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Sunspots That Matter: The Effect of Weather on Solar Technology Adoption

Stefan Lamp

Environmental & Resource Economics, 2023, vol. 84, issue 4, No 10, 1179-1219

Abstract: Abstract This paper tests for the presence of behavioral biases in household decisions to adopt solar photovoltaic installations using exogenous variation in weather. I find that residential technology uptake responds to exceptional weather, defined as deviations from the long-term mean, in line with the average time gap between decision-making and completion of the installation. In particular, a one standard deviation increase in sunshine hours during the purchase period leads to an approximate increase of 4.7% in weekly solar PV installations. This effect persists in aggregate data. I consider a range of potential mechanisms and find suggestive evidence for projection bias and salience as key drivers of my results.

Keywords: Renewable energy; Solar photovoltaics; Projection bias; Salience; Energy policy; Technology diffusion (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D12 D91 Q42 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Working Paper: Sunspots that matter: the effect of weather on solar technology adoption (2018) Downloads
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DOI: 10.1007/s10640-022-00753-3

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