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Influencing Swedish homeowners to adopt district heating system

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  • Mahapatra, Krushna
  • Gustavsson, Leif

Abstract

Improved energy efficiency and greenhouse gas mitigation could be achieved by replacing resistance heaters with district heating system. In 2005, only about 8% of the Swedish detached houses had district heating system. The expansion of such systems largely depends on homeowners' adoption decisions. And, to motivate homeowners to adopt district heating, it is essential to understand their decision-making process. In this context, in June 2005 we carried out a questionnaire survey of about 700 homeowners who lived in the city of Östersund in houses with resistance heaters (baseline survey). About 84% of the respondents did not intend to install a new heating system. Since then these homeowners were influenced by (a) an investment subsidy by the Swedish government to replace resistance heaters with district heating, a brine/water-based heat pump, or a biomass-based heating system and (b) a marketing campaign by the municipality-owned district heating company. This paper analyses how these two measures influenced about 78% of the homeowners to adopt the district heating system. For this purpose we carried out a follow-up survey of the same homeowners in December 2006 (resurvey). Results showed that the investment subsidy and the marketing campaign created a need among the homeowners to adopt a new heating system. The marketing campaign was successful in motivating them to adopt the district heating system. The marketing strategy by the district heating company corresponds to the results obtained in the baseline survey.

Suggested Citation

  • Mahapatra, Krushna & Gustavsson, Leif, 2009. "Influencing Swedish homeowners to adopt district heating system," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 86(2), pages 144-154, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:appene:v:86:y:2009:i:2:p:144-154
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    16. Nava-Guerrero, Graciela-del-Carmen & Hansen, Helle Hvid & Korevaar, Gijsbert & Lukszo, Zofia, 2022. "An agent-based exploration of the effect of multi-criteria decisions on complex socio-technical heat transitions," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 306(PB).
    17. Henry Muyingo, 2015. "Organizational Challenges in the Adoption of Building Applied Photovoltaics in the Swedish Tenant-Owner Housing Sector," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(4), pages 1-28, March.
    18. Hecher, Maria & Hatzl, Stefanie & Knoeri, Christof & Posch, Alfred, 2017. "The trigger matters: The decision-making process for heating systems in the residential building sector," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 288-306.
    19. Billerbeck, Anna & Breitschopf, Barbara & Preuß, Sabine & Winkler, Jenny & Ragwitz, Mario & Keles, Dogan, 2024. "Perception of district heating in Europe: A deep dive into influencing factors and the role of regulation," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 184(C).
    20. Nava-Guerrero, Graciela-del-Carmen & Hansen, Helle Hvid & Korevaar, Gijsbert & Lukszo, Zofia, 2021. "The effect of group decisions in heat transitions: An agent-based approach," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 156(C).
    21. Forsell, Nicklas & Guerassimoff, Gilles & Athanassiadis, Dimitris & Thivolle-Casat, Alain & Lorne, Daphné & Millet, Guy & Assoumou, Edi, 2013. "Sub-national TIMES model for analyzing future regional use of biomass and biofuels in Sweden and France," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 415-426.
    22. Tran, Martino, 2012. "Technology-behavioural modelling of energy innovation diffusion in the UK," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 1-11.
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    24. Karytsas, Spyridon & Theodoropoulou, Helen, 2014. "Public awareness and willingness to adopt ground source heat pumps for domestic heating and cooling," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 49-57.

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