SOLAR DEPLOYMENT AND PERCEPTIONS IN THE EDUCATION SECTOR - A CASE STUDY OF SDE1

Abstract

With growing focus on the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals, the world is advancing towards sustainability. Advocating a shift in human behaviours have often been neglected in climate mitigation and adaptation strategies worldwide. Considering that majority of existing climate challenges are anthropogenic in nature, there is increasing interest into how the physical green environment influences individual environmental behaviours. Specifically, in this dissertation, an investigation was conducted on whether visibility of solar deployment can elicit greater pro-environmental behaviours (PEBs) in university students occupying SDE1. A 3D model was generated via SketchUp and Skelion to simulate SDE1, and non-visible and visible solar deployment on roofs and facades respectively. Subsequently, 82 responses were gathered across two electronic surveys to attain students’ perceptions towards visibility of solar deployment. Numerous statistical tests were conducted to ascertain the primary and secondary hypotheses. Overall findings suggest visibility of solar deployment significantly increases both the adoption of PEBs and willingness to subscribe to green electricity plans for students in Survey A, but not Survey B, which may be attributed to order-effect response bias. Gender and household incomes were not found to be of significant influence, while individual pro-environmental attitudes significantly affected a student’s adoption of PEBs in either visibility scenario. These results could encourage stakeholders to recognise the influence of visibility of solar deployment in evoking greater PEBs in university students, which translates into a shift in PEBs across society as they enter the workforce.