IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/enejou/v45y2024i4p159-177.html

Do Income and Capital Influence Household Solar Panel Investment? A Meta-regression

Author

Listed:
  • Rohan Best
  • Mauricio Marrone
  • Martina Linnenluecke

Abstract

There is considerable variation in research explaining household solar-panel investment, leading to mixed evidence regarding influences of income and capital. We provide analysis aiding interpretation of economic influences on solar-panel uptake in other studies. We conduct a meta-regression using 234 papers to provide analytical insights focusing on economic influences on solar-panel investment. We find that the research approach and context explain a range of income influences. More specifically, studies using household-level data are less likely to find negative income impacts compared to studies using aggregate data. Developing-country studies have been less likely to include income; but when income is included, developing-country studies have been more likely to find a significant link from income to solar-panel uptake. Capital (e.g., asset) impacts are nearly always positive and significant when included, but only 22 percent of analyzed studies included a relevant variable. Our concluding policy discussion suggests greater focus on assets for means testing. JEL Classification : D10, Q40, Q48, Q50

Suggested Citation

  • Rohan Best & Mauricio Marrone & Martina Linnenluecke, 2024. "Do Income and Capital Influence Household Solar Panel Investment? A Meta-regression," The Energy Journal, , vol. 45(4), pages 159-177, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:enejou:v:45:y:2024:i:4:p:159-177
    DOI: 10.1177/01956574241284501
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/01956574241284501
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/01956574241284501?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
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Aklin, M. & Bayer, P. & Harish, S.P. & Urpelainen, J., 2018. "Economics of household technology adoption in developing countries: Evidence from solar technology adoption in rural India," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 35-46.
    2. Corbett, Charles J. & Hershfield, Hal E. & Kim, Henry & Malloy, Timothy F. & Nyblade, Benjamin & Partie, Alison, 2022. "The role of place attachment and environmental attitudes in adoption of rooftop solar," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 162(C).
    3. Kwan, Calvin Lee, 2012. "Influence of local environmental, social, economic and political variables on the spatial distribution of residential solar PV arrays across the United States," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 332-344.
    4. Halleck Vega, Solmaria & van Leeuwen, Eveline & van Twillert, Nienke, 2022. "Uptake of residential energy efficiency measures and renewable energy: Do spatial factors matter?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).
    5. 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).
    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. Mahn, Daniel & Best, Rohan & Wang, Cong & Abiona, Olukorede, 2025. "Equitable subsidy amounts for upfront energy costs in developing countries," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 150(C).
    2. Lee, Bill & Li, Jinke & Shao, Jing, 2025. "The intertemporal unfairness of the feed-in tariff scheme in the United Kingdom: Catching up across regions," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 97(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. Nepal, Rabindra & Best, Rohan & Taylor, Madeline, 2023. "Strategies for reducing ethnic inequality in energy outcomes: A Nepalese example," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).
    2. Van Opstal, Wim, 2025. "Too old for a circular solar economy? Age dynamics in the acceptance of solar and circular value propositions," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 212(C).
    3. Falk, Martin Thomas & Hagsten, Eva, 2025. "The impact of rising electricity prices on demand for photovoltaic solar systems," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 147(C).
    4. Agarwal, Richa & Bhadauria, Artee & Kaushik, Hans & Swami, Sanjeev & Rajwanshi, Rohit, 2023. "ISM-MICMAC-based study on key enablers in the adoption of solar renewable energy products in India," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    5. Best, Rohan & Burke, Paul J., 2023. "Small-scale solar panel adoption by the non-residential sector: The effects of national and targeted policies in Australia," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).
    6. Mahn, Daniel & Best, Rohan & Wang, Cong & Abiona, Olukorede, 2024. "What drives solar energy adoption in developing countries? Evidence from household surveys across countries," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 138(C).
    7. Wu, Jingwen & Qi, Yiyun & Guan, Xinyi & Wu, Xiaomin & Li, Hui, 2024. "Farmers’ attitudes and adoption preferences toward household solar photovoltaics: A survey from Guangdong Province in China," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 225(C).
    8. Yunis Ali Ahmed & Ammar Rashid & Muhammad Mahboob Khurshid, 2022. "Investigating the Determinants of the Adoption of Solar Photovoltaic Systems—Citizen’s Perspectives of Two Developing Countries," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(18), pages 1-25, September.
    9. Tinta, Abdoulganiour Almame & Sylla, Ahmed Yves & Lankouande, Edmond, 2023. "Solar PV adoption in rural Burkina Faso," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 278(PB).
    10. Sunbin YOO & Junya KUMAGAI & Yuta KAWABATA & Shunsuke MANAGI, 2022. "Achieving Inclusive Transportation: Fully Automated Vehicles with Social Support," Discussion papers 22017, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    11. Zhang, Jianhua & Ballas, Dimitris & Liu, Xiaolong, 2023. "Neighbourhood-level spatial determinants of residential solar photovoltaic adoption in the Netherlands," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 206(C), pages 1239-1248.
    12. L'Her, G.F. & Osborne, A.G. & Flanagan, R.R. & Deinert, M.R., 2024. "Localized economic and environmental benefits of residential solar in the United States," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 226(C).
    13. Best, Rohan & Chareunsy, Andrea & Taylor, Madeline, 2023. "Changes in inequality for solar panel uptake by Australian homeowners," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 209(C).
    14. Alipour, M. & Salim, H. & Stewart, Rodney A. & Sahin, Oz, 2020. "Predictors, taxonomy of predictors, and correlations of predictors with the decision behaviour of residential solar photovoltaics adoption: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 123(C).
    15. Caragliu, Andrea & Graziano, Marcello, 2022. "The spatial dimension of energy transition policies, practices and technologies," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 168(C).
    16. Klein, Martin & Deissenroth, Marc, 2017. "When do households invest in solar photovoltaics? An application of prospect theory," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 270-278.
    17. Briguglio, Marie & Formosa, Glenn, 2017. "When households go solar: Determinants of uptake of a Photovoltaic Scheme and policy insights," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 154-162.
    18. Rafał Nagaj & Bożena Gajdzik & Radosław Wolniak & Wieslaw Wes Grebski, 2024. "The Impact of Deep Decarbonization Policy on the Level of Greenhouse Gas Emissions in the European Union," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(5), pages 1-23, March.
    19. Palm, Alvar & Lantz, Björn, 2020. "Information dissemination and residential solar PV adoption rates: The effect of an information campaign in Sweden," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 142(C).
    20. Heidi E Brown & Erika Austhof & Paula M Luz & Daniel B Ferguson, 2023. "Economics, health, or environment: What motivates individual climate action?," PLOS Climate, Public Library of Science, vol. 2(8), pages 1-16, August.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • D10 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - General
    • Q40 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy - - - General
    • Q48 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy - - - Government Policy
    • Q50 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - General

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:sae:enejou:v:45:y:2024:i:4:p:159-177. 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: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    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.