Assessment of the Public Acceptance and Utilization of Renewable Energy in Pakistan

Abstract The acceptance of renewable energy technologies is a complicated and multifaceted process influenced by a broad range of factors. Therefore, this study aims to examine the factors influencing consumer intention to utilize renewable energy (RE). Moreover, the current research highlights the factors that encourage or discourage consumers from utilizing RE by expanding the structural context of the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) by integrating three new considerations (the perception of self-effectiveness, beliefs about the benefits of RE, and perception about neighbor participation). The data used for analysis were collected from 351 households in four large cities, including Rawalpindi, Lahore, Gujranwala, and Faisalabad, in Pakistan. We utilized the Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) approach to check the relationship between constructs and latent variables. The results reveal that the driving factors, i.e., the perception of self-effectiveness, awareness, and perception about neighbor participation have significant and positive effects on consumer intention to utilize RE. However, consumer beliefs related to the cost of RE utilization have a negative effect on their intention to utilize RE. More interestingly, it was observed that beliefs about the benefits of RE and environmental concern have insignificant effects. The outcomes of this study can assist policy makers, experts and consumers in understanding renewable energy consumption and gaining awareness about environmental problems while simultaneously improving environmental sustainability practices.