The appeal of the green deal: Empirical evidence for the influence of energy efficiency policy on renovating homeowners

The Green Deal is a major new energy policy designed to support the diffusion of energy efficiency measures in UK homes. This paper provides one of the first empirical examinations of the Green Deal′s success in influencing homeowners' renovation decisions. Using a repeated measures design in which households were questioned before and after the Green Deal′s launch in January 2013, we assess the policy′s success in raising awareness of energy efficiency. In particular, we test the effectiveness of the Green Deal′s positioning to overcome barriers to renovation among homeowners already interested in or considering energy efficiency measures. Using the innovation decision process (Rogers, 2003) as a conceptual framing of the renovation decision process, we examine whether new information on energy efficiency provided by the Green Deal strengthened intentions and its antecedents. We find that (1) energy efficiency is of potential appeal to all renovators regardless of their attitudes about energy efficiency, (2) energy efficiency opportunities need to be identified in the early stages of renovation when homeowners are thinking about ways to improve their home, and (3) homeowners' intentions towards energy efficiency are weakened by uncertainty about financial benefits, helping to explain the relatively slow uptake of the Green Deal to-date. - Highlights: • Examines the impact of a major new energy policy, the Green Deal, on intentions towards energy efficiency. • 502 households questioned four months prior to, and seven months after the launch. • Renovating itself is mechanism through which households engage with the Green Deal. • Strengthening beliefs in energy savings accelerates intentions to renovate energy efficiently