Households’ Preferences for a New ‘Climate-Friendly’ Heating System: Does Contribution to Reducing Greenhouse Gases Matter?

This study investigates the preferences of Italian home-owners when choosing a new domestic heating system. The focus is on understanding the influence on consumer choice of a potential label certifying the effect of the heating system on the greenhouse effect. To this end, we designed a survey including a discrete choice experiment and administered it to residents in north-eastern Italy. Our findings reveal that, on average, respondents pay particular attention to the green effect of their purchase. The carbon dioxide reduction label was considered second in terms of importance after cost. Further analysis found that our sample presents three clusters of customers, with intra-cluster homogeneous preferences. The cluster analysis showed that while the initial system costs are considered to varying degrees by the whole sample, the carbon dioxide reduction label was considered important by 79% of respondents (members of clusters 1 and 2). To achieve greater results in reducing the greenhouse effect of the domestic heating sector, a combination of policies should be used simultaneously to achieve greater effectiveness. Our simulations support the hypothesis that policymakers should achieve greater results in terms of reducing the domestic greenhouse gas emissions by applying a combined policy that leverages the importance citizens accord to the different characteristics of a heating system. From our results, the application of a ‘low carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions’ label will amplify the effect of a subsidy that reduces the initial system costs.