The identification of the pro-ecological factors influencing a decision to become a prosumer

Abstract

The aims of the article are (1) the identification of factors influencing the households’ willingness to install renewable energy sources (RES) – and to became a prosumer, (2) the estimation which variables have the stronger influence on probability of the RES installation and which have the weaker influence. The prosumers were defined as households who have the RES installation, produce electricity on their own needs, and any surplus is given back to the grid. They have electricity cost balance once a year. There were taken into consideration the factors connected with pro-ecological and pro-effectiveness behaviors such as: sorting rubbish, the utilization of electro-rubbish, switching off the lights, using LEDs, installing and using energy-saving home appliances and so on. The input data comes from the survey research conducted in November and December 2015 within a project “Modelling prosumers’ behaviour on the energy market” funded by the National Centre of Science, by the grant no. 2013/11/B/HS4/01070. It was observed that significant relationships exist between a household’s decisions about the RES installation and (1) using LEDs, (2) installing energy-saving home appliances (A+++), (3) sorting rubbish, (4) washing or ironing at particular times, (5) using eco-options in washing machine, (6) switching off electrical equipment (e.g. computer) if nobody uses. The significance of qualitative variables, which influence a household’s decisions about the RES installation, was verified by the results of logit model.