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Reducing peat consumption in hobby gardening offers considerable potential for reducing CO2 emissions, since peatlands are one of the most important natural carbon sinks. While existing research focuses on the products and their diffusion; we focus on people and their practices of gardening. So we conducted 45 interviews with hobby gardeners in Germany from three different contexts: gardening at home, in an allotment garden, and in an urban gardening initiative. Our findings show that substrates are not a major part of gardeners´ social interactions. Purchasing substrates is a utility-driven process with, compared to gardening itself, mostly passive information behavior. Although (basic) knowledge about peat is widespread among hobby gardeners, price is the dominant purchase criterion for substrates; sustainability does not play an important role. Our results suggest that communication campaigns by governments and companies should convey substrate-related messages in those places where gardeners go to seek information, e.g. gardening-related publications. Communication should focus on the functional value of peat-free substrates and not just explain environmental benefits. Lastly, campaigns should target home gardeners rather than urban gardeners and allotment gardeners who rarely buy any substrates but rely on their own production.
One of the key challenges of increasing renewable energy use is consumer demand. In the residential heating sector, where long-lived fossil-fuel systems are slow to be replaced, consumer demand for drop-in renewable gases like biomethane or Synthetic Natural Gas could play an important role in short-term decarbonization. As this sector is a major emitter of CO2 in Europe, robust green demand could be key to fulfilling the targets set in the Paris Agreement. Yet existing research focuses on the supply side and technical aspects of renewable gases, leaving the demand side and consumer preferences for these gases largely neglected. To close this gap, we conducted a qualitative study based on two empirical strands: 22 interviews with heating consumers, and a set of interviews and focus groups with 27 industry experts. The study was situated in Germany, one of the world's largest biogas producers.
Our results show that choosing a heating tariff is a low-involvement decision, but one made by a complex calculus where the environmental benefits of renewable gases count positively, but large-scale biogas production and perceived energy crop monocultures count negatively. SNG is still largely unknown and regarded neutrally. Industry experts evaluate voluntary markets for renewable gases as small, cost-driven and made up of consumers accustomed to low-cost products. Our insights on consumers who have the decision-making power over their heating tariffs can help policy makers support voluntary renewable energy markets and provide energy practitioners with approaches to increasing consumer engagement with their products.
Consumer preferences for renewable gas options: Qualitative
insights into the German heating market
(2022)
One of the key social aspects of renewable energy use is consumer demand. In the residential heating sector, where long-lived fossil-fuel systems are slow to be replaced, consumer demand for drop-in renewable gases like biomethane or Synthetic Natural Gas (SNG) could play an important role in short-term decarbonization. As this sector is a major emitter of CO2 in Europe, robust green demand could be key to fulfilling the targets set in the Paris Agreement. Yet existing research focuses on the supply side and technical aspects of renewable gases, leaving the demand side and consumer preferences for these gases largely neglected. To close this gap, we conducted a qualitative study based on two empirical strands: 22 interviews with heating consumers, and a set of interviews and focus
groups with 27 industry experts. The study was situated in Germany, which as one of the world’s largest biogas producers is a society with a history of relations with renewable gas
technologies.
Our results show that choosing a heating option is a low-involvement decision, but one made by a complex calculus where the environmental benefits of renewable gases count positively, but large-scale biogas production and perceived energy crop monocultures count negatively. SNG is still largely unknown and regarded neutrally. Industry experts evaluate voluntary markets for renewable gases as small, cost-driven and made up of consumers weaned on low-cost products. Our results can help policy makers worldwide support voluntary renewable energy markets and provide energy practitioners with approaches to increasing consumer engagement with their products
Damit der Torfausstieg bei den Hobbyerden gelingt, müssen die Kundinnen und Kunden nicht nur vom Kauf der Ersatzprodukte überzeugt, sondern auch über die Besonderheiten torfreduzierter/-freier Blumenerden und ihrer Anwendung aufgeklärt werden. Wie es gelingen kann, Hobbygärtner zielgerichtet und bedürfnisorientiert anzusprechen, hat das vom BMEL geförderte HOT-Projekt erarbeitet.
Background
The residential heating sector in many European countries requires a fundamental transformation if it is to become climate neutral. Besides the introduction of efficiency measures and updating heating systems, scholars and practitioners consider replacing fossil fuels in existing heating systems a viable approach. Drop-in renewable gases such as biomethane and synthetic natural gas (SNG) cause considerably fewer carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions than natural gas and can be used in natural gas boilers, the dominant heating system in many European countries. To move the ongoing debate around e-fuels forward, this study reports on a Discrete Choice Experiment with 512 respondents in Germany that analyzed consumer preferences and willingness to pay (WTP) for SNG. I build on these insights by comparing WTP to the production costs, making evidence-based decision-making possible.
Results
The results show that consumers prefer renewable gases over natural gas. Comparing the two types of renewable gases, SNG and biomethane, reveals that consumers clearly favor the latter despite the criticism it has come under in the last 10–15 years. Consumers show a surprisingly high WTP for increasing shares of SNG, with premia of 40 to almost 70% over a natural gas-based tariff. Comparing production costs to the WTP reveals that only tariffs with small shares of SNG (5% and 10%) can be offered at cost-covering prices.
Conclusions
Given the urgent need for a fundamental transition of the residential heating sector, marketers and policymakers should consider carefully whether it is worth channeling a rather unknown and expensive product like SNG into the voluntary market for heating gas, especially as biomethane is already established in the market and clearly a cheaper and more popular alternative.
What Drives the Participation of Renewable Energy Cooperatives in European Energy Governance?
(2019)
What determines the willingness of renewable energy cooperatives (RECs) to strengthen their involvement in politics at the different levels of governments (local/regional, national, transnational)? We address this research question by using data from an original survey distributed to RECs in Germany. The descriptive analysis shows that the RECs are less willing to participate in energy governance at the EU/transnational level than at the national and especially the subnational level. Our analytical findings, first, show that the odds of RECs to participate in governance processes in the future are greater for those RECs that are already involved in such processes. Put differently, we find that engagement in energy governance is affected by path-dependence. Second, participation in subnational governance processes is determined by dissatisfaction with policy decisions taken at that level: the more dissatisfied the respondents, the more likely they are to exert influence in the future. For the Energy Union to realise its aim of incorporating a broader range of stakeholders, the European Commission must highlight the opportunity structure it provides for participating in governance processes.
Reducing peat consumption in hobby gardening offers considerable potential for reducing CO2 emissions, since peatlands are one of the most important natural carbon sinks. While existing research focuses on the products and their diffusion, we focus on people and their practices of gardening. So we conducted 44 interviews with hobby gardeners in Germany from three different contexts: gardening at home, in an allotment garden, and in an urban gardening initiative. Our findings show that substrates are not a major part of gardeners' social interactions. Purchasing substrates is a utility-driven process with, compared to gardening itself, mostly passive information behavior. Although (basic) knowledge about peat is widespread among hobby gardeners, price is the dominant purchase criterion for substrates; sustainability does not play an important role. Our results suggest that communication campaigns by governments and companies should convey substrate-related messages in those places where gardeners go to seek information, e.g. gardening-related publications. Communication should focus on the functional value of peat-free substrates and not just explain environmental benefits. Lastly, campaigns should target home gardeners rather than urban gardeners and allotment gardeners who rarely buy any substrates but rely on their own production.