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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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    1. Dieperink, Carel & Brand, Iemy & Vermeulen, Walter, 2004. "Diffusion of energy-saving innovations in industry and the built environment: Dutch studies as inputs for a more integrated analytical framework," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 32(6), pages 773-784, April.
    2. Mahapatra, Krushna & Gustavsson, Leif, 2008. "An adopter-centric approach to analyze the diffusion patterns of innovative residential heating systems in Sweden," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(2), pages 577-590, February.
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    3. Freyre, Alisa & Klinke, Sandra & Patel, Martin K., 2020. "Carbon tax and energy programs for buildings: Rivals or allies?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
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    7. Möller, Bernd & Lund, Henrik, 2010. "Conversion of individual natural gas to district heating: Geographical studies of supply costs and consequences for the Danish energy system," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 87(6), pages 1846-1857, June.
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    13. Wallin, Are & Zannakis, Mathias & Johansson, Lars-Olof & Molander, Sverker, 2013. "Influence of interventions and internal motivation on Swedish homeowners’ change of on-site sewage systems," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 27-40.
    14. Tran, Martino, 2012. "Technology-behavioural modelling of energy innovation diffusion in the UK," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 1-11.
    15. Karytsas, Spyridon, 2018. "An empirical analysis on awareness and intention adoption of residential ground source heat pump systems in Greece," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 123(C), pages 167-179.
    16. Li, Hailong & Wang, Weilong & Yan, Jinyue & Dahlquist, Erik, 2013. "Economic assessment of the mobilized thermal energy storage (M-TES) system for distributed heat supply," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 178-186.
    17. Alisa Freyre & Stefano Cozza & Matthias Rüetschi & Meinrad Bürer & Marlyne Sahakian & Martin K. Patel, 2021. "How to Improve Effectiveness of Renewable Space Heating Programs by Better Understanding Homeowner—Installer Interactions," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(15), pages 1-24, July.
    18. Selvakkumaran, Sujeetha & Ahlgren, Erik O., 2019. "Determining the factors of household energy transitions: A multi-domain study," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 54-75.
    19. Karytsas, Spyridon & Polyzou, Olympia & Karytsas, Constantine, 2019. "Factors affecting willingness to adopt and willingness to pay for a residential hybrid system that provides heating/cooling and domestic hot water," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 142(C), pages 591-603.
    20. 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.
    21. Yoon, Taeyeon & Ma, Yongsun & Rhodes, Charles, 2015. "Individual Heating systems vs. District Heating systems: What will consumers pay for convenience?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 73-81.
    22. García-Maroto, I. & García-Maraver, A. & Muñoz-Leiva, F. & Zamorano, M., 2015. "Consumer knowledge, information sources used and predisposition towards the adoption of wood pellets in domestic heating systems," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 207-215.
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    24. 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).

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