Characteristics of innovation: a customer-centric view of barriers to the adoption of a renewable energy system

Abstract

Annually billions of Euros are spent globally on developing a range of green technologies, including bio heating technologies, as part of a push into the renewable energy market. This paper considers customer perceived barriers to the adoption of wood pellet heating technology. Theoretically the paper is based on diffusion and innovation decision theory and also utilizes two different theoretical frameworks: perceived characteristics and basis of competition. Customers’ perceived barriers were collected through a survey (N=154) of Finnish housing expo attendance in 2007. The innovation adoption of wood pellet heating systems was observed to be at the rather early stages in Finland. The results somewhat contradict theoretical expectations concerning evolution of the basis of competition. The results also indicate that while other perceived characteristics were present, trialability and observability were not found in our analysis. Lacking the trial is usually typical of long-commitment investments such as bio energy systems.