In a recent survey aimed at energy industry professionals and consumers conducted by the Association of Energy Services Professionals (AESP) and Essense Partners, a little less than a third of all consumers reported owning one of several forms of distributed energy resources: an electric car or plug-in hybrid electric car, a rooftop solar system, a backup generator, and/or a heat pump water heater.

However, even if they hadn’t yet purchased one of these devices, interest levels are quite a bit ahead of ownership rates:

• Backup generator: Own 13 percent; interested 35 percent
• Rooftop solar: Own 4 percent; interested, 34 percent
• Electric vehicles: Own 3 percent; interested, 26 percent
• Heat pump water heater: Own 10 percent; interested 13 percent

“We believe that consumers are interested in how they can ‘go off the grid’ and as renewables make these options easier, we will see more adoption of these technologies,” said John Hargrove, President and CEO of AESP.

The survey findings are published in Trends In Energy and Demand Management, a new, wide-ranging energy industry survey of utilities and consumers conducted by the Association for Energy Services Professionals in partnership with Essense Partners.

The third of four parts, focusing on distributed energy resources, was released today.  The final report on the Internet of Things (IoT), will be released later this year. Reports on program participation rates and jobs in energy efficiency were previously released.

News item from AESP