Designing linked journey maps to understand the complexities of the residential solar energy market
Name
1-s2.0-S0960148119308298-main.pdf
Description
Accepted version
Size
3.08 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
d61b159ac0734b895931f398138a2a89
Author(s)
Sinitskaya, Ekaterina
Gomez, Kelley J
Bao, Qifang
Yang, Maria C
MacDonald, Erin F
Date Issued
2020
Journal
Renewable Energy
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Version
Author's final manuscript
Abstract
© 2019 A journey map is a visual representation of a process undertaken by a person, and is related to product use and human-centered design. Here, we introduce combined (linked) journey mapping techniques and use them to capture a complex system—residential solar panel purchase and installation—from the perspectives of both the homeowner and the installer at the same time. Few studies have analyzed the installer, who we found significantly influences the homeowner's decisions. The advantage of the linked journey map over individual journey maps is that it decreases subjectivity of findings as “pain points” worthy of further study, and modeling can be verified from two or more vantage points. We demonstrate these maps as a semi-formal analytical tool to categorize, parameterize, and unite insights affecting both stakeholders. We gathered data from in-depth interviews with homeowners and installers and built individual journey maps. Then we identified interactions between the two, and merged their two maps to identify points on the journey that create difficulty or frustration. These maps provide comprehensive insight analysis for later surveys and agent-based model creation. We found that post-contract stages were filled with pain points. Both homeowners and installers found the lack of communication between all stakeholders, slow permit processing times and lack of assistance from utilities and housing jurisdictions, and lack of standardization for the permitting process to be painful.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering
Terms of Use
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License
Persistent DSpace Link
DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1016/J.RENENE.2019.06.018
