Monday, June 16, 2014: Of the 1,700 residential and commercial customers surveyed, nearly 58 per cent strongly favoured solar energy as a future source of energy generation for the country.
A new survey conducted by global communications and consulting firm Mercom Capital Group has revealed that consumers’ attitude towards renewable sources of energy is changing across the country. The ‘India Consumer Perceptions on Renewable Energy Survey’ quotes nearly half of residential as well as commercial customers as opining that developing and harnessing the power of the sun is very important for the country.
Of the 1,700 residential and commercial customers surveyed, nearly 58 per cent strongly favoured solar energy as a future source of energy generation for the country. “Generally we found a lot of opportunities for the renewable energy industry to invest in educating and informing consumers and differentiating renewables from fossil fuels in a country that is hungry for power of any kind,” Mercom Capital Group CEO and Co-founder Raj Prabhu was quoted as saying. Nearly 71 per cent of commercial and 65 per cent of residential customers believed that greater utilisation of solar energy will benefit the environment.
The survey also goes on to reveal that only six in 10 (nearly 59 per cent) commercial respondents knew about the government- backed subsidy programs for renewable energy. Meanwhile, only 30 per cent of commercial and 21 per cent of residential respondents had an idea about the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE label) products and their benefits.