IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v10y2018i3p687-d134520.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Public Perceptions and Willingness to Pay for Renewable Energy: A Case Study from Greece

Author

Listed:
  • Stamatios Ntanos

    (Department of Forestry and Management of the Environment and Natural Resources, School of Agricultural and Forestry Sciences, Democritus University of Thrace, 68200 Orestiada, Greece)

  • Grigorios Kyriakopoulos

    (School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, National Technical University of Athens, 15780 Zografou, Greece)

  • Miltiadis Chalikias

    (Department of Business Administration, School of Business and Economics, Piraeus University of Applied Sciences, 12244 Aigaleo, Greece)

  • Garyfallos Arabatzis

    (Department of Forestry and Management of the Environment and Natural Resources, School of Agricultural and Forestry Sciences, Democritus University of Thrace, 68200 Orestiada, Greece)

  • Michalis Skordoulis

    (Department of Forestry and Management of the Environment and Natural Resources, School of Agricultural and Forestry Sciences, Democritus University of Thrace, 68200 Orestiada, Greece)

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to discover the factors shaping public opinion about renewable energy sources and investigate willingness to pay for expansion of renewable energy sources in the electricity mix. Data was collected through a questionnaire applied in Nikaia, an urban municipality of Greece. The respondents have a positive attitude towards renewable energy systems. Most of them have good knowledge of solar and wind energy systems and are using solar water heating, while several respondents own a solar PV system. Environmental protection is seen as the most important reason for investing in a renewable energy system. Willingness to pay for a wider penetration of RES into the electricity mix was estimated to be 26.5 euros per quarterly electricity bill. The statistical analysis revealed the existence of a relationship between RES perceived advantages and willingness to pay for renewable energy. Furthermore, by using a binary logit model, willingness to pay was found to be positively associated with education, energy subsidies, and state support.

Suggested Citation

  • Stamatios Ntanos & Grigorios Kyriakopoulos & Miltiadis Chalikias & Garyfallos Arabatzis & Michalis Skordoulis, 2018. "Public Perceptions and Willingness to Pay for Renewable Energy: A Case Study from Greece," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(3), pages 1-16, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:10:y:2018:i:3:p:687-:d:134520
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/10/3/687/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/10/3/687/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mariani, Fabio & Pérez-Barahona, Agustín & Raffin, Natacha, 2010. "Life expectancy and the environment," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 34(4), pages 798-815, April.
    2. Kontogianni, Areti & Tourkolias, Christos & Skourtos, Michalis, 2013. "Renewables portfolio, individual preferences and social values towards RES technologies," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 467-476.
    3. Enevoldsen, Peter & Sovacool, Benjamin K., 2016. "Examining the social acceptance of wind energy: Practical guidelines for onshore wind project development in France," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 178-184.
    4. Zorić, Jelena & Hrovatin, Nevenka, 2012. "Household willingness to pay for green electricity in Slovenia," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 180-187.
    5. Bigerna, Simona & Polinori, Paolo, 2014. "Italian households׳ willingness to pay for green electricity," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 110-121.
    6. Whitehead, John C. & Cherry, Todd L., 2007. "Willingness to pay for a Green Energy program: A comparison of ex-ante and ex-post hypothetical bias mitigation approaches," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(4), pages 247-261, November.
    7. Ribeiro, Fernando & Ferreira, Paula & Araújo, Madalena & Braga, Ana Cristina, 2014. "Public opinion on renewable energy technologies in Portugal," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 39-50.
    8. Barker, Terry & Ekins, Paul & Foxon, Tim, 2007. "The macro-economic rebound effect and the UK economy," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(10), pages 4935-4946, October.
    9. Arabatzis, Garyfallos & Myronidis, Dimitris, 2011. "Contribution of SHP Stations to the development of an area and their social acceptance," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 15(8), pages 3909-3917.
    10. Kaldellis, J. K., 2005. "Social attitude towards wind energy applications in Greece," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 33(5), pages 595-602, March.
    11. Arabatzis, Garyfallos & Malesios, Chrisovalantis, 2013. "Pro-environmental attitudes of users and non-users of fuelwood in a rural area of Greece," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 22(C), pages 621-630.
    12. Ntona, Eirini & Arabatzis, Garyfallos & Kyriakopoulos, Grigorios L., 2015. "Energy saving: Views and attitudes of students in secondary education," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 1-15.
    13. Hansla, Andre & Gamble, Amelie & Juliusson, Asgeir & Garling, Tommy, 2008. "Psychological determinants of attitude towards and willingness to pay for green electricity," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(2), pages 768-774, February.
    14. Fabio Mariani & Agustin Perez Barahona & Natacha Raffin, 2010. "Life expectancy and the environment," Post-Print hal-00638730, HAL.
    15. Muhammad-Sukki, Firdaus & Ramirez-Iniguez, Roberto & Abu-Bakar, Siti Hawa & McMeekin, Scott G. & Stewart, Brian G., 2011. "An evaluation of the installation of solar photovoltaic in residential houses in Malaysia: Past, present, and future," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(12), pages 7975-7987.
    16. Huijben, J.C.C.M. & Verbong, G.P.J., 2013. "Breakthrough without subsidies? PV business model experiments in the Netherlands," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 362-370.
    17. Tourkolias, C. & Mirasgedis, S., 2011. "Quantification and monetization of employment benefits associated with renewable energy technologies in Greece," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 15(6), pages 2876-2886, August.
    18. Dalton, G.J. & Lockington, D.A. & Baldock, T.E., 2008. "A survey of tourist attitudes to renewable energy supply in Australian hotel accommodation," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 33(10), pages 2174-2185.
    19. Kumar Sahu, Bikash, 2015. "A study on global solar PV energy developments and policies with special focus on the top ten solar PV power producing countries," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 621-634.
    20. Kaldellis, J.K. & Kapsali, M. & Kaldelli, El. & Katsanou, Ev., 2013. "Comparing recent views of public attitude on wind energy, photovoltaic and small hydro applications," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 197-208.
    21. Kostakis, I. & Sardianou, E., 2012. "Which factors affect the willingness of tourists to pay for renewable energy?," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 38(1), pages 169-172.
    22. Bertsch, Valentin & Hall, Margeret & Weinhardt, Christof & Fichtner, Wolf, 2016. "Public acceptance and preferences related to renewable energy and grid expansion policy: Empirical insights for Germany," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 465-477.
    23. Zhai, Pei & Williams, Eric D., 2012. "Analyzing consumer acceptance of photovoltaics (PV) using fuzzy logic model," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 350-357.
    24. Fabio Mariani & Agustin Perez Barahona & Natacha Raffin, 2010. "Life expectancy and the environment," PSE-Ecole d'économie de Paris (Postprint) hal-00638730, HAL.
    25. Roe, Brian & Teisl, Mario F. & Levy, Alan & Russell, Matthew, 2001. "US consumers' willingness to pay for green electricity," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 29(11), pages 917-925, September.
    26. William S. Breffle & Edward R. Morey & Tymon S. Lodder, 1998. "Using Contingent Valuation to Estimate a Neighbourhood's Willingness to Pay to Preserve Undeveloped Urban Land," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 35(4), pages 715-727, April.
    27. Shin, Jungwoo & Woo, JongRoul & Huh, Sung-Yoon & Lee, Jongsu & Jeong, Gicheol, 2014. "Analyzing public preferences and increasing acceptability for the Renewable Portfolio Standard in Korea," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 17-26.
    28. Vassilis Markantonis & Kostas Bithas, 2010. "The application of the contingent valuation method in estimating the climate change mitigation and adaptation policies in Greece. An expert-based approach," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 12(5), pages 807-824, October.
    29. Nomura, Noboru & Akai, Makoto, 2004. "Willingness to pay for green electricity in Japan as estimated through contingent valuation method," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 78(4), pages 453-463, August.
    30. Ek, Kristina, 2005. "Public and private attitudes towards "green" electricity: the case of Swedish wind power," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 33(13), pages 1677-1689, September.
    31. Vasseur, Véronique & Kemp, René, 2015. "The adoption of PV in the Netherlands: A statistical analysis of adoption factors," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 483-494.
    32. Savvanidou, Electra & Zervas, Efthimios & Tsagarakis, Konstantinos P., 2010. "Public acceptance of biofuels," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(7), pages 3482-3488, July.
    33. Mozumder, Pallab & Vásquez, William F. & Marathe, Achla, 2011. "Consumers' preference for renewable energy in the southwest USA," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(6), pages 1119-1126.
    34. Liu, Wenling & Wang, Can & Mol, Arthur P.J., 2013. "Rural public acceptance of renewable energy deployment: The case of Shandong in China," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 1187-1196.
    35. Stigka, Eleni K. & Paravantis, John A. & Mihalakakou, Giouli K., 2014. "Social acceptance of renewable energy sources: A review of contingent valuation applications," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 100-106.
    36. Guo, Xiurui & Liu, Haifeng & Mao, Xianqiang & Jin, Jianjun & Chen, Dongsheng & Cheng, Shuiyuan, 2014. "Willingness to pay for renewable electricity: A contingent valuation study in Beijing, China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 340-347.
    37. Zarnikau, Jay, 2003. "Consumer demand for `green power' and energy efficiency," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 31(15), pages 1661-1672, December.
    38. Zografakis, Nikolaos & Sifaki, Elli & Pagalou, Maria & Nikitaki, Georgia & Psarakis, Vasilios & Tsagarakis, Konstantinos P., 2010. "Assessment of public acceptance and willingness to pay for renewable energy sources in Crete," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 14(3), pages 1088-1095, April.
    39. Mariani, Fabio & Pérez-Barahona, Agustín & Raffin, Natacha, 2010. "Life expectancy and the environment," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 34(4), pages 798-815, April.
    40. Caporale, Diana & De Lucia, Caterina, 2015. "Social acceptance of on-shore wind energy in Apulia Region (Southern Italy)," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 1378-1390.
    41. Kyriakopoulos, Grigorios L. & Arabatzis, Garyfallos, 2016. "Electrical energy storage systems in electricity generation: Energy policies, innovative technologies, and regulatory regimes," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 1044-1067.
    42. Tsantopoulos, Georgios & Arabatzis, Garyfallos & Tampakis, Stilianos, 2014. "Public attitudes towards photovoltaic developments: Case study from Greece," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 94-106.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Balezentis, Tomas & Streimikiene, Dalia & Mikalauskas, Ignas & Shen, Zhiyang, 2021. "Towards carbon free economy and electricity: The puzzle of energy costs, sustainability and security based on willingness to pay," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 214(C).
    2. Soon, Jan-Jan & Ahmad, Siti-Aznor, 2015. "Willingly or grudgingly? A meta-analysis on the willingness-to-pay for renewable energy use," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 877-887.
    3. Oerlemans, Leon A.G. & Chan, Kai-Ying & Volschenk, Jako, 2016. "Willingness to pay for green electricity: A review of the contingent valuation literature and its sources of error," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 875-885.
    4. Baharoon, Dhyia Aidroos & Rahman, Hasimah Abdul & Fadhl, Saeed Obaid, 2016. "Personal and psychological factors affecting the successful development of solar energy use in Yemen power sector: A case study," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 516-535.
    5. Xie, Bai-Chen & Zhao, Wei, 2018. "Willingness to pay for green electricity in Tianjin, China: Based on the contingent valuation method," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 98-107.
    6. Herbes, Carsten & Friege, Christian & Baldo, Davide & Mueller, Kai-Markus, 2015. "Willingness to pay lip service? Applying a neuroscience-based method to WTP for green electricity," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 562-572.
    7. Stamatios Ntanos & Grigorios Kyriakopoulos & Miltiadis Chalikias & Garyfallos Arabatzis & Michalis Skordoulis & Spyros Galatsidas & Dimitrios Drosos, 2018. "A Social Assessment of the Usage of Renewable Energy Sources and Its Contribution to Life Quality: The Case of an Attica Urban Area in Greece," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(5), pages 1-15, May.
    8. Sofia-Despoina Papadopoulou & Niki Kalaitzoglou & Maria Psarra & Sideri Lefkeli & Evangelia Karasmanaki & Georgios Tsantopoulos, 2019. "Addressing Energy Poverty through Transitioning to a Carbon-Free Environment," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(9), pages 1-17, May.
    9. Dalia Streimikiene & Tomas Balezentis & Ilona Alisauskaite-Seskiene & Gintare Stankuniene & Zaneta Simanaviciene, 2019. "A Review of Willingness to Pay Studies for Climate Change Mitigation in the Energy Sector," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(8), pages 1-38, April.
    10. Tsantopoulos, Georgios & Arabatzis, Garyfallos & Tampakis, Stilianos, 2014. "Public attitudes towards photovoltaic developments: Case study from Greece," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 94-106.
    11. Fang, Xingming & Wang, Lu & Sun, Chuanwang & Zheng, Xuemei & Wei, Jing, 2021. "Gap between words and actions: Empirical study on consistency of residents supporting renewable energy development in China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 148(PA).
    12. Dagher, Leila & Harajli, Hassan, 2015. "Willingness to pay for green power in an unreliable electricity sector: Part 1. The case of the Lebanese residential sector," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 1634-1642.
    13. Huh, Sung-Yoon & Lee, Jongsu & Shin, Jungwoo, 2015. "The economic value of South Korea׳s renewable energy policies (RPS, RFS, and RHO): A contingent valuation study," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 64-72.
    14. Gianluca Grilli, 2017. "Renewable energy and willingness to pay: Evidences from a meta-analysis," ECONOMICS AND POLICY OF ENERGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2017(1-2), pages 253-271.
    15. Liu, Wenling & Wang, Can & Mol, Arthur P.J., 2013. "Rural public acceptance of renewable energy deployment: The case of Shandong in China," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 1187-1196.
    16. Alló, Maria & Loureiro, Maria L., 2014. "The role of social norms on preferences towards climate change policies: A meta-analysis," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 563-574.
    17. Elcin Akcura, 2013. "Mandatory versus voluntary payment for green electricity," Working Papers 161, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Office of the Chief Economist.
    18. Carsten Herbes & Lorenz Braun & Dennis Rube, 2016. "Pricing of Biomethane Products Targeted at Private Households in Germany—Product Attributes and Providers’ Pricing Strategies," Energies, MDPI, vol. 9(4), pages 1-15, March.
    19. Elcin Akcura, 2013. "Mandatory vs voluntary Payment for Green Electricity," Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 1339, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge.
    20. Elahi, Ehsan & Khalid, Zainab & Zhang, Zhixin, 2022. "Understanding farmers’ intention and willingness to install renewable energy technology: A solution to reduce the environmental emissions of agriculture," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 309(C).

    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:gam:jsusta:v:10:y:2018:i:3:p:687-:d:134520. 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: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    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.