An interesting bit of research carried out by a team of scientists in California, America between January 2011 and December 2011 reveals that you are more likely to have solar panels installed if other people in your neighbourhood already have them on their roofs.
In view of this fact, the marketing departments of solar panel installation firms should focus their sales activities in areas where solar panels are already installed.
This could be described as trying to keep up with the Greens as opposed to the Joneses!
Apparently, for every 10 solar panel installations in a specific zip code the likelihood of another household having solar panels installed on their roof rises by just about 8 per cent.
Furthermore, if the number of households with solar panels were to rise by 10 per cent in a particular zip code the number of further installations would go up by 54 per cent. An increase in installations was also helped by people talking about solar panels and the panels being seen.
Kenneth Gillingham, who is assistant professor of economics at the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies and is also co-author of the survey stated: “If my neighbour installs a solar panel and tells me he’s saving money and he’s really excited about it, it’s likely I’ll go ahead and do the same thing. Then there are others who’ll install because they don’t want to be one-upped by their neighbours.”
The research also showed that people living in larger homes who had further to commute had greater exposure to installed solar panels and were therefore more likely to have solar panels installed than someone who lived in a smaller home and carpooled.
So, anyone running a solar panel installation business, should perhaps arrange leaflet drops in areas where there is an abundance of solar panels on roofs.
