Micropower in residential buildings - An integrated analysis of consumer preferences, marketing strategies and emerging business models
Type
applied research project
Start Date
01 July 2006
End Date
30 June 2008
URI
Status
completed
Keywords
Nachhaltigkeit
Umweltmanagement
Marketing
Geschäftsmodell
Fokusgruppe
Diffusion
Innovation
Description
Die Reduktion des Verbrauchs nicht erneuerbarer Energie in Gebäuden ist ein wichtiger Schritt zu einer nachhaltigeren Entwicklung im Wohnbereich. Mikropower bezeichnet das Konzept der effizienten Strom- und Wärmeproduktion in Wohngebäuden und stellt eine wichtige Option für eine nachhaltige Energieproduktion dar. Trotz grossen Fortschritten in Forschung und Entwicklung im Bereich der Mikro-Kraft-Wärme-Kopplung, der thermischen Solarenergie und der Stromproduktion mit Photovoltaik ist die Markteinführung im grossen Stil noch nicht gelungen. Dies ist unter anderem auf mangelnde Kenntnisse der Präferenzen der Konsumenten zurückzuführen. Die Entwicklung der Technologie ist nicht hinreichend um den Markt zu erobern, es braucht Geschäftsmodelle, Marketingstrategien und Dienstleistungspakete (Finanzierungsdienstleistungen inbegriffen), um die Bedürfnisse der Konsumenten zu befriedigen. Das Projekt hat zum Ziel mit einer Kombination von qualitativen Forschungsmethoden (Fokusgruppen und halbstrukturierten Interviews) und quantitativen Forschungsmethoden (Discrete-Choice-Modelle) diese Lücke zu schliessen. Die Untersuchungen werden sowohl auf der Nachfrageseite (private und professionelle Kunden) als auch auf der Anbieterseite von Produkten und Dienstleistungen im Zusammenhang mit Mikropower ansetzen. Ziel des Projektes ist Politik, Unternehmungen und Anspruchsgruppen über Hindernisse für die Marktdurchdringung von Mikropower zu informieren und Lösungswege aufzuzeigen.
Das Projekt wird vom Nationalen Forschungsprogramm "Nachhaltige Siedlungs- und Infrastrukturentwicklung" (NFP 54) finanziert.
Leader contributor(s)
Member contributor(s)
Kaenzig, Josef
Boehnke, Jasper
Funder(s)
Topic(s)
Nachhaltigkeit
Umweltmanagement
Marketing
Geschäftsmodell
Method(s)
Fokusgruppe
Range
Institute/School
Range (De)
Institut/School
Division(s)
Eprints ID
30049

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  • Publication
    Type: discussion paper
    Issue: 118
    URI: https://www.alexandria.unisg.ch/handle/20.500.14171/82299
  • Publication
    Business Models for Sustainable Energy
    (Greenleaf Publishing, 2008)
    Wüstenhagen, Rolf
    ;
    Boehnke, Jasper
    ;
    Tukker, Arnold
    Research on business models is a response to the common dichotomy of the market-based view and the resource-based view of the firm. Particularly with the emergence of e-commerce, these traditional perspectives seemed to be insufficient to explain how firms create value and how they compete successfully on the market. This gave rise to a new unit of strategic analysis, the business model. The term business model has become increasingly popular in management research and practice in recent years. While the initial focus of the literature on business models was almost exclusively on internet firms, and it was discussed to a large extent in information technology-related academic journals, recent research has pointed out that business model innovation is a key success factor in other sectors, too. Prominent case studies include companies like Dell Computer, IKEA and Wal-Mart, i.e. companies who found new approaches to boosting profitability in "old economy" industries. Ultimately, scholars begin to recognize that careful design of the different components of a business model is a prerequisite to turn technological innovation into value, both for entrepreneurial start-ups as well as for established firms. In the case of sustainable energy technologies, such as solar thermal collectors, photovoltaic cells, fuel cells and other micropower technologies, using the business model as the unit of analysis seems promising because the value proposition for sustainable energy is often poorly understood, and almost as in the early days of the internet, there are few established ways of successfully generating profits by providing distributed energy products and services. To summarize, business models are an emerging stream of research, not just in mainstream management research, but also in the field of sustainable consumption and production. However, most of the applications of business model thinking in the context of sustainability have made only anecdotal reference to existing business school literature. Our paper therefore makes three main contributions: 1) Provide a literature review of business model research to lay a solid theoretical foundation. 2) Discuss the conceptual implications of specifically discussing business models for sustainability. 3) Illustrate this for the case of sustainable energy technologies as an empirical application.
    Type: book section
    Issue: 1
    URI: https://www.alexandria.unisg.ch/handle/20.500.14171/79801
  • Publication
    Business Models for Distributed Energy Technologies - Evidence from German Cleantech Firms
    ( 2007-08-07)
    Boehnke, Jasper
    ;
    Wüstenhagen, Rolf
    Global demand for heating and electricity relies heavily on fossil fuels, which contribute significantly to global warming and climate change. There is an urgent need to accelerate the diffusion of clean energy technologies such as solar thermal collectors and micro CHP (combined heat and power generation). One important bottleneck is the identification of adequate business models. Building on a thorough review of business model literature, we identify important aspects of successful business models for distributed energy. The second part of the paper reports on empirical evidence from a survey of 64 German distributed energy firms.
    Type: conference paper
    URI: https://www.alexandria.unisg.ch/handle/20.500.14171/80319
  • Publication
    Understanding the Green Energy Consumer
    (Gabler, 2008-08-12)
    Kaenzig, Josef
    ;
    Wüstenhagen, Rolf
    A threefold increase in crude oil prices over the last five years, growing concern about climate change, and public policies promoting renewable energy have begun to cause a fundamental transformation of the housing industry. In this phase of discontinuous change, it is essential for both incumbent heating marketers as well as new entrants to understand shifting customer preferences. This article provides critical insights for successful creation of customer value with new residential energy technologies.
    Type: journal article
    Journal: Marketing Review St.Gallen
    Issue: 4
    URI: https://www.alexandria.unisg.ch/handle/20.500.14171/77981
  • Publication
    Type: conference paper
    URL: http://www.score-network.org/files//1224_SCORE-Launch-Conf_Proceedings-Refereed-Papers-III_Post-Confb.pdf
    URI: https://www.alexandria.unisg.ch/handle/20.500.14171/82280
  • Publication
    Micropower in residential buildings - an analysis of customer preferences and business models
    (International Association for Energy Economics, 2006-06-10)
    Boehnke, Jasper
    ;
    Kaenzig, Josef
    ;
    Wüstenhagen, Rolf
    ;
    Erdmann, Georg
    One vision of future energy systems is based on an increasingly decentralized supply of electricity and heat in small-scale systems that are installed on the individual building level, which we refer to as micropower. Our understanding of micropower includes systems that provide electricity (such as photovoltaics), heat (such as wood pellet stoves, heat pumps, or solar thermal collectors) or both heat and electricity (micro-CHP, either based on natural gas or biomass). Our focus is on micropower systems that have lower environmental impact than incumbent technology, which tends to be oil heating and conventional electricity from the grid in most European countries. While the technological potential of micropower has been widely acknowledged and some policies are explicitly trying to support this market, the market adoption of micropower systems ultimately depends on customer decisions to buy them, and on adequate business models (Chesbrough and Rosenbloom 2002, Stähler 2001) for suppliers of micropower systems to successfully meet demand. Compared to other aspects of micropower, research on customer preferences and business models are two relatively underdeveloped streams of research. Our project uses a two-step approach to investigating customer preferences: In a first phase (which is the subject of this paper), we are using qualitative research methods (interviews and focus groups) to gain a comprehensive understanding of underlying attitudes and other factors influencing customers' buying decisions, while in a second phase, a quantitative survey (using conjoint analysis) will be conducted to assess the relative attractiveness of different systems. On the supply side of our research, we are investigating key aspects of successful business models. Based on the findings of the first phase of our research, this paper aims at answering the following research questions: - What are the attitudes, values and beliefs of Swiss residential customers towards various micropower systems? - Which attributes of micropower systems are most relevant for customers' buying decisions? - Who else plays an important role in the decision process for or against micropower systems, and what are the most relevant sources of information for preparing buying decisions? - What are promising target segments for marketing various micropower systems to Swiss consumers? - What different types of business models for micropower can be identified in the micropower market (with an emphasis on solar thermal collectors) and how successful are they?
    Type: conference paper
    URI: https://www.alexandria.unisg.ch/handle/20.500.14171/82810