Does Ownership of or Proximity to Residential Solar Installations Predict Environmental Opinions and Civic Engagement?

Keywords: Residential Solar, Neighborhood Effect, Remote Sensing
Abstract Type: Poster Abstract

Abstract

Solar energy has been responsible for the largest portion of new generating capacity in the United States since 2019 with a 19 percent increase in solar capacity alone in 2021 (Solar Market Insight Report 2021 Year in Review, 2022). Prior research surrounding solar panels and the people likely to adopt them has shown that while some traits, such as income and political ideology, can act as predictors of installation, there are weak conclusions offered to support these hypotheses of causality (Baranzini et al., 2017; Best et al., 2019; Bollinger & Gillingham, 2012; Schelly & Letzelter, 2020). This research takes a novel approach to understand the social implications and neighborhood effect of residential solar: rather than studying who installs solar panels on their home, I examine how the presence of solar panels (on one’s home or in one’s neighborhood) can predict an individual’s civic engagement and other characteristics - such as opinions about climate change and energy policies. I analyze multiple waves of large nationally representative georeferenced survey data (n=3794) from the Climate Change in the American Mind (CCAM) project, in combination with remote sensing imagery of the neighborhoods of survey respondents using GIS software, to determine the influence of residential solar on an individual’s actions and opinions. The results describe the relationship of neighborhood and residential solar in regard to climate opinion and policy preferences.