Uptake of residential energy efficiency measures and renewable energy: Do spatial factors matter?

Solmaria Halleck Vega, Eveline van Leeuwen and Nienke van Twillert

Energy Policy, 2022, vol. 160, issue C

Abstract: Energy efficiency and renewable energy are key pillars of the energy transition, which is high on the policy agenda of governments and organizations around the world in the face of the climate crisis. The Netherlands is underperforming in emissions reduction goals. In this paper, we empirically assess factors to support policy for enhancing the uptake of carbon emissions reduction measures (ERMs) using data from the 2018 release of the Dutch Housing Survey. A distinction is made between owners and tenants, as well as by specific ERMs in the econometric analyses. Besides building features, socioeconomic characteristics and motives, we explicitly address the role of spatial factors. This has received much less attention in the related literature. Local and regional governmental and political conditions can result in spatial variation of uptake in ERMs. Also, differences across the urban-rural gradient, related to the built environment and motivations, can impact uptake. We find that spatial differences matter in the uptake of ERMs, even after controlling for a wide range of individual and building characteristics, which calls for more place-sensitive policies. Insights from this paper are pertinent not only for the Netherlands, but more widely as spatial factors can also be pivotal to take on board in energy policy frameworks in other countries.

Keywords: Energy efficiency measures; Renewable energy; Spatial factors; Climate change and energy transition policies; The Netherlands (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (9)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:enepol:v:160:y:2022:i:c:s0301421521005243

DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2021.112659

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