Generating electricity from solar energy is a way for households to participate in the ongoing transition to decarbonized and more decentralized energy systems. A large empirical literature has examined the drivers and barriers associated with household solar PV adoption. An emerging strand of this literature investigates what distinguishes earlier adopters from later adopters and non-adopters. However, there is yet limited understanding of the differences between earlier and later adopters, as few papers have applied formal statistical models to compare different customer segments. The present study addresses this gap. We examine how the factors that influence household solar PV choices differ between earlier adopters, potential adopters – households that have considered installing solar PV but have not yet done so – and non-adopters. We analyze these choices using rich data from a household-level survey conducted in Finland. The findings show that the adoption of solar PV is linked to a multitude of socio-demographic and financial factors and personal motivations. There are clear differences in the motives and perceptions of adopters, potential adopters, and non-adopters. Accounting for such differences between customer segments will help to better design and target public policy instruments and marketing campaigns that aim to incentivize and nudge households toward solar PV investments.
https://decarbonhome.fi/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/DecarbonHome_light.png00Niina Pykäläinenhttps://decarbonhome.fi/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/DecarbonHome_light.pngNiina Pykäläinen2023-06-22 11:59:282023-11-07 12:01:18Ruokamo, E., Laukkanen, M., Karhinen, S., Kopsakangas-Savolainen, M. & Svento, R. (2023). Innovators, followers and laggards in home solar PV: Factors driving diffusion in Finland.
Climate change places great pressure on the construction sector to decrease its greenhouse gas emissions and to create solutions that perform well in changing weather conditions. Our study explores citizen perceptions on wood usage as a building material under expected mitigation and adaptation measures aimed at a changing climate and extreme weather events. The data are founded on an internet-based survey material collected from a consumer panel from Finland and Sweden during May–June 2021, with a total of 2015 responses. By employing exploratory factor analysis, we identified similar belief structures for the two countries, consisting of both positive and negative views on wood construction. In linear regression models for predicting these beliefs, the perceived seriousness of climate change was found to increase positive views on wood construction but was insignificant for negative views. Both in Finland and Sweden, higher familiarity with wooden multistory construction was found to connect with more positive views on the potential of wood in building, e.g., due to carbon storage and material properties. Our findings underline the potential of wood material use as one avenue of climate change adaptation in the built environment. Future research should study how citizens’ concerns for extreme weather events affect their future material preferences in their everyday living environments, also beyond the Nordic region.
https://decarbonhome.fi/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/DecarbonHome_light.png00Kaarina Kaminenhttps://decarbonhome.fi/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/DecarbonHome_light.pngKaarina Kaminen2022-07-27 19:45:002022-09-12 19:46:05Vehola, A., Hurmekoski, E., Lähtinen, K., Ruokamo, E., Roos, A., Toivonen, R. & Toppinen, A. (2022.) Citizen beliefs concerning wood as a construction material under extreme weather events.
Puun käyttö kerrostalorakentamisessa on noussut mielenkiintoiseksi vaihtoehdoksi kaupunkiympäristössä, sillä puu toimii rakennuksissa pitkäaikaisena hiilivarastona. Tutkimuskatsauksemme keskittyi kokoamaan yhteen puukerrostalorakentamisen markkinoiden kasvun keskeisiä esteitä ja mahdollistavia tekijöitä, tunnistamaan alan keskeisiä toimijoita sekä käytettyjä tutkimusmenetelmiä. Synteesi muodostui vuosien 2000–2020 aikana ilmestyneistä vajaasta 700 artikkelista Web of Science ja Scopus-tietokannoissa, joista 42 artikkelia valikoitui lopulliseen sisältöanalyysiin. Tulosten mukaan puukerrostalorakentamisen yleistymistä tukee erityisesti teollisen esivalmistuksen mahdollistama kustannustehokkuus sekä erityisesti kuluttajien ja arkkitehtien näkemykset puumateriaalien eduista kestävän kehityksen näkökulmasta. Olemassa olevaa tutkimusta hallitsevat tapaustutkimukset, laadullisten aineistojen käyttö ja maantieteellinen keskittyminen Pohjoismaihin.
Abstract
Climate change sets high pressures on the construction industry to decrease greenhouse gas emissions. Due to the carbon storage properties and potential to use renewable resources efficiently, wooden multi-storey construction (WMC) is an interesting alternative for the construction industry to enhance sustainable development combined with the aesthetic and well-being benefits of wood perceived among many consumers. For forest industry firms, industrial wood construction is a possibility to seek for business opportunities and bring socio-economic benefits for local economies. Despite positive drivers, WMC still remains a niche even in the forest-rich countries.The purpose of our study is to add understanding on the WMC market development by conducting a systematic literature analysis on international peer-reviewed studies from the past 20 years. Our special focus is on the role of WMC in the housing markets studied from the perspectives of the demand, supply and local governance factors. As specific aims, we 1) synthesize the key barriers and enabling factors for the WMC market growth; 2) identify the actors addressed in the existing studies connected to the WMC market development, and 3) summarize research methods and analytical approaches used in the previous studies. As a systematic method to make literature searches in Web of Science and Scopus for years 2000–2020, we employed PRISMA guidelines. By using pre-determined keywords, our searches resulted in a sample of 696 articles, of which 42 full articles were after selection procedure included in-depth content analysis. Our results showed cost-efficiency gains from industrialized prefabrication and perceived sustainability benefits by consumers and architects enabled a WMC market diffusion. The lack of experiences on the WMC, and path dependencies to use concrete and steel continue to be key barriers for increased WMC. Although our research scope was the global WMC market development, most of the literature concerned the Nordic region. The key actors covered in the literature were businesses (e.g., contractors, manufacturers and architects) involved in the wood construction value-chains, while residents and actors in the local governance were seldomly addressed. Currently, case studies, the use of qualitative data sets and focus on the Nordic region dominate the literature. This hinders the generalizability of findings in different regional contexts. In the future, more research is needed on how sustainability-driven wood construction value-chains are successfully shaping up in different geographical regions, and how they could challenge the dominant concrete-based construction regime.
https://decarbonhome.fi/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/DecarbonHome_light.png00Kaarina Kaminenhttps://decarbonhome.fi/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/DecarbonHome_light.pngKaarina Kaminen2022-05-24 19:19:052022-05-24 19:19:06Jussila J., Nagy E., Lähtinen K., Hurmekoski E., Häyrinen L., Mark-Herbert C., Roos A., Toivonen R., Toppinen A. (2022). Wooden multi-storey construction market development – systematic literature review within a global scope with insights on the Nordic region.