Households' heating investments: The effect of motives and attitudes on choice of equipment

This paper reports on an online survey conducted in Norway to investigate how attitudes, motives, residence characteristics and socioeconomic factors relate to households' investments in four types of heating equipment: woodstoves, pellet stoves, electric heaters and air-to-air heat pumps. First, we find that perceptions about characteristics such as appearance, efficiency, cost, time and effort required to use the equipment, and environmental impact differ greatly between the four types of heating equipment. Second, we find that 52% of the households invested more than €375 in heating equipment in the previous 10 years, and that 34% of those invested in at least two types of heating equipment. Third, using discrete choice models, we find that motive, environmental attitude, characteristics of the residence and demographic factors affect households' heating investment likelihood and choice of heating equipment. For example, we find that people whose main motive is to reduce costs are more likely to invest in heat pumps, whereas investors in pellet stoves are more concerned about the environment.

► Norwegian online survey on households' heating equipment investments.
► Exploring the role of motives, attitudes and residence characteristics in investment decisions.
► Use data on woodstoves, pellet stoves, electric heaters and air-to-air heat pumps.
► The four types of equipment differ significantly in perceived characteristics.
► Heat pump buyers motivated by costs savings and pellet buyers by the environment.