Households’ Preferences for a New ‘Climate-Friendly’ Heating System: Does Contribution to Reducing Greenhouse Gases Matter?
This study investigates the preferences of Italian home-owners when choosing a new domestic heating system. The focus is on understanding the influence on consumer choice of a potential label certifying the effect of the heating system on the greenhouse effect. To this end, we designed a survey incl...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2019-07-01
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| Series: | Energies |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/12/13/2632 |
| _version_ | 1811300584646508544 |
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| author | Stefania Troiano Daniel Vecchiato Francesco Marangon Tiziano Tempesta Federico Nassivera |
| author_facet | Stefania Troiano Daniel Vecchiato Francesco Marangon Tiziano Tempesta Federico Nassivera |
| author_sort | Stefania Troiano |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This study investigates the preferences of Italian home-owners when choosing a new domestic heating system. The focus is on understanding the influence on consumer choice of a potential label certifying the effect of the heating system on the greenhouse effect. To this end, we designed a survey including a discrete choice experiment and administered it to residents in north-eastern Italy. Our findings reveal that, on average, respondents pay particular attention to the green effect of their purchase. The carbon dioxide reduction label was considered second in terms of importance after cost. Further analysis found that our sample presents three clusters of customers, with intra-cluster homogeneous preferences. The cluster analysis showed that while the initial system costs are considered to varying degrees by the whole sample, the carbon dioxide reduction label was considered important by 79% of respondents (members of clusters 1 and 2). To achieve greater results in reducing the greenhouse effect of the domestic heating sector, a combination of policies should be used simultaneously to achieve greater effectiveness. Our simulations support the hypothesis that policymakers should achieve greater results in terms of reducing the domestic greenhouse gas emissions by applying a combined policy that leverages the importance citizens accord to the different characteristics of a heating system. From our results, the application of a ‘low carbon dioxide (<inline-formula> <math display="inline"> <semantics> <mrow> <mi>C</mi> <msub> <mi>O</mi> <mn>2</mn> </msub> </mrow> </semantics> </math> </inline-formula>) emissions’ label will amplify the effect of a subsidy that reduces the initial system costs. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-13T06:54:25Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-b9565068247e40fe905bdba733751240 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1996-1073 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-13T06:54:25Z |
| publishDate | 2019-07-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Energies |
| spelling | doaj.art-b9565068247e40fe905bdba7337512402022-12-22T02:57:19ZengMDPI AGEnergies1996-10732019-07-011213263210.3390/en12132632en12132632Households’ Preferences for a New ‘Climate-Friendly’ Heating System: Does Contribution to Reducing Greenhouse Gases Matter?Stefania Troiano0Daniel Vecchiato1Francesco Marangon2Tiziano Tempesta3Federico Nassivera4Department of Economics and Statistics, University of Udine, 33100 Udine, ItalyDepartment of Land, Environment, Agriculture and Forestry, University of Padova, 35020 Legnaro (PD), ItalyDepartment of Economics and Statistics, University of Udine, 33100 Udine, ItalyDepartment of Land, Environment, Agriculture and Forestry, University of Padova, 35020 Legnaro (PD), ItalyDepartment of Agricultural, Food, Environmental and Animal Sciences, University of Udine, 33100 Udine, ItalyThis study investigates the preferences of Italian home-owners when choosing a new domestic heating system. The focus is on understanding the influence on consumer choice of a potential label certifying the effect of the heating system on the greenhouse effect. To this end, we designed a survey including a discrete choice experiment and administered it to residents in north-eastern Italy. Our findings reveal that, on average, respondents pay particular attention to the green effect of their purchase. The carbon dioxide reduction label was considered second in terms of importance after cost. Further analysis found that our sample presents three clusters of customers, with intra-cluster homogeneous preferences. The cluster analysis showed that while the initial system costs are considered to varying degrees by the whole sample, the carbon dioxide reduction label was considered important by 79% of respondents (members of clusters 1 and 2). To achieve greater results in reducing the greenhouse effect of the domestic heating sector, a combination of policies should be used simultaneously to achieve greater effectiveness. Our simulations support the hypothesis that policymakers should achieve greater results in terms of reducing the domestic greenhouse gas emissions by applying a combined policy that leverages the importance citizens accord to the different characteristics of a heating system. From our results, the application of a ‘low carbon dioxide (<inline-formula> <math display="inline"> <semantics> <mrow> <mi>C</mi> <msub> <mi>O</mi> <mn>2</mn> </msub> </mrow> </semantics> </math> </inline-formula>) emissions’ label will amplify the effect of a subsidy that reduces the initial system costs.https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/12/13/2632greenhouse gas emissionschoice experimentdomestic heatingrenewablesenergybuildings |
| spellingShingle | Stefania Troiano Daniel Vecchiato Francesco Marangon Tiziano Tempesta Federico Nassivera Households’ Preferences for a New ‘Climate-Friendly’ Heating System: Does Contribution to Reducing Greenhouse Gases Matter? Energies greenhouse gas emissions choice experiment domestic heating renewables energy buildings |
| title | Households’ Preferences for a New ‘Climate-Friendly’ Heating System: Does Contribution to Reducing Greenhouse Gases Matter? |
| title_full | Households’ Preferences for a New ‘Climate-Friendly’ Heating System: Does Contribution to Reducing Greenhouse Gases Matter? |
| title_fullStr | Households’ Preferences for a New ‘Climate-Friendly’ Heating System: Does Contribution to Reducing Greenhouse Gases Matter? |
| title_full_unstemmed | Households’ Preferences for a New ‘Climate-Friendly’ Heating System: Does Contribution to Reducing Greenhouse Gases Matter? |
| title_short | Households’ Preferences for a New ‘Climate-Friendly’ Heating System: Does Contribution to Reducing Greenhouse Gases Matter? |
| title_sort | households preferences for a new climate friendly heating system does contribution to reducing greenhouse gases matter |
| topic | greenhouse gas emissions choice experiment domestic heating renewables energy buildings |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/12/13/2632 |
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