Core Results

Highlights

  • On consideration, two potential behavioral categories emerge: a group comprised of retrofitting homes, reducing beef consumption, installing solar panels, and purchasing electric vehicles, considered by 40%-47% of Boston residents. The second group involves heat pump installation, carbon offset purchase, and community solar subscription, considered by only 6%-14% of the population
  • Despite moderate levels of consideration, the majority does not anticipate adopting these behaviors in the near future. The intention and adoption rates are particularly low for purchasing carbon offsets and subscribing to community solar, possibly due to lack of familiarity with the behaviors.
  • Perception among Boston residents suggests low adoption rates of these behaviors within their community. The exception being home retrofitting, which scored the highest on empirical expectations indicator, likely due to the recognized benefits of insulation and energy efficiency upgrades.
  • Among all behaviors, those relating to renewable energy and efficiency (home retrofitting, rooftop and community solar subscriptions) have the highest proportion of residents believing that people should adopt them.
  • Relative to other behaviors, average confidence levels are low for purchasing offsets or subscribing to community solar.
  • A majority of people recognize the benefits of improved insulation or the use of energy-efficient appliances, potentially suggesting that benefit-oriented messaging may resonate with interested individuals.
  • Although the benefits of home retrofitting are likely well understood, individuals also recognize the inherent complexity and challenges associated with this process.

Methods

In May 2023, we recruited 1,015 adults, quota sampled to match the population of the Greater Boston area in age group x sex x ethnicity.

The sample was additionally weighted using survey weights to be representative of the Greater Boston area adult population in age group x sex x ethnicity and Hispanic/non-Hispanic origin.

Results from 2021 are available here.

The Normative Gap

Across all behaviors surveyed, there is a gap between what people believe (Beliefs that others should adopt because it is the right thing to do; personal normative beliefs) and what they think other people believe (Beliefs that others think people should adopt because it is the right thing to do; normative expectations). That is, residents of the Boston area underestimate how many other people around them believe that one should adopt the behaviors.

Appendix

Distribution of political orientation in the sample

Question: In political matters, people talk of “the left” (1) and “the right” (10). How would you place your views on this scale, generally speaking?

##    Value Perecent
## 1      1     9.17
## 2      2     8.48
## 3      3    10.85
## 4      4     8.78
## 5      5    32.05
## 6      6     9.96
## 7      7     6.90
## 8      8     5.03
## 9      9     3.45
## 10    10     5.33
##    Min. 1st Qu.  Median    Mean 3rd Qu.    Max. 
##   1.000   3.000   5.000   4.867   6.000  10.000

Distribution of global warming questions

Question: How important is the issue of global warming to you personally?

## 
##  Extremely important       Very important   Somewhat important 
##                 27.0                 31.5                 26.5 
##    Not too important Not at all important 
##                  8.3                  6.7

Question: How worried are you about global warming?

## 
##       Very worried   Somewhat worried   Not very worried Not at all worried 
##               37.4               41.0               14.0                7.6

Question: How much do you think global warming will harm you personally?

## 
##      A great deal A moderate amount     Only a little        Not at all 
##              21.0              40.8              20.8              12.0 
##        Don’t know 
##               5.3

Question: How much do you think global warming will harm future generations of people?

## 
##      A great deal A moderate amount     Only a little        Not at all 
##              61.1              20.4               9.0               5.3 
##        Don’t know 
##               4.1