Transitioning to sustainable energy: Multidimensional factors guiding solar power technology adoption

Abstract

As solar power technologies (SPTs) can potentially boost the transition to clean energy, investigating multidimensional factors (MDFs) influencing the acceptance of SPTs may support Sustainable Development Goals like global energy access. This study examines the role of MDFs in determining households’ intention to embrace SPTs within an integrated ecological perception framework, which focuses on the ecological advantages of SPTs, openness to innovation, and advantages to the built environment. We used the Partial Least Square Structural Equation Modelling to analyze the Likert-scale data gathered from 311 respondents to reveal that the fixed cost of SPTs discourages households from embracing them. The advantages to the built environment, openness to innovation, and ecological advantages encourage households to accept SPTs, but only in urban districts and the entire dataset while portraying a neutral role in rural districts. Thus, urban and rural districts differ in impacting households’ adoption of SPTs. The social disposition of SPTs is the key driving force, while the advantages to the built environment play a less critical role. This study suggests propagating awareness among rural households about ecologically friendly dimensions of SPTs to uplift rural energy access, cultivating universal access to affordable and clean energy (SDG-7) and combating climatic disruptions (SDG-13).