Social acceptance of small-scale renewable energy in Lower Silesia in Poland

Abstract

There have been a large number of studies focusing on reducing the environmental impacts associated with the energy sector. Renewable energy sources (RES), such as solar energy, have been utilized in order to mitigate these environmental impacts. Here we try to answer the question as to why the development of RES among households in Poland is so weak. The survey was conducted in November and December 2015 within a project funded by the National Centre of Science. The main aim of the paper is to identify the factors that influence a household’s willingness to install a renewable energy sources, in particular those factors related to level of education level and profession,. An additional aim of the paper is to make a typology of respondents – energy consumers, according to their relation to RES, on the basis of this and previous research. We propose a measure that divides the respondents into different groups according to their level of willingness to adopt RES. The results show that the greatest social acceptance of RES installation appears among: males, people in the age range of 30-49, people with secondary technical education, people living in detached houses, the owners of private companies and farmers. In addition, the results show that economic factors are the most influential in motivating households to install RES, since the respondents indicated the main benefits to be potential savings and potential profits. This study provides useful guidelines for policy makers to further promote the utilization of renewable energy sources among households.