Barriers against and actions towards renewable energy technologies diffusion: A Principal Component Analysis for residential ground source heat pump (GSHP) systems

The residential sector is responsible for 20% of the total energy consumption worldwide, with fossil fuels being its main energy source. Ground Source Heat Pump (GSHP) systems are an alternative option for heating, cooling and Domestic Hot Water (DHW) production in the residential sector, offering several advantages compared to conventional systems. Through a survey, this paper examines the views of people involved in the Greek GSHP sector, regarding existing and future adoption level of residential GSHP systems, dissemination barriers and actions that can contribute to their adoption. The conducted Categorical Principal Components Analysis (CatPCA) indicates that diffusion barriers can be classified to market and information barriers, regulatory and financial barriers, installation barriers and siting barriers, with a) lack of public awareness on the GSHP technology and its benefits, b) economic recession, c) lack of adequate subsidies or tax exemptions for the installation and d) installation cost being considered as the most significant ones. In accordance, diffusion actions that can contribute to the penetration of the technology can be categorized to regulatory and technology improvements, financial incentives and awareness activities, with tax reductions suited for GSHPs, public awareness activities on the technology and its benefits and training activities for installers being considered as the most important ones.