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Keeping Up With the Joneses: Solar Fever Is Contagious

If you install a solar array today, your neighbor is more likely to do the same soon. So say researchers at Yale and NYU.

If you install a solar array today, your neighbor is more likely to do the same soon. So say researchers at Yale and NYU, according to Earth Techling.


They said that for each installation in a zip code, the chance of another installation going in increased by 0.78 percent. Word of mouth and the visibility of the panels did the trick, the researchers said, and that’s something marketers might be able to cash in on as they try to bring down the cost of customer acquisition.

“Our ?nding of an increasing effect of new installations in a zip code suggests that targeting marketing efforts in areas that already have some installations is a promising strategy,” the researchers wrote.

Other tendencies popped up in the study as well: “Higher adoption rates are also associated with the percentage of the population who are male, white, have over a 30-minute commute, and have home repairs,” according to the study.

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Makes a lot of sense—but it would be cool if less-visible green decisions were catching, too!

Photo via Flickr (cc) user ell brown.

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