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ISSN:2325-6192 (print)
ISSN:2325-6206 (online)
Journal of Environmental Accounting and Management
António Mendes Lopes (editor), Jiazhong Zhang(editor)
António Mendes Lopes (editor)

University of Porto, Portugal

Email: aml@fe.up.pt

Jiazhong Zhang (editor)

School of Energy and Power Engineering, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, Shaanxi Province 710049, China

Fax: +86 29 82668723 Email: jzzhang@mail.xjtu.edu.cn

Exploring Residents’ Willingness to Pay for Renewable Energy Supply: Evidences from an Italian Case Study

Journal of Environmental Accounting and Management 4(2) (2016) 105--113 | DOI:10.5890/JEAM.2016.06.002

Gianluca Grilli$^{1}$,$^{2}$, Jessica Balest$^{1}$,$^{3}$, Giulia Garegnani$^{1}$, Alessandro Paletto$^{4}$

$^{1}$ Institute for Renewable Energy, Eurac Research, Bolzano (Italy)

$^{2}$ Department of Civil, Environmental and Mechanical Engineering, University of Trento, Trento (Italy)

$^{3}$ Department of Land, Environment, Agriculture and Forestry, University of Padua, Padua (Italy)

$^{4}$ Council for Agricultural Research and Economics, Forest Monitoring and Planning Research Unit, Trento (Italy)

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Abstract

The present study offers a contingent valuation application to explore residents ´ willingness to pay for renewable energy, in a case study in the Italian Alps. Data originated from onsite personal interviews and were analyzed with a Tobit model. Results show that respondents are willing to pay, on average, 5.1€ per month for a 100% of renewable energy supply, corresponding approximately to a 13% increase in the energy bill. Among the factors positively affecting the answers, the personal knowledge about renewable energy plays a key role in predicting WTP, as well as income and the personal perception of future possible development of hydropower plants. On the other hand, age and number of household components negatively affect WTP.

Acknowledgments

This study was conducted in the frame of the recharge.green project “Balancing Alpine Energy and Nature” (http://www.recharge-green.eu), which is carried out within the Alpine Space Programme, and is co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund. The author would like to thank Giorgio Curetti and the Alpi Marittime Natural Park for the help in the questionnaire administration.

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