Social and market acceptance of photovoltaic panels and heat pumps in Europe: A literature review and a survey

Quick adoption of renewable energy solutions (RETs) in buildings is a key factor to achieving the European climate and energy targets. The necessary technologies are available but non-technological barriers still exist. Social acceptance of RETs has been conceptualized, suggesting that there are at least three dimensions; socio-political, community and market. Efforts to assess the adoption of RETs should cover more than one form of acceptance.

Solar photovoltaics (PVs) are one of the most popular RETs available in the market, have been available for decades and have been heavily studied. Most of the barriers to their diffusion identified in previous studies are related to policy support, technical performance and finances. Heat-pumps (HP) have also emerged as environmentally friendly solutions to supply buildings´ energy demand. Nevertheless, few studies have focused on user-related aspects and public perceptions of HPs; with many aspects related to public perception that can affect the uptake of the technology in residential buildings.

The aim of this article is to conceptualize and assess the social and market acceptance of the innovative SunHorizon technologies (PVs and HPs) in Europe, in order to identify which aspects need more focus for the replicability of these key solutions for a low carbon building sector to a wider audience. The work presented in this article is part of the SunHorizon EU- project.