Residential solar electricity adoption: What motivates, and what matters? A case study of early adopters

Energy Research and Social Science

Volumn 2, Issue , 2014, Pages 183-191

  Schelly, Chelsea ^a  

^a MICHIGAN TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

Adoption of innovation; Household adoption; Motivations for behavior; Residential solar electric technology

Indexed keywords

EID: 84904693026     PISSN: 22146296     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1016/j.erss.2014.01.001     Document Type: Article

References (82)

1. D.E. Nye Electrifying America: social meanings of a new technology, 1880-1940 1997 MIT Press Cambridge
2. J. Burgess, and M. Nye Rematerialising energy use through transparent monitoring systems Energy Policy 36 2008 4454 4459
3. P.R. Epstein, J.J. Buonocore, K. Eckerle, M. Hendryx, B.M. III Stout, and R. Heinberg et al. Full cost accounting for the life cycle of coal Ecol Econ Rev Annu NY Acad Sci 1219 2011 73 98
4. R. Hass, N. Nakicenovic, A. Ajanovic, T. Faber, L. Kranzi, and A. Müller et al. Towards sustainability of energy systems: a primer on how to apply the concept of energy services to identify necessary trends and policies Energy Policy 36 2008 4012 4021
5. G.T. Gardner, and P.C. Stern The short list: the most effective actions U.S. households can take to curb climate change Environment 50 2008 12 23
6. L. Sherwood U.S. Solar Market Trends 2010 2011 Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC) http://irecusa.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/IREC-Solar- Market-Trends-Report-June-2011-web.pdf [retrieved 27.0.12]
7. Solar Energy Industries Association. U.S. Solar Market Insight Report, Q3 Executive Summary. http://www.seia.org/sites/default/files/ oxD2AN83502013q3smies.pdf?key=59339046 [retrieved 19.12.13].
8. G. Brewer, and P.C. Stern Decision making for the environment: social and behavioural science research priorities 2005 National Academy of Engineering Washington, DC
9. C. Wilson, and H. Dowlatabai Models of decision making and residential energy use Annu Rev Environ Resour 32 2007 169 203
10. A. Hoffman, and R. Henn Overcoming the social and psychological barriers to green building Organ Environ 21 2008 390 419
11. L. Steg, and C. Vlek Encouraging pro-environmental behavior: an integrative review and research agenda J Environ Psychol 29 2009 309 317
12. R. Shwom, and J. Lorenzen Changing household consumption to address climate change: social scientific insights and challenges WIRES Climate Change 3 2012 379 395
13. P.C. Stern What psychology knows about energy conservation Am Psychol 47 1992 1224 1232
14. R.H. Wiser Green power marketing: increasing customer demand for renewable energy Utilities Policy 7 1998 107 119
15. C.F. Clark, M.J. Kotchen, and M.R. Moore Internal and external influences on pro-environmental behavior: participation in a green electricity program J Environ Psychol 23 2003 237 246
16. J.A. Lorenzen Green and smart: the co-construction of users and technology Res Hum Ecol 19 2012 25 36
17. S. Bamberg How does environmental concern influence specific environmentally related behaviors? A new answer to an old question J Environ Psychol 23 2003 21 32
18. S. Owens, and L. Driffill How to change attitudes and behaviours in the context of energy Energy Policy 36 2008 4412 4418
19. B. Ryan, and N.C. Gross The diffusion of hybrid seed cord in two Iowa communities Rural Soc 8 1943 15 24
20. E.M. Rogers New product adoption and diffusion J Consum Res 2 1976 290 301
21. A. Faiers, and C. Neame Consumer attitudes toward domestic solar power systems Energy Policy 34 2006 1797 1806
22. E.M. Rogers Diffusion of innovations 5th ed. 2010 Simon and Schuster New York
23. B.K. Sovacool What are we doing here? Analyzing fifteen years of energy scholarship and proposing a social science research agenda Energy Res Soc Sci 1 2014 1 29
24. P.C. Stern Individual and household interactions with energy system: toward integrated understanding Energy Res Soc Sci 1 2014 41 48
25. A. Faiers, M. Cook, and C. Neame Toward a contemporary approach for understanding consumer behaviour in the context of domestic energy use Energy Policy 35 2007 4381 4390
26. M. Desvaux The sustainability of human populations: how many people can live on Earth? Significance 4 2007 102 107
27. T. Heberlein Navigating environmental attitudes 2012 Oxford University Press New York
28. J.S. Black, P.C. Stern, and J.T. Elworth Personal and contextual influences on household energy adaptations J Appl Psychol 70 1985 3 21
29. T. Dietz, A. Dan, and R. Shwom Support for climate change policy: social psychological and social structural influences Rural Sociol 72 2007 185 214
30. S. Zahran, S.D. Brody, A. Vedlitz, M.G. Lacy, and C. Schelly Greening energy: explaining the geographic distribution of household solar use in the United States J Am Plann Assoc 74 2008 419 434
31. I. Ajzen, and M. Fishbein Attitude-behavior relations: a theoretical analysis and review of empirical research Psychol Bull 84 1977 888 918
32. I. Ajzen, and M. Fishbein Understanding attitudes and predicting social behavior 1980 Prentice-Hall Englewood Cliffs, NJ
33. I. Ajzen From intentions to actions: a theory of planned behavior J. Kuhl, J. Beckman, Action-control: from cognition to behavior 1985 Springer New York 11 39
34. I. Ajzen The theory of planned behavior Organ Behav Hum Decis Process 50 1991 179 211
35. S.H. Schwartz Normative explanations of helping behavior: a critique, proposal and empirical test J Exp Soc Psychol 9 1973 349 364
36. S.H. Schwartz Normative influences on altruism L. Berkowitz, Advances in experimental social psychology 1977 Academic Press New York 221 279
37. W.O. Dwyer, F.C. Leeming, M.K. Cobern, B.E. Porter, and J.M. Jackson Critical review of behavioral interventions to preserve the environment: research since 1980 Environ Behav 25 1993 275 321
38. T. Jackson Motivating sustainable consumption: a review of evidence on consumer behaviour and behavioural change Report to the Sustainable Development Research Network, Guildford, University of Surrey, Centre for Environmental Strategy 2005
39. L.J. Axelrod, and D.R. Lehman Responding to environmental concerns: what factors guide individual action? J Environ Psychol 13 1993 149 159
40. N. Fransson, and T. Gärling Environmental concern: conceptual definitions, measurement methods, and research findings J Environ Psychol 19 1999 369 382
41. W. Abrahamse, L. Steg, C. Vlek, and T. Rothengatter A Review of intervention studies aimed at household energy conservation J Environ Psychol 25 2005 273 291
42. W. Abrahamse, L. Steg, C. Vlek, and T. Rothengatter The effect of tailored information, goal setting, and tailored feedback on household energy use, energy-related behaviors, and behavioral antecedents J Environ Psychol 27 2007 265 276
43. T.L. Tudor, S.W. Barr, and A.W. Gilg A novel conceptual approach for examining environmental behavior in large organizations: a case study of the Cornwall National Health Service (NHS) in the United Kingdom Environ Behav 40 2008 426 450
44. M. Wackernagel, N.B. Schulz, D. Deumling, A. Callejas Linares, M. Jenkins, and V. Kapos et al. Tracking the ecological overshoot of humanity Proc Natl Acad Sci 99 2002 9266 9271
45. G. Loewenstein, and D. Prelec Anomalies in intertemporal choice: evidence and an interpretation Q J Econ 107 1992 573 597
46. S. Frederick, G. Loewenstein, and T. O'Donoghue Time discounting and time preference: a critical review J Econ Lit 40 2002 351 401
47. K. Zweibel Should solar photovoltaics be deployed sooner because of long operating life at low, predictable cost? Energy Policy 38 2010 7519 7530
48. T. Yates, and B. Hibberd Levelized costs of energy SolarPro April/May 2012 28 30
49. J. Goodell Big coal: the dirty secret behind America's energy future 2006 Houghton Mifflin New York
50. N. Myers Lifting the veil on perverse subsidies Nature 392 1998 327 328
51. T.S. Robertson Innovative behavior and communication 1971 Holt, Rinehart, and Winston New York
52. D.F. Midgley Innovation and new product marketing 1977 Halstead New York
53. D.F. Midgley, and G.R. Downing Innovativeness: the concept and its measurement J Consum Res 4 1978 229 242
54. G. Zaltman, and N. Lin On the nature of innovations Am Behav Sci 14 1971 651 673
55. L.E. Ostlund Perceived innovation attributes as predictors of innovativeness J Consum Res 1 1974 23 29
56. D.G. Labay, and T.C. Kinnear Exploring the consumer decision process in the adoption of solar energy systems J Consum Res 8 1981 271 278
57. A. Shama Speeding the diffusion of solar energy innovations Energy 7 1982 705 715
58. E.M. Rogers, and F.F. Shoemaker Communication of innovations: a cross-cultural approach 1971 Free Press New York
59. T. Hargreaves, M. Nye, and J. Burgess Making energy visible: a qualitative field study of how householders interact with feedback from smart energy monitors Energy Policy 38 2010 6111 6119
60. United States Energy Information Administration Electric Power Monthly. March 2012 2012 http://www.eia.gov/electricity/monthly/current-year/march2012. pdf [retrieved 28.07.12]
61. C. Schelly Testing residential solar thermal adoption Environ Behav 42 2010 151 170
62. C. Schelly Transitioning to renewable sources of electricity: motivations, policy, and potential D.L. Kleinman, K. Cloud-Hansen, J. Handelsman, Controversies in science and technology vol. 4 2014 Oxford University Press New York [forthcoming]
63. M.L. Small 'How many cases do I need?': on science and the logic of case selection in field-based research Ethnography 10 2009 5 38
64. C.W. Mills Situated actions and vocabularies of motive Am Sociol Rev 5 1940 904 913
65. S. Vaisey Motivation and justification Am J Sociol 114 2009 1675 1715
66. K. Charmaz Constructing grounded theory: a practical guide through qualitative analysis 2006 SAGE Publications London
67. A. Strauss, and J. Corbin Grounded theory in practice 1997 Sage London
68. K.M. Eisenhardt Building theories from case study research Acad Manage Rev 14 1989 532 550
69. L. Lutzenhiser Social and behavioral aspects of energy use Annu Rev Energy Environ 18 1993 247 289
70. K. Gram-Hanssen Domestic electricity consumption - consumers and appliances L.A. Reisch, I. Røpke, The ecological economics of consumption 2004 Edward Elgar Cheltenham, UK
71. M. Wackernagel, and W. Rees Our ecological footprint 1996 New Society Press British Columbia
72. N.J. Goldstein, R.B. Cialdini, and V. Griskevicius A room with a viewpoint: using social norms to motivate environmental conservation in hotels J Consum Res 35 2008 472 482
73. D.M. Gromet, H. Kunreuther, and R.P. Larrick Political ideology affects energy-efficiency attitudes and choices Proc Natl Acad Sci 110 2013 9314 9319
74. A. Hoffman Getting ahead of the curve: corporate strategies that address climate change 2006 The Pew Center on Global Climate Change Arlington, VA
75. G. Spaargaren Sustainable consumption: a theoretical and environmental policy perspective Soc Nat Resour 16 2003 687 701
76. G. Spaargaren, S. Martens, and T. Beckers Sustainable technologies and everyday life P.P. Verbeek, A. Slob, User behaviour and technology development: shaping sustainable relations between consumers and technologies 2006 Springer Dordrecht
77. M. Emirbayer, and A. Mische What is agency? Am J Sociol 103 1998 962 1023
78. M. Granovetter The strength of weak ties Am J Sociol 78 1973 185 220
79. R.E. O'Connor, R.J. Bord, and A. Fisher Risk perceptions, general environmental beliefs, and willingness to address climate change Risk Anal 19 1999 455 465
80. S.R. Brechin Comparative public opinion and knowledge on global climatic change and the Kyoto Protocol: the U.S. versus the world Int J Sociol Soc Policy 23 2003 106 134
81. J. Rifkin Third industrial revolution: how lateral power is transforming energy, the economy, and the world 2011 Palgrave Macmillan New York
82. E. Shove Beyond the ABC: climate change policy and theories of social change Environ Plan A 42 2010 1273 1285