Micro-determinants of the individuals willing to support projects related to renewable energy sources

Abstract

As the 21st-century paradigm, sustainable development implies, among other things, the need to ensure environmental sustainability through replacement of traditional energy sources with environmentally acceptable renewable ones. Economic literature identifies a number of prerequisites and determinants needed for the successful use of renewable energy sources. The purpose of this study is to deepen our understanding of the determinants of an individual’s willingness to support the implementation of energy-saving measures. A nation-wide citizen perception survey of 3,024 respondents was carried out in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2018 to collect data for this study. The paper takes a micro-level approach focusing on the behaviour of an individual. The respondents were found to have a positive attitude toward renewable energy projects. Most of them (72.78%) support such projects. Logistic regression (maximum-likelihood estimation) was employed to test the proposed hypotheses. The results of the study show that there are several important predictors of an individual’s support for projects related to renewable energy sources, including age, gender, income, satisfaction with the standard of living, religiousness, living in a male-dominated household, and ethnicity. The results of the study can help policymakers to design and adopt adequate policy measures for promoting financial investments in renewable energy sources, and project developers to tailor their communication and promotion strategies to the needs of specific population segments to better achieve the goals and benefits of such projects.

Keywords

• renewable energy sources
• social acceptance
• Bosnia-Herzegovina
• logistic regression