Would you prefer to rent rather than own your new heating system? Insights from a discrete choice experiment among owner-occupiers in the UK

Schleich, Joachim; Tu, Gengyang; Faure, Corinne; Guetlein, Marie-Charlotte

doi:10.1016/j.enpol.2021.112523

Cited by 9 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…Each approach has been investigated in the literature on consumer decision-making, but to varying extents. Taking efficiency measures (see, e.g., [10][11][12]) and the installation of new heating systems (see, e.g., [13][14][15]) have been the subject of many consumer studies. In contrast, switching to less CO 2 -intensive fuels has received less academic attention, even though low renovation rates and long-life gas boilers make this approach highly relevant [16].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Synthetic natural gas in the private heating sector in Germany: match or mismatch between production costs and consumer willingness to pay?

Rilling

2024

Energ Sustain Soc

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Background The residential heating sector in many European countries requires a fundamental transformation if it is to become climate neutral. Besides the introduction of efficiency measures and updating heating systems, scholars and practitioners consider replacing fossil fuels in existing heating systems a viable approach. Drop-in renewable gases such as biomethane and synthetic natural gas (SNG) cause considerably fewer carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions than natural gas and can be used in natural gas boilers, the dominant heating system in many European countries. To move the ongoing debate around e-fuels forward, this study reports on a Discrete Choice Experiment with 512 respondents in Germany that analyzed consumer preferences and willingness to pay (WTP) for SNG. I build on these insights by comparing WTP to the production costs, making evidence-based decision-making possible. Results The results show that consumers prefer renewable gases over natural gas. Comparing the two types of renewable gases, SNG and biomethane, reveals that consumers clearly favor the latter despite the criticism it has come under in the last 10–15 years. Consumers show a surprisingly high WTP for increasing shares of SNG, with premia of 40 to almost 70% over a natural gas-based tariff. Comparing production costs to the WTP reveals that only tariffs with small shares of SNG (5% and 10%) can be offered at cost-covering prices. Conclusions Given the urgent need for a fundamental transition of the residential heating sector, marketers and policymakers should consider carefully whether it is worth channeling a rather unknown and expensive product like SNG into the voluntary market for heating gas, especially as biomethane is already established in the market and clearly a cheaper and more popular alternative.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Synthetic natural gas in the private heating sector in Germany: match or mismatch between production costs and consumer willingness to pay?

Rilling

2024

Energ Sustain Soc

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“…In recent years, DCE has been used more frequently in research concerning the energy transition to capture stakeholder preferences related to key components of this transition. These include different energy policies and energy technologies [17,18], the identification and selection of assessment indicators for energy systems [14,16], energy policies related to local energy communities and social acceptance [19] and green infrastructure [20]. The study by Azarova et al [19], for example, applied a choice experiment approach to analyse the attitude of local communities towards different configurations of renewable energy technologies within the local energy system in four European countries.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Weighting Key Performance Indicators of Smart Local Energy Systems: A Discrete Choice Experiment

et al. 2022

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The development of Smart Local Energy Systems (SLES) in the UK is part of the energy transition tackling the energy trilemma and contributing to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Project developers and other stakeholders need to independently assess the performance of these systems: how well they meet their aims to successfully deliver multiple benefits and objectives. This article describes a step undertaken by the EnergyREV Research Consortium in developing a standardised Multi-Criteria Assessment (MCA) tool—specifically a discrete choice experiment (DCE) to determine the weighting of key performance indicators (KPIs). The MCA tool will use a technology-agnostic framework to assess SLES projects, track system performance and monitor benefit realisation. In order to understand the perceived relative importance of KPIs across different stakeholders, seven DCEs were conducted via online surveys (using 1000minds software). The main survey (with 234 responses) revealed that Environment was considered the most important criterion, with a mean weight of 21.6%. This was followed by People and Living (18.9%), Technical Performance (17.8%) and Data Management (14.7%), with Business and Economics and Governance ranked the least important (13.9% and 13.1%, respectively). These results are applied as weightings to calculate overall scores in the EnergyREV MCA-SLES tool.

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“…The second category includes empirical studies using stated preference data from discrete choice experiments to estimate the WTP for various attributes of residential heating systems (Scarpa and Willis, 2010;Willis et al, 2011;Achtnicht, 2011;Rouvinen and Matero, 2013;Ruokamo, 2016;Krikser et al, 2020;Schleich et al, 2021;Schleich et al, 2022). These studies focus on a variety of attributes, such as user comfort, environmental benefits, familiarity, recommendations by others, ownership status, warranty periods, and financial aspects such as investment, operating and energy costs.…”

Section: Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Further, Schleich et al (2021) elicit the WTP for ownership status among homeowners in the UK and find that these prefer owning rather than renting a new heating system. Finally, using stated preference data from Poland, Sweden and the UK, Schleich et al (2022) find that lower hassle costs, higher public subsidies and longer warranty periods increase the likelihood of heating system adoption.…”

Section: Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Previous studies have estimated the WTP for a wide range of residential heating system characteristics. Key findings from these studies are that the valuation of a particular heating system increases if the technology is familiar (Lang et al, 2021), provides environmental benefits (Achtnicht, 2011;Achtnicht and Madlener, 2014;Rouvinen and Matero, 2013;Ruokamo, 2016;Lang et al, 2021), is recommended by others (Achtnicht, 2011;Achtnicht and Madlener, 2014;Scarpa and Willis, 2010;Willis et al, 2011), has low hassle costs or other inconveniences associated with installing or using the heating system (Scarpa and Willis, 2010;Schleich et al, 2022), is owned rather than rented (Schleich, 2021) and if additional subsidies or longer warranty periods are provided (Achtnicht, 2011;Achtnicht and Madlener, 2014;Sleich et al, 2022).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Economics of Hydrogen Markets

Rekker

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The publication may also be distributed here under the terms of Article 25fa of the Dutch Copyright Act, indicated by the "Taverne" license. More information can be found on the University of Groningen website: https://www.rug.nl/library/open-access/self-archiving-pure/taverneamendment.ii colleagues in particular. First, I want to thank my colleague Peter Perey. Our discussions on all sorts of research and energy-related topics in the office and during lunch and coffee breaks have contributed to completing this research. Being able to pass by and walk into your office at almost any time and to draw out new ideas on the whiteboard was very helpful. In addition, I owe thanks to Daan Hulshof for his valuable lessons and contributions as a supervisor and co-author to one of my chapters. You helped me to formulate and write down research ideas more precisely, which has improved the quality of my chapters. Moreover, I thank Floris van Montfoort for being a great office mate and travel companion. I enjoyed our visits to the IAEE European Conferences in Athens (2022) and Milan (2023), discussions on all sorts of things, playing padel and cycling home from work. Also, I want to thank Arjen Veenstra for baking formidable pies and cakes, most notably his Oranjekoek and Skyr cheesecakes, and bringing them to the office. Apart from enjoying your baking expertise, I enjoyed the occasional distractions and your presence as an office mate in the last few months of my PhD.Finally, I owe gratitude to my family members and friends for their loving support. In particular, I thank my parents who gave me the freedom to choose my own path in life and taught me to persevere in whatever I would choose to pursue. I also thank my grandma Anni for inviting me for dinner almost every week and her supportive role in all kinds of things. At last, I thank my friends Bauke, Harm-Jan, Diederick, Douwe, Jelle, Maikel, Wouter, Mats and Robin for being a great source of energy and for celebrating achievements.

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Would you prefer to rent rather than own your new heating system? Insights from a discrete choice experiment among owner-occupiers in the UK

Cited by 9 publications

References 37 publications

Synthetic natural gas in the private heating sector in Germany: match or mismatch between production costs and consumer willingness to pay?

Synthetic natural gas in the private heating sector in Germany: match or mismatch between production costs and consumer willingness to pay?

Weighting Key Performance Indicators of Smart Local Energy Systems: A Discrete Choice Experiment

Economics of Hydrogen Markets

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