This series presents research findings based either directly on data from the German Socio-Economic Panel study (SOEP) or using SOEP data as part of an internationally comparable data set (e.g. CNEF, ECHP, LIS, LWS, CHER/PACO). SOEP is a truly multidisciplinary household panel study covering a wide range of social and behavioral sciences: economics, sociology, psychology, survey methodology, econometrics and applied statistics, educational science, political science, public health, behavioral genetics, demography, geography, and sport science.The decision to publish a submission in SOEPpapers is made by a board of editors chosen by the DIW Berlin to represent the wide range of disciplines covered by SOEP. There is no external referee process and papers are either accepted or rejected without revision. Papers appear in this series as works in progress and may also appear elsewhere. They often represent preliminary studies and are circulated to encourage discussion. Citation of such a paper should account for its provisional character. A revised version may be requested from the author directly.Any opinions expressed in this series are those of the author(s) and not those of DIW Berlin. Research disseminated by DIW Berlin may include views on public policy issues, but the institute itself takes no institutional policy positions. The SOEPpapers are available at AbstractUsing representative household survey panel data from Germany, we undertake a simultaneous assessment of the importance of factors that have individually been found significant for the adoption of renewable energy systems but have never been tested jointly. These are sociodemographic and housing characteristics, environmental concern, personality traits, and economic factors, i.e. the expected costs of and revenue from the investment. Our results suggest that household decisions to invest in photovoltaic systems and solar thermal facilities are mainly driven by the economic factors.Taking account of sociodemographic and housing characteristics, environmental concern or personality traits has comparatively little relevance, while the quantitative nexus between the decision to invest and returns on the investment is robust to their inclusion.

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