Use of Solar Electricity: Is it a matter of standard of living? Evidence from Sri Lanka

Abstract

In the fast-moving technological world, innovations such as Renewable Energy Sources available in the form of Solar Electricity have started playing a significant role in people’s day-to-day lives. The impact of changes or expected changes in a given population’s Standard of living as a reason for such a dramatic shift in electricity consumption is a field of interest that has not been thoroughly examined in the existing literature. Thus, the purpose of this study was to examine and assess the relationship between the Household shift to solar electricity and the Standard of Living, in an attempt to conclude statistically whether such a shift would be a matter of Standard of Living with regard to a developing nation in the South Asian region, namely, Sri Lanka. The research design has taken into consideration the Household size, Economic Status and the Standard of Living in relation to the two-folded sources of electricity used in Sri Lanka, Solar and Grid electricity. The study has based its roots on the existing literature in relation to the Developed countries carried out by Schelly in 2014. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) was used to carry out investigations related to the aforementioned relationship and Chi-square values and Mann-Whitney U Test Values were used as statistical measurements to arrive at conclusions, respectively.