IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/enepol/v164y2022ics0301421522000933.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Towards improved solar energy justice: Exploring the complex inequities of household adoption of photovoltaic panels

Author

Listed:
  • Sovacool, Benjamin K.
  • Barnacle, Max Lacey
  • Smith, Adrian
  • Brisbois, Marie Claire

Abstract

Solar energy, including household and community based solar photovoltaic panels, is the fastest growing source of low-carbon electricity worldwide, and it could become the single largest source of renewable energy by mid-century. But what negative equity and justice issues may be associated with its adoption? What risks are being accelerated as solar energy grows exponentially in its deployment? In this study, we rely on a mixed methods research design involving household solar interviews (N = 24), site visits (N = 4 solar neighbourhoods), and a literature review to investigate four types of inequities associated with household solar adoption. We utilize a novel framework looking at demographic inequities (between groups), spatial inequities (across geographic scales), interspecies inequities (between humans and non-humans), and temporal inequities (across present and future generations). This framework enables not only the identification of multiple and often interlinked inequities; it also points the way towards how to make solar energy adoption more sustainable and just, with direct implications for solar business practices (and supply chains) as well as energy and climate policy.

Suggested Citation

  • Sovacool, Benjamin K. & Barnacle, Max Lacey & Smith, Adrian & Brisbois, Marie Claire, 2022. "Towards improved solar energy justice: Exploring the complex inequities of household adoption of photovoltaic panels," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 164(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:164:y:2022:i:c:s0301421522000933
    DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2022.112868
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301421522000933
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.enpol.2022.112868?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. McKenna, Eoghan & Pless, Jacquelyn & Darby, Sarah J., 2018. "Solar photovoltaic self-consumption in the UK residential sector: New estimates from a smart grid demonstration project," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 482-491.
    2. Cucchiella, Federica & D’Adamo, Idiano & Lenny Koh, S.C. & Rosa, Paolo, 2015. "Recycling of WEEEs: An economic assessment of present and future e-waste streams," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 263-272.
    3. Bird, Stephen & Hernández, Diana, 2012. "Policy options for the split incentive: Increasing energy efficiency for low-income renters," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 506-514.
    4. Strielkowski, Wadim & Štreimikienė, Dalia & Bilan, Yuriy, 2017. "Network charging and residential tariffs: A case of household photovoltaics in the United Kingdom," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 461-473.
    5. Balta-Ozkan, Nazmiye & Yildirim, Julide & Connor, Peter M. & Truckell, Ian & Hart, Phil, 2021. "Energy transition at local level: Analyzing the role of peer effects and socio-economic factors on UK solar photovoltaic deployment," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 148(PB).
    6. Karneyeva, Yuliya & Wüstenhagen, Rolf, 2017. "Solar feed-in tariffs in a post-grid parity world: The role of risk, investor diversity and business models," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 445-456.
    7. Dolter, Brett D. & Boucher, Martin, 2018. "Solar energy justice: A case-study analysis of Saskatchewan, Canada," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 225(C), pages 221-232.
    8. Benjamin K. Sovacool & Raphael J. Heffron & Darren McCauley & Andreas Goldthau, 2016. "Energy decisions reframed as justice and ethical concerns," Nature Energy, Nature, vol. 1(5), pages 1-6, May.
    9. Sovacool, Benjamin K. & Lipson, Matthew M. & Chard, Rose, 2019. "Temporality, vulnerability, and energy justice in household low carbon innovations," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 495-504.
    10. Nugent, Daniel & Sovacool, Benjamin K., 2014. "Assessing the lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions from solar PV and wind energy: A critical meta-survey," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 229-244.
    11. Florian Egli & Bjarne Steffen & Tobias S. Schmidt, 2018. "A dynamic analysis of financing conditions for renewable energy technologies," Nature Energy, Nature, vol. 3(12), pages 1084-1092, December.
    12. Walker, Gordon, 2008. "Decentralised systems and fuel poverty: Are there any links or risks?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(12), pages 4514-4517, December.
    13. Nemet, Gregory F., 2009. "Interim monitoring of cost dynamics for publicly supported energy technologies," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(3), pages 825-835, March.
    14. Tobias S. Schmidt, 2014. "Low-carbon investment risks and de-risking," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 4(4), pages 237-239, April.
    15. Smith, Adrian & Kern, Florian & Raven, Rob & Verhees, Bram, 2014. "Spaces for sustainable innovation: Solar photovoltaic electricity in the UK," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 115-130.
    16. Sanya Carley & David M. Konisky, 2020. "The justice and equity implications of the clean energy transition," Nature Energy, Nature, vol. 5(8), pages 569-577, August.
    17. Castaneda, Monica & Zapata, Sebastian & Cherni, Judith & Aristizabal, Andres J. & Dyner, Isaac, 2020. "The long-term effects of cautious feed-in tariff reductions on photovoltaic generation in the UK residential sector," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 155(C), pages 1432-1443.
    18. Andrea Brock & Benjamin K. Sovacool & Andrew Hook, 2021. "Volatile Photovoltaics: Green Industrialization, Sacrifice Zones, and the Political Ecology of Solar Energy in Germany," Annals of the American Association of Geographers, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 111(6), pages 1756-1778, September.
    19. Sovacool, Benjamin K. & Martiskainen, Mari & Hook, Andrew & Baker, Lucy, 2020. "Beyond cost and carbon: The multidimensional co-benefits of low carbon transitions in Europe," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 169(C).
    20. Sundqvist, Thomas, 2004. "What causes the disparity of electricity externality estimates?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 32(15), pages 1753-1766, October.
    21. Kumar, Amit & Holuszko, Maria & Espinosa, Denise Crocce Romano, 2017. "E-waste: An overview on generation, collection, legislation and recycling practices," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 32-42.
    22. Benjamin K. Sovacool & Peter Newell & Sanya Carley & Jessica Fanzo, 2022. "Equity, technological innovation and sustainable behaviour in a low-carbon future," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 6(3), pages 326-337, March.
    23. Anna M. Brockway & Jennifer Conde & Duncan Callaway, 2021. "Inequitable access to distributed energy resources due to grid infrastructure limits in California," Nature Energy, Nature, vol. 6(9), pages 892-903, September.
    24. Curtin, Joseph & McInerney, Celine & Ó Gallachóir, Brian, 2017. "Financial incentives to mobilise local citizens as investors in low-carbon technologies: A systematic literature review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 534-547.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Luka Budin & Ninoslav Holjevac & Matija Zidar & Marko Delimar, 2023. "PV Sizing and Investment Support Tool for Household Installations: A Case Study for Croatia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(16), pages 1-21, August.
    2. Best, Rohan & Chareunsy, Andrea & Taylor, Madeline, 2023. "Changes in inequality for solar panel uptake by Australian homeowners," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 209(C).
    3. Lyu, Yuan & He, Yongxiu & Zhou, Jinghan & Xie, Yuxin, 2023. "Prosumer standby fee design: Solving the inequity problem of China's county-wide photovoltaic project promotion," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 207(C), pages 309-320.
    4. Van Opstal, Wim & Smeets, Anse, 2023. "When do circular business models resolve barriers to residential solar PV adoption? Evidence from survey data in flanders," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 182(C).
    5. Shandelle Steadman & Anna Rita Bennato & Monica Giulietti, 2023. "From energy consumers to prosumers: the role of peer effects in the diffusion of residential microgeneration technology," Economia e Politica Industriale: Journal of Industrial and Business Economics, Springer;Associazione Amici di Economia e Politica Industriale, vol. 50(2), pages 321-346, June.
    6. Wim Van Opstal & Anse Smeets, 2022. "Market-Specific Barriers and Enablers for Organizational Investments in Solar PV—Lessons from Flanders," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(20), pages 1-26, October.
    7. Taylor, M. & Pettit, J. & Sekiyama, T. & Sokołowski, M.M., 2023. "Justice-driven agrivoltaics: Facilitating agrivoltaics embedded in energy justice," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 188(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Bożena Gajdzik & Magdalena Jaciow & Radosław Wolniak & Robert Wolny & Wieslaw Wes Grebski, 2023. "Energy Behaviors of Prosumers in Example of Polish Households," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(7), pages 1-26, March.
    2. Benjamin K. Sovacool & Paul Upham & Mari Martiskainen & Kirsten E. H. Jenkins & Gerardo A. Torres Contreras & Neil Simcock, 2023. "Policy prescriptions to address energy and transport poverty in the United Kingdom," Nature Energy, Nature, vol. 8(3), pages 273-283, March.
    3. Sovacool, Benjamin K. & Lipson, Matthew M. & Chard, Rose, 2019. "Temporality, vulnerability, and energy justice in household low carbon innovations," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 495-504.
    4. Juan Pablo Fernández Goycoolea & Gabriela Zapata-Lancaster & Christopher Whitman, 2022. "Operational Emissions in Prosuming Dwellings: A Study Comparing Different Sources of Grid CO 2 Intensity Values in South Wales, UK," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-24, March.
    5. Stewart, Fraser, 2021. "All for sun, sun for all: Can community energy help to overcome socioeconomic inequalities in low-carbon technology subsidies?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 157(C).
    6. Egli, Florian, 2020. "Renewable energy investment risk: An investigation of changes over time and the underlying drivers," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 140(C).
    7. Best, Rohan, 2022. "Energy inequity variation across contexts," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 309(C).
    8. Gao, Xue & Zhou, Shan, 2022. "Solar adoption inequality in the U.S.: Trend, magnitude, and solar justice policies," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 169(C).
    9. Stewart, Fraser, 2022. "Friends with benefits: How income and peer diffusion combine to create an inequality “trap” in the uptake of low-carbon technologies," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 163(C).
    10. Bogdan Klepacki & Barbara Kusto & Piotr Bórawski & Aneta Bełdycka-Bórawska & Konrad Michalski & Aleksandra Perkowska & Tomasz Rokicki, 2021. "Investments in Renewable Energy Sources in Basic Units of Local Government in Rural Areas," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(11), pages 1-17, May.
    11. Okushima, Shinichiro, 2021. "Energy poor need more energy, but do they need more carbon? Evaluation of people's basic carbon needs," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 187(C).
    12. Baik, Sosung & Hines, Jeffrey F. & Sim, Jaeung, 2023. "Racial disparities in the energy burden beyond socio-economic inequality," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 127(PA).
    13. -, 2023. "Foreign Direct Investment in Latin America and the Caribbean 2023," La Inversión Extranjera Directa en América Latina y el Caribe, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL), number 48979 edited by Eclac, September.
    14. Zhou, Yuekuan & Lund, Peter D., 2023. "Peer-to-peer energy sharing and trading of renewable energy in smart communities ─ trading pricing models, decision-making and agent-based collaboration," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 207(C), pages 177-193.
    15. Polzin, Friedemann & Sanders, Mark & Serebriakova, Alexandra, 2021. "Finance in global transition scenarios: Mapping investments by technology into finance needs by source," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    16. Cuenca, Juan J. & Daly, Hannah E. & Hayes, Barry P., 2023. "Sharing the grid: The key to equitable access for small-scale energy generation," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 349(C).
    17. Best, Rohan & Sinha, Kompal, 2021. "Fuel poverty policy: Go big or go home insulation," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    18. Farrell, Niall, 2021. "The increasing cost of ignoring Coase: Inefficient electricity tariffs, welfare loss and welfare-reducing technological change," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    19. Neves, Sónia Almeida & Marques, António Cardoso & de Sá Lopes, Leonardo Batista, 2024. "Is environmental regulation keeping e-waste under control? Evidence from e-waste exports in the European Union," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 216(C).
    20. F.H.J. Polzin & M.W.J.L. Sanders, 2019. "How to fill the ‘financing gap’ for the transition to low-carbon energy in Europe?," Working Papers 19-18, Utrecht School of Economics.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:164:y:2022:i:c:s0301421522000933. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/enpol .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.