Acceptance of decentralized renewable energy systems: Psychological exploration of the individual pursuit of autarky
Team
Prof. Dr. Hans Spada Principal Investigator | Franz Ecker PhD Candidate |
Abstract
The German Government has set a national move towards decentralized energy production via renewable sources. It is assumed that German homeowners will play an essential part in fulfilling this ambitious goal. Previous studies on photovoltaic systems (PV) showed that the aspiration of autarky is a strong predictor of homeowners’ attitude towards PV, which in turn affects their purchase intentions.We expect that consumers’ pursuit of energy-autarky and self-sufficiency influence their investment decisions. Findings on the impact of energy-autarky and self-sufficiency may provide valuable implications for the design of energy management and storage technologies. Especially, systems allowing individuals to produce and manage their own energy might match with homeowners’ pursuit of autarky and self-sufficiency. Research will be focused on how these decentralized energy systems are being perceived in terms of advantages and disadvantages.