Aug 16 2006
Most Australians associate green energy with high costs and low reliability and many are misinformed about basic environmentally friendly options such as wind and solar energy, a University of Melbourne study has found.
The research also found that many parents were more likely to listen to their school-aged children when it came to environmental issues than to governments or energy companies, and that consumers:
- were largely unaware of their own electricity company’s green energy options;
- were unlikely to opt to pay more for environmentally friendly energy;
- wanted more simple information about their individual impact on the environment
The study was conducted by Dr Angela Paladino from the University of Melbourne’s Department of Management & Marketing and utilised focus groups from around Australia to build knowledge on consumer motivation for purchasing green electricity options.
The study contributes to a collaboration with CSIRO to better understand the role of energy in society.
Dr Paladino said some consumers were unsure how green energy would apply to their home, to the point where they assumed solar energy power would be restricted at night or that they would need ugly and costly panels set up on their own homes.
“I even heard concerns about radiation poisoning from solar panelling,” she said.
The study showed that Australians were keen to hear more about the environmental costs of energy production, but they do not want complex details or vague information.
“People want to know that their washing machine gives off ‘x’ amount of carbon dioxide, but that it will only give off ‘y’ if they use green energy,” Dr Paladino said.
“Electricity companies could help with this – for example they could show itemised energy usages on a household bill highlighting a house’s energy emissions.”
An increase in objective information was found to sway consumers to pay up to 10 per cent more for environmentally sound electricity.
Dr Paladino said an interesting finding was that many parents were more likely to listen to their children who were learning about environmental issues at school, than to energy providers or governments.
According to Dr Paladino the results of the study show that more education campaigns are needed from independent sources, supported by governments and companies.
http://www.unimelb.edu.au