Unleashing the influencing factors of solar energy adoption to combat climate change: A roadmap toward sustainable energy technologies

Abstract

Climate change problems have become major obstacles to China’s sustainable growth owing to its extensive use of fossil fuels. There is a scarcity of studies studying the public adoption of solar energy in China’s rural regions, considering the country’s successful use of solar energytechnology to solve such challenges. The current researchaims to address this study gap by investigatingthe public acceptance of solar energy forresidential use in the rural areas ofChina. In addition, the research included environmental information, environmental concern, and solar energy advantagesin the theory of planned behavior. Using a detailed questionnaire, primary data were obtained from 600respondents in the province of Hebei. The data were analyzed using structural equation modeling. The empirical findings indicate that environmental information,attitude,social belief, perceived efficacy, and solar energy advantagespositively affected the public acceptance ofsolar energy. By contrast, environmental concerns did not directly influence the same. The findings highlight the critical importance of altering social belief, increasing consumer consciousness, redeveloping control systems, and emphasizing the advantages of solar energy through concerted and enduring endeavors while enhancing practices for environmental sustainability.