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The behaviours and attitudes of European consumers towards the heating, cooling, and hot water systems they use have been analysed in a study of more than 5500 participants representing private households, tertiary buildings, and industry.
The study examined why current systems are used, where users get information about thermal energy, why they choose some systems rather than others, how they perceive different sources of energy, and their sensitivity to price changes. The research was conducted by a consortium of public authorities and renewable energy groups as part of the FROnT project.
The research was conducted in order to provide public authorities and businesses with information about how to effectively communicate with their audiences about the energy choices they make, and to better understand how a shift to renewables can be achieved.
Some clear trends were found from the data collected in the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, and the United Kingdom. For all sectors, professionals are the main source of information but private users also rely heavily on the advice of their relatives. Total economic savings is one of the most important factors when choosing a system; it’s the most important factor for the residential sector and the second most important for others, coming just behind reliability.
The residential sector is the least aware of renewables and the tertiary the most aware, but the industrial sector is the most willing to pay for Renewable Heating and cooling. In general, consumers think that renewables have high investment costs but deliver high economic savings. It is the need for an initial investment that stops most people installing renewables. Most people are largely satisfied with their existing systems, but are unhappy about fuel prices.
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