Increasing the use of solar energy in homes

Our latest research into public actions around climate change explored current adoption levels and general perception about solar technology.

16% of respondents said had solar PV installed on their homes, which may sound low but still represents well over a million homes; a significant improvement on the tens of thousands of homes which had solar 10 years ago.

Many homeowners have been slower to adopt due to perceptions around cost of solar. Over half of those surveyed (57%) assumed solar panels would not be affordable, a perception likely driven by the varying data produced on the cost of an average solar PV array, coupled with the fact that renewable technologies are evolving rapidly and therefore constantly shrinking in terms of affordability as take-up grows.

It’s still early days for our industry – sustainability has only really become mainstream in the last five years or so, and we’re currently in between business models as we move from the Feed-In Tariff to the Smart Export Guarantee.

But new business models are now being built around that which will make it much more attractive for people to install solar on their homes.

The Feed-In Tariff has done its job of providing an incentive to stimulate adoption of solar in the early days, which was needed at that time to develop traction in the market. But as adoption has grown, the cost of solar panels fallen by around 90% compared to prices 10 years ago, while the new Smart Export Guarantee will add further incentives to adoption.

Keep checking back on our blog for more insights on climate change attitudes and opinions, or download the full research paper here.