Volume 55

Smart Choices: The Influence of Energy Literacy on Energy Technology Adoption Laura Andolfi, Boris Ortega

Abstract

As societies transition to renewable energy sources and combat climate change, understanding the factors
that drive the adoption of new technologies becomes increasingly important. This paper focuses on how energy literacy—an individual’s understanding of energy concepts and technologies—affects the adoption of Electric Vehicles (EVs), Photovoltaic (PV) systems, and Home Energy Monitoring (HEM), using household-level survey data. The logistic regression analysis reveals that an increase in energy literacy significantly boosts the probability of adopting these technologies. Specifically, a one-point rise in energy literacy increases the likelihood of adopting any of the three technologies by at least 20.2%. Notably, energy literacy has a heterogeneous impact on individual technologies, significantly enhancing EV adoption by 38.9%, while showing no statistically significant effect on PV adoption. Our findings highlight the importance of targeted energy education in promoting specific technologies, suggesting that tailored informational campaigns could be more effective in driving the adoption of EVs and HEM.

Keywords Energy literacy, Energy technologies, Electric vehicles, Photovoltaic panels, Home Energy Monitoring