The Case for a Green Economy

In recent years, it has become clear that how we produce energy determines the future of our economic and environmental prosperity; affordable, reliable, and decarbonized energy systems are critical to preserving this future. This has prompted many people, including us, to take a closer look at the broad concept of a "Green Economy," what it entails, and how we can best transition to it. This study investigated the viability and appeal of the green economy and analyzed home owner response data to better understand which factors influenced the decision to switch to solar and why the home owners made the switch. A sample of 159 homeowners from the United States and a few foreign countries completed a Google form with multiple choice, multiple selection, and open ended questions. The questions were used to assess the relationship between our independent variables: income bracket, location, and solar panel ownership, and the dependent variables: attitude toward solar panels (motivation to switch, hesitations, willingness to spend and convictions).  The results indicated that the main drawbacks of switching to solar are (a) the cost; solar energy is expensive/overpriced and out of reach for the average American, with nearly 90% of respondents saying they will not spend more than $7500, despite the fact that the average initial cost runs up to $13,320. (b) Lack of information; there is insufficient information about solar energy. (c) Excess regulations, which vary by town, make the process of installing solar panels tedious and confusing (d) Strict regulations make local electricians unable to install solar, causing prices to be high because installation companies charge a premium. Contrary to our initial hypothesis, income is not correlated to propensity of an individual to install solar panels, in fact the establishment of a correlation between these two variables is due to chance 9.7% of the time. Implications of this study can inspire policy change and reduce regulations to ease panel installation while also increasing pollution monitoring enforcement and implementing systems to incentivize corporations to go greener. This research will also provide a better understanding of solar energy and the importance of transitioning to a green economy.