Information Searching in the Residential Solar PV Market
Name
Information Searching in the Residential Solar PV Market - Final Submission.pdf
Description
Accepted version
Size
431.94 KB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
2cf0c185e83d67f4689b1d8be2a706ed
Author(s)
Pless, Jacquelyn
Fell, Harrison
Sigrin, Ben
Date Issued
October 2020
Journal
Energy Journal
Publisher
International Association for Energy Economics (IAEE)
Citation
Pless, Jacquelyn et al. "Information Searching in the Residential Solar PV Market." Energy Journal 41, 4 (October 2020): dx.doi.org/10.5547/01956574.41.4.jple.
Version
Author's final manuscript
Abstract
This paper examines the consumer information search behavior of households in San Diego County with solar photovoltaic (PV) systems. We focus on whether solar PV households financing the technology through third-party ownership (TPO) versus host-ownership (HO), which is equivalent to leasing or buying goods in other markets, have heterogeneous preferences as reflected by information search. Conditional on adoption, we find that TPO households tend to seek more information on home modifications required for solar installation whereas HO households seek more information on the financial returns of solar investments. These preferences may be correlated with the consumption of other goods and services, and thus, if used to inform marketing strategies, our results could help reduce solar PV customer acquisition costs and accelerate technology diffusion. They also have indirect implications for marketing goods and services in other contexts where consumers exhibit similar preferences.
MIT Department
Sloan School of Management
Terms of Use
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike
Persistent DSpace Link
DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.5547/01956574.41.4.jple
