Reference no: EM132185496

Homeowner Satisfaction with Low-carbon Heating Technologies.

In 2013, more than 80% of the new heating system installations in Germany were still based on oil or gas, but new legal obligations require the homeowner to cover a certain share of heat from renewable energy sources. In order to increase adoption of renewable energy sources in residential heating systems, a better understanding of the decision process underlying homeowner choices is required. As word-of-mouth communications from early adopters is key to driving faster adoption of renewable energy heating systems, an analysis of homeowner satisfaction will help drive information and education campaigns on clean energy technology for residential heating purposes. The process began with a self-administered mail survey distributed to 5,000 randomly selected homeowners of either existing or newly built homes in Germany, each of whom had received financial aid to install a new heating systems utilizing renewable energy sources within the last two years. The response rate was 59.7% (2,985), however some were eliminated due to gaps in responses or missing variables, resulting in N = 2135 observations for the full sample group. Of these N(existing homes) = 1238, and N(newly built homes) = 897. Respondents were asked to report their agreement with selected statements, to report their satisfaction via a 5-point Likert scale, and to provide attributes of their homes and socio-economic demographics. The resulting micro-data was analyzed using a multiple linear regression model. First, an ordinary least squares (OLS) regression was applied to help explain satisfaction levels. Second, ANOVA and t-tests were used to investigate differences between the two subgroups (newly built and existing homes) and types of heating systems chosen. The OLS model was easy to apply, with one dependent variable – homeowner satisfaction – measured through three Likert-scale questions. For the ANOVA and t-tests, the groups were segmented by heating type (GAS with solar support, OIL with solar support, HEAT Pump, WOOD pellet fired boiler), adopter age (over 65 or under 40), income, age, gender, geography. There were statistically significant differences in the choices of heating systems, with WOOD driving more satisfaction than other options. There was also a statistically significant difference in satisfaction for those with or without UNIVERSITY degrees (those with degrees were more likely to be dissatisfied). Estimation results show that motivational factors ATTITUDE, THREATS, COMFORT, PEERS, KNOWLEDGE and AGE have significant impacts on satisfaction, and are positively confirmed after the adoption decision. The resulting low R Squared value for each of the three models (full sample 0.267; existing homes 0.248; newly built homes 0.298) implies there is an additional variable explaining satisfaction based on long term perceived benefits or problems experienced. As the sample only included those who had adopted a greener heating system within two years, long term factors were not included in the analysis. These lurking variables limit how the application of linear association between the models and creates confounding issues.

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