Sunspots that matter: the effect of weather on solar technology adoption

Stefan Lamp

No 18-879, TSE Working Papers from Toulouse School of Economics (TSE)

Abstract: This paper tests for the effect of weather on solar technology adoption, taking advantage of the fact that sunshine is a direct input factor for solar electricity production. I find that a one standard deviation increase in monthly sunshine hours above the long-term average leads to an approximate 6.2 % growth in the residential solar market over a six-month period. I consider a range of potential mechanisms and find strong evidence for projection bias and salience as key drivers of my results. My findings show that there is an asymmetric response to positive and negative sunshine deviations from the long-term mean and that counties with a high vote share for the green party are particularly affected by these biases.

Keywords: projection bias; salience; technology diffusion; solar technology; energy policy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D12 D91 Q42 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ene, nep-env and nep-reg
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Sunspots That Matter: The Effect of Weather on Solar Technology Adoption (2023)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:tse:wpaper:32349

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