A consumer assessment of household attitudes, awareness, drivers and likelihood of installing solar water heaters under a monthly payment scheme in Cape Town, South Africa

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dc.contributor.advisorRennkamp, Brittaen_ZA
dc.contributor.authorPaul, Timothyen_ZA
dc.date.accessioned2014-07-31T11:03:11Z
dc.date.available2014-07-31T11:03:11Z
dc.date.issued2013en_ZA
dc.descriptionIncludes abstract.
dc.descriptionIncludes bibliographical references.
dc.description.abstractThis paper reviews how incentive mechanisms impact solar water heater (SWH) technology adoption under both monthly payment scheme (MPS) and non-monthly payment scheme (non-MPS) conditions. The key research problem is to try understand why consumers1 have not installed SWHs under non-MPS conditions and whether a MPS can generate better installation rates. SWHs generate clean energy by using the heat of the sun instead of electricity to heat household water. On average, SWHs displace 30 % of household electricity usage, decreasing both household electricity costs and national electricity supply. South Africa has favourable solar conditions and encouraging policy support in the form of long term targets and subsidy incentive schemes. However, it appears that these mechanisms are unable to rapidly incentivise South Africa’s mid to high income households to install SWH units. This paper reviews the MPS incentive mechanism, to examine if it can create a larger scale adoption of SWHs, with the key research question being: ‘How does the monthly payment scheme influence consumer behaviour and their likelihood of adopting solar water heater technologies in the City of Cape Town?’ An important corollary of the research is to gain an understanding of the nature and successes of MPSs in other SWH markets and industry environments. This paper uses case studies to examine successful MPSs in the US PV residential market and in Tunisia’s state-supported SWH program. In order to determine the likelihood of SWH adoption in Cape Town, existing consumer sentiment towards SWHs must be properly understood. Consumer attitudes, awareness and drivers to adopt SWHs will inform the likelihood of adoption, both under MPS and non-MPS conditions. Therefore, this paper investigates the three variables of attitudes, awareness and drivers and the ultimate likelihood of SWH adoption through a questionnaire targeted at respondents from mid to high income households in Cape Town.en_ZA
dc.identifier.apacitationPaul, T. (2013). <i>A consumer assessment of household attitudes, awareness, drivers and likelihood of installing solar water heaters under a monthly payment scheme in Cape Town, South Africa</i>. (Thesis). University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,Department of Social Development. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/11427/5284en_ZA
dc.identifier.chicagocitationPaul, Timothy. <i>"A consumer assessment of household attitudes, awareness, drivers and likelihood of installing solar water heaters under a monthly payment scheme in Cape Town, South Africa."</i> Thesis., University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,Department of Social Development, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/5284en_ZA
dc.identifier.citationPaul, T. 2013. A consumer assessment of household attitudes, awareness, drivers and likelihood of installing solar water heaters under a monthly payment scheme in Cape Town, South Africa. University of Cape Town.en_ZA
dc.identifier.ris TY - Thesis / Dissertation AU - Paul, Timothy AB - This paper reviews how incentive mechanisms impact solar water heater (SWH) technology adoption under both monthly payment scheme (MPS) and non-monthly payment scheme (non-MPS) conditions. The key research problem is to try understand why consumers1 have not installed SWHs under non-MPS conditions and whether a MPS can generate better installation rates. SWHs generate clean energy by using the heat of the sun instead of electricity to heat household water. On average, SWHs displace 30 % of household electricity usage, decreasing both household electricity costs and national electricity supply. South Africa has favourable solar conditions and encouraging policy support in the form of long term targets and subsidy incentive schemes. However, it appears that these mechanisms are unable to rapidly incentivise South Africa’s mid to high income households to install SWH units. This paper reviews the MPS incentive mechanism, to examine if it can create a larger scale adoption of SWHs, with the key research question being: ‘How does the monthly payment scheme influence consumer behaviour and their likelihood of adopting solar water heater technologies in the City of Cape Town?’ An important corollary of the research is to gain an understanding of the nature and successes of MPSs in other SWH markets and industry environments. This paper uses case studies to examine successful MPSs in the US PV residential market and in Tunisia’s state-supported SWH program. In order to determine the likelihood of SWH adoption in Cape Town, existing consumer sentiment towards SWHs must be properly understood. Consumer attitudes, awareness and drivers to adopt SWHs will inform the likelihood of adoption, both under MPS and non-MPS conditions. Therefore, this paper investigates the three variables of attitudes, awareness and drivers and the ultimate likelihood of SWH adoption through a questionnaire targeted at respondents from mid to high income households in Cape Town. DA - 2013 DB - OpenUCT DP - University of Cape Town LK - https://open.uct.ac.za PB - University of Cape Town PY - 2013 T1 - A consumer assessment of household attitudes, awareness, drivers and likelihood of installing solar water heaters under a monthly payment scheme in Cape Town, South Africa TI - A consumer assessment of household attitudes, awareness, drivers and likelihood of installing solar water heaters under a monthly payment scheme in Cape Town, South Africa UR - http://hdl.handle.net/11427/5284 ER - en_ZA
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11427/5284
dc.identifier.vancouvercitationPaul T. A consumer assessment of household attitudes, awareness, drivers and likelihood of installing solar water heaters under a monthly payment scheme in Cape Town, South Africa. [Thesis]. University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,Department of Social Development, 2013 [cited yyyy month dd]. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/5284en_ZA
dc.language.isoengen_ZA
dc.publisher.departmentDepartment of Social Developmenten_ZA
dc.publisher.facultyFaculty of Humanitiesen_ZA
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Cape Town
dc.subject.otherEnergy and Development Studiesen_ZA
dc.titleA consumer assessment of household attitudes, awareness, drivers and likelihood of installing solar water heaters under a monthly payment scheme in Cape Town, South Africaen_ZA
dc.typeMaster Thesis
dc.type.qualificationlevelMasters
dc.type.qualificationnameMScen_ZA
uct.type.filetypeText
uct.type.filetypeImage
uct.type.publicationResearchen_ZA
uct.type.resourceThesisen_ZA
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