Contagious photovoltaics: the roof of the neighborhood is increasingly solar!

    Contagious photovoltaics: the roof of the neighborhood is increasingly solar!

    The neighbor's roof is increasingly ... photovoltaic. Here's how neighbors envy can become environmentally healthy

    He is about to end up run over, his mother saves him





    The neighbor's roof is increasingly ...PV. It seems that overseas, in the United States precisely, there is a particular 'trend' regarding solar energy. One study carried out at Yale found that people are more likely to install a photovoltaic panel on the roof of their house, if the neighbors have one too.

    Contagious photovoltaics, has already been defined. But it is not an absolute novelty, at least for the US. The new research confirms how much stated by another study last year, made at the StanfordUniversity. Scholars from Yale University and New York University Stern School of Business, with the new survey, found that residents with the same zip code were more likely to install solar panels if they already existed in that zip code. postal and on their way.

    The researchers came to this discovery by studying groups of solar plants across California from January 2001 to December 2011 and noted the 'weirdness'. "We looked at the influence that the number of cumulative memberships, the number of people who have already installed solar panels in a zip code, had on the likelihood there would be a new membership in that zip code," he said. said Kenneth Gillingham, author of the study and assistant professor of economics at the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies. "Our approach tested a number of other possible explanations, including clustering of environmental preferences or marketing activities."

    How to say, a promotional campaign in a certain area may have influenced the common choice to install photovoltaics? Perhaps, but it seems that the philosophy behind this fashion is precisely that ofneighbour's grass. In fact, experts calculated that 10 additional installations in a zip code increased the likelihood of new memberships by 7,8 percent. There confirmation? The study showed that the visibility of the panels and word of mouth have led to an increase in installations. “If my neighbor installs a solar panel and tells me he has had a money saver and is really excited, I'm likely to do the same thing,” Gillingham said. But there are also those who choose to install photovoltaics because they do not want to be outdone compared to the neighborhood.



    But who looks at the neighbor's garden? That was also discovered. According to Yale experts, white males between the ages of 45 and 65 who make the 30-minute commute back home. Large families and people who move more are also those most exposed to this trend, compared to those who lived in smaller households.

    "These findings provide clear evidence of a statistically and economically significant effect," commented Bryan Bollinger, co-author of the research for the New York University Stern School of Business.



    Here's how neighbors envy can become environmentally healthy.

    The research was published on Marketing Science.

    Francesca Mancuso

    Read also:

    - Contagious photovoltaics: the effect of neighbors on the adoption of solar panels

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