Is an Incentive Policy for Energy Efficient Products Effective for Air Purifiers? The Case of South Korea

Woojae Kim, Sungmin Ko, Myoungjin Oh, Ie-jung Choi and Jungwoo Shin
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Woojae Kim: Department of Industrial and Management Systems Engineering, Kyung Hee University, 1732 Deogyeong-daero, Giheung-gu, Yongin, Gyeonggi 17104, Korea
Sungmin Ko: Department of Industrial and Management Systems Engineering, Kyung Hee University, 1732 Deogyeong-daero, Giheung-gu, Yongin, Gyeonggi 17104, Korea
Myoungjin Oh: Department of Industrial and Management Systems Engineering, Kyung Hee University, 1732 Deogyeong-daero, Giheung-gu, Yongin, Gyeonggi 17104, Korea
Ie-jung Choi: R&D Financial Project Evaluation Center, Science and Technology Policy Institute (STEPI), A-3F Sejong National Research Complex, 370 Sicheong-daero, Sejong-si 30147, Korea
Jungwoo Shin: Department of Industrial and Management Systems Engineering, Kyung Hee University, 1732 Deogyeong-daero, Giheung-gu, Yongin, Gyeonggi 17104, Korea

Energies, 2019, vol. 12, issue 9, 1-14

Abstract: Recent increases in fine and ultrafine dust in South Korea have led to sharp increases in the sale of air purifiers, and that trend is expected to continue. As the sale of air purifiers increases, the energy that is consumed by air purifiers also increases. Therefore, improving the energy efficiency of air purifiers is an important part of improving the overall energy efficiency of society. We studied how different incentive policies affect consumer behavior because encouraging people to buy energy efficient air purifiers is important. We first investigated consumer preferences regarding air purifiers. Stated preference data were gathered from a choice experiment and a mixed logit model was used for the analysis. The results show that the most preferred attribute was price, followed by an eco-label. Based on that result, we conducted a scenario analysis to examine the economic and environmental effects of an incentive policy and eco-labeling. The monetary incentive policy increased the market share for air purifiers with a first-grade energy efficiency rating to 2.2%. The annual electricity use reduction was 5.9 GWh, with a CO 2 emission reduction of 2520 tons and a policy monetary benefit of KRW 441,340,922 when we converted the effect of that market share change into economic and environmental terms. Eco-labeling also brought considerable change in the market share. These results provide a reference for implementing policies to encourage consumers to purchase energy efficient air purifiers.

Keywords: air purifier; energy efficiency; eco-label; incentive policy; choice experiment; hedonic pricing; greenwashing (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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