparative study assessing the attitudes towards the adoption of rooftop PV". United States. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2018.12.038. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1613327.
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@article{osti_1613327,
title = {New trends in solar: A comparative study assessing the attitudes towards the adoption of rooftop PV},
author = {Abreu, Joana and Wingartz, Nathalie and Hardy, Natasha},
abstractNote = {The factors affecting the adoption of conventional solar PV have been broadly addressed in the recent literature. However, it is still to determine the public's acceptance of innovations of the traditional solar PV architecture. Building applied photovoltaic technology (BAPV) is a technological innovation that can be installed over existing building surfaces. This study compares an evaluation of the conscious and subconscious attitudinal, control and normative beliefs of American homeowners when randomly primed with two brochures depicting the purchasing, installation, and commissioning of solar PV systems, developed according to the characteristics of conventional and an adhesive “plug and play” BAPV system. The survey instrument (N = 400 survey participants) was designed in consonance to the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB). When comparing the direct measures for each solar PV technology, no significant differences were found. This may indicate that for those unfamiliar with PV technology, placing an adhesive backing module on the roof is standard procedure and does not impact purchasing intentions. The evaluation further showed that unlike the subconscious control beliefs, social norms and attitudes have a significant impact on forming intentions to adopt solar PV. The implications of these findings for strategy, policy and future research are explored.},
doi = {10.1016/j.enpol.2018.12.038},
journal = {Energy Policy},
number = ,
volume = 128,
place = {United States},
year = {Tue Jan 15 00:00:00 EST 2019},
month = {Tue Jan 15 00:00:00 EST 2019}
}
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Journal Article:
Free Publicly Available Full Text
Publisher's Version of Record
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2018.12.038
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Cited by: 40 works
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Figures / Tables:

Figure 1 Figure 1: Calculation of direct measures
All figures and tables (29 total)
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    Figures / Tables found in this record:

    Figure 1 (p. 11)figure
    Figure 2 (p. 13)figure
    Table 1 (p. 14)table
    Table 2 (p. 15)table
    Table 3 (p. 16)table
    Table 4 (p. 16)table
    Figure 3 (p. 18)figure
    Table 5 (p. 19)table
    Figure 4 (p. 21)figure
    Figure 5 (p. 21)figure
    Table 6 (p. 23)table
    Table 7 (p. 23)table
    Table 8 (p. 24)table
    Table A1 (p. 36)table
    Table A2 (p. 38)table
    Table B1: Part 1 (p. 40)table
    Table B1: Part 2 (p. 41)table
    Table B1: Part 3 (p. 42)table
    Table B1: Part 4 (p. 43)table
    Appendix C (p. 44)figure
    Figure D1 (p. 46)figure
    Table D1 (p. 46)table
    Table D2 (p. 47)table
    Table D3 (p. 47)table
    Table D4 (p. 48)table
    Table E1 (p. 48)table
    Table E2 (p. 49)table
    Table E3 (p. 50)table
    Table E4 (p. 51)table
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