Renewable energy acceptance by households: evidence from Lithuania

ENAlthough renewable energy adoption in the residential sector has increased significantly in the EU due to the governmental policies, aiming to reduce the barriers of renewable energy penetration, the full potential of renewable energy deployment in households is still not realized due to the behavioral and other barriers. One of the most important factors in the adoption of renewable energy technologies in households is the decision-making to implement renewables; therefore, the behavioral economics insights should be taken into account during the analysis of renewable energy acceptance by households. The paper provides a systematic literature review on renewable energy use in households by analyzing policies and measures, which could increase the use of renewable energy in households by overcoming the major barriers. The dynamics of renewable energy consumption in EU households was performed by applying Eurostat data, and the empirical case study was conducted in Lithuania to understand the main reasons of renewable energy acceptance by the household. Even though the use of renewable energy sources has increased significantly in the EU member states during the recent years, the study has found the following most common barriers that the traditional policies are unable to overcome: (1) high upfront cost and long pay-back period, (2) a lack of information and knowledge, (3) low priority of environmental concern, (4) resistance to change; human habits. The case study shows that the majority of Lithuanian households would like to use renewable energy technologies in their homes, but they encounter financial difficulties and lack of infrastructure. The policy recommendations were developed based on the results of the conducted study. Keywords: households; renewable energy acceptance; microgeneration technologies; policies and measures; behavioral barriers. [From the publication]

• Impact of key drivers on energy intensity and GHG emissions in manufacturing in the Baltic States / Vaclovas Miškinis, Arvydas Galinis, Viktorija Bobinaitė, Inga Konstantinavičiūtė and Eimantas Neniškis. Sustainability (Basel). 2023, 15, 3330, 25 p.
• Renewable energy barriers and coping strategies: Evidence from the Baltic States / Jintao Lu, Licheng Ren, Siqin Yao, Dan Rong, Marinko Skare, Justas Streimikis. Sustainable development. 2020, Vol. 28, no. 1, p. 352-367.
• RES market development and public awareness of the economic and environmental dimension of the energy transformation in Poland and Lithuania / Ewa Chomac-Pierzecka, Anna Sobczak and Edward Urbanczyk. Energies (Basel). 2022, 15, 5461, 18 p.
• Review of selected aspects of wind energy market development in Poland and Lithuania in the face of current challenges / Ewa Chomac-Pierzecka, Hubert Gąsinski, Joanna Rogozinska-Mitrut, Dariusz Sobon and Sebastian Zupok. Energies (Basel). 2023, 16, 473, 17 p.