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Willingness to Pay Price Premium for Smartphones Produced Using Renewable Energy

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  • Ju-Hee Kim

    (Department of Energy Policy, Graduate School of Energy & Environment, Seoul National University of Science & Technology, 232 Gongreung-Ro, Nowon-Gu, Seoul 01811, Korea)

  • Hyo-Jin Kim

    (Department of Energy Policy, Graduate School of Energy & Environment, Seoul National University of Science & Technology, 232 Gongreung-Ro, Nowon-Gu, Seoul 01811, Korea)

  • Seung-Hoon Yoo

    (Department of Energy Policy, Graduate School of Energy & Environment, Seoul National University of Science & Technology, 232 Gongreung-Ro, Nowon-Gu, Seoul 01811, Korea)

Abstract

Due to air pollution and greenhouse gases issues associated with the use of fossil fuels and nuclear safety issues after the Fukushima accident, consumers are increasingly in favor of commodities produced using electricity generated from relatively expensive renewable energy (RE) rather than cheap fossil fuels or nuclear energy. This is usually called ‘RE100’. The objective of this study is to examine South Korean consumers’ willingness to pay (WTP) price premium for a RE100 commodity using the specific case of smartphones. We accomplished the purpose by conducting a contingent valuation survey of 1000 individuals in August 2018 and analyzing the data gathered from the survey. In addition, the spike model was applied to dealing with the zero WTP responses. Based on the analysis results, an average price premium was statistically significantly estimated to be KRW 11,699 (USD 10.5) for all respondents. This is worth 1.6% of the price for a conventional non-RE100 smartphone (KRW 750,000 or USD 673.9) and is higher than the cost increase (0.97%) when producing RE100 smartphones. Therefore, it can be seen that South Korean consumers have sufficient acceptance for RE100 smartphones.

Suggested Citation

  • Ju-Hee Kim & Hyo-Jin Kim & Seung-Hoon Yoo, 2019. "Willingness to Pay Price Premium for Smartphones Produced Using Renewable Energy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(6), pages 1-11, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:6:p:1566-:d:214019
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    References listed on IDEAS

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