Understanding the Evolution of Customer Motivations and Adoption Barriers in Residential Solar Markets: Survey Data
This research focused on accelerating solar photovoltaic (PV) diffusion by collecting new market data and developing predictive modeling frameworks to test and refine understandings of household level motivations for adopting solar.
Three different household-level surveys were fielded: one for households who had installed PV on their current home or had signed a contract to do so (the Adopter survey), one for households that had seriously considered PV but had not installed it (the Considerer survey), and one for the general population who did not have PV on their current home (the general population survey or GPS). Survey respondents were from four U.S. states: New Jersey, New York, Arizona, and California. Details of recruiting and sampling are documented below.
Research projects on residential PV adoption often collect data only from PV adopters or from the general population. One of the innovations of this project was the three-pronged household survey data collection. By collecting similar data from three fairly different "statuses" with respect to adoption, the surveys provide a basis for understanding how those who do not have rooftop PV differ from those who have, for how and why people do (or don't) transition from not having to having rooftop PV on their home, and for understanding the characteristics and viewpoints of households who have scarcely, or not at all, entered the "PV consideration" track. All three surveys covered single-family owner-occupied households in each of the four target states used in the project -- Arizona, California, New Jersey, and New York - allowing a comparative approach to understanding how the factors that affect PV adoption vary by geography and policy conditions.
The General Population and Considerer surveys provide a basis for understanding opinions about and interest in solar, and how these relate to household demographics and other conditions. Paired with the Adopter survey, they also provide data for understanding how those who do not have rooftop PV differ from those who have, and for how and why people do (or don't) transition from not having to having rooftop PV on their home. The Adopter survey questions were designed to capture a broad range of information on what motivates and impedes households to install rooftop PV, as well as the details and timing of the decision and installation. Survey instrument development drew from existing PV adoption survey instruments, PV adoption literature, and research team experience, as well as from past work on household interest in energy efficiency, environmental attitudes, purchasing tendencies, and related knowledge. Early interviews and discussions with installers and others in the PV industry were also taken into consideration.
Citation Formats
TY - DATA
AB - This research focused on accelerating solar photovoltaic (PV) diffusion by collecting new market data and developing predictive modeling frameworks to test and refine understandings of household level motivations for adopting solar.
Three different household-level surveys were fielded: one for households who had installed PV on their current home or had signed a contract to do so (the Adopter survey), one for households that had seriously considered PV but had not installed it (the Considerer survey), and one for the general population who did not have PV on their current home (the general population survey or GPS). Survey respondents were from four U.S. states: New Jersey, New York, Arizona, and California. Details of recruiting and sampling are documented below.
Research projects on residential PV adoption often collect data only from PV adopters or from the general population. One of the innovations of this project was the three-pronged household survey data collection. By collecting similar data from three fairly different "statuses" with respect to adoption, the surveys provide a basis for understanding how those who do not have rooftop PV differ from those who have, for how and why people do (or don't) transition from not having to having rooftop PV on their home, and for understanding the characteristics and viewpoints of households who have scarcely, or not at all, entered the "PV consideration" track. All three surveys covered single-family owner-occupied households in each of the four target states used in the project -- Arizona, California, New Jersey, and New York - allowing a comparative approach to understanding how the factors that affect PV adoption vary by geography and policy conditions.
The General Population and Considerer surveys provide a basis for understanding opinions about and interest in solar, and how these relate to household demographics and other conditions. Paired with the Adopter survey, they also provide data for understanding how those who do not have rooftop PV differ from those who have, and for how and why people do (or don't) transition from not having to having rooftop PV on their home. The Adopter survey questions were designed to capture a broad range of information on what motivates and impedes households to install rooftop PV, as well as the details and timing of the decision and installation. Survey instrument development drew from existing PV adoption survey instruments, PV adoption literature, and research team experience, as well as from past work on household interest in energy efficiency, environmental attitudes, purchasing tendencies, and related knowledge. Early interviews and discussions with installers and others in the PV industry were also taken into consideration.
AU - Sigrin
A2 - Dietz
A3 - Henry
A4 - Ingle
A5 - Lutzenhiser
A6 - Moezzi
A7 - Spielman
A8 - Stern
A9 - Todd
A10 - Tong
A11 - Wolske
DB - Open Energy Data Initiative (OEDI)
DP - Open EI | National Renewable Energy Laboratory
DO -
KW - Residential Solar
KW - Surveys
KW - SEEDS
KW - Technology Adoption
KW - Customer
KW - solar photovoltaic
KW - PV
KW - solar adoption
KW - rooftop
KW - pv consideration
KW - Arizona
KW - California
KW - New Jersey
KW - New York
KW - geographic consideration
KW - USA
LA - English
DA - 2017/05/22
PY - 2017
PB - National Renewable Energy Laboratory
T1 - Understanding the Evolution of Customer Motivations and Adoption Barriers in Residential Solar Markets: Survey Data
UR - https://data.openei.org/submissions/8162
ER -
Sigrin, et al. Understanding the Evolution of Customer Motivations and Adoption Barriers in Residential Solar Markets: Survey Data. National Renewable Energy Laboratory, 22 May, 2017, NREL. https://data.nrel.gov/submissions/68.
Sigrin, Dietz, Henry, Ingle, Lutzenhiser, Moezzi, Spielman, Stern, Todd, Tong, & Wolske. (2017). Understanding the Evolution of Customer Motivations and Adoption Barriers in Residential Solar Markets: Survey Data. [Data set]. NREL. National Renewable Energy Laboratory. https://data.nrel.gov/submissions/68
Sigrin, Dietz, Henry, Ingle, Lutzenhiser, Moezzi, Spielman, Stern, Todd, Tong, and Wolske. Understanding the Evolution of Customer Motivations and Adoption Barriers in Residential Solar Markets: Survey Data. National Renewable Energy Laboratory, May, 22, 2017. Distributed by NREL. https://data.nrel.gov/submissions/68
@misc{OEDI_Dataset_8162,
title = {Understanding the Evolution of Customer Motivations and Adoption Barriers in Residential Solar Markets: Survey Data},
author = {Sigrin and Dietz and Henry and Ingle and Lutzenhiser and Moezzi and Spielman and Stern and Todd and Tong and Wolske},
abstractNote = {This research focused on accelerating solar photovoltaic (PV) diffusion by collecting new market data and developing predictive modeling frameworks to test and refine understandings of household level motivations for adopting solar.
Three different household-level surveys were fielded: one for households who had installed PV on their current home or had signed a contract to do so (the Adopter survey), one for households that had seriously considered PV but had not installed it (the Considerer survey), and one for the general population who did not have PV on their current home (the general population survey or GPS). Survey respondents were from four U.S. states: New Jersey, New York, Arizona, and California. Details of recruiting and sampling are documented below.
Research projects on residential PV adoption often collect data only from PV adopters or from the general population. One of the innovations of this project was the three-pronged household survey data collection. By collecting similar data from three fairly different "statuses" with respect to adoption, the surveys provide a basis for understanding how those who do not have rooftop PV differ from those who have, for how and why people do (or don't) transition from not having to having rooftop PV on their home, and for understanding the characteristics and viewpoints of households who have scarcely, or not at all, entered the "PV consideration" track. All three surveys covered single-family owner-occupied households in each of the four target states used in the project -- Arizona, California, New Jersey, and New York - allowing a comparative approach to understanding how the factors that affect PV adoption vary by geography and policy conditions.
The General Population and Considerer surveys provide a basis for understanding opinions about and interest in solar, and how these relate to household demographics and other conditions. Paired with the Adopter survey, they also provide data for understanding how those who do not have rooftop PV differ from those who have, and for how and why people do (or don't) transition from not having to having rooftop PV on their home. The Adopter survey questions were designed to capture a broad range of information on what motivates and impedes households to install rooftop PV, as well as the details and timing of the decision and installation. Survey instrument development drew from existing PV adoption survey instruments, PV adoption literature, and research team experience, as well as from past work on household interest in energy efficiency, environmental attitudes, purchasing tendencies, and related knowledge. Early interviews and discussions with installers and others in the PV industry were also taken into consideration. },
url = {https://data.nrel.gov/submissions/68},
year = {2017},
howpublished = {NREL, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, https://data.nrel.gov/submissions/68},
note = {Accessed: 2025-05-03}
}
Details
Data from May 22, 2017
Last updated Dec 18, 2024
Submitted May 22, 2017
Organization
National Renewable Energy Laboratory
Contact
Ben Sigrin
Authors
Original Source
https://data.nrel.gov/submissions/68Research Areas
Keywords
Residential Solar, Surveys, SEEDS, Technology Adoption, Customer, solar photovoltaic, PV, solar adoption, rooftop, pv consideration, Arizona, California, New Jersey, New York, geographic consideration, USADOE Project Details
Project Name Understanding the Evolution of Customer Motivations and Adoption Barriers in Residential Photovoltaics Markets
Project Number EE0026154