| dc.description.abstract | This study empirically investigates the emission-offsetting potential of rooftop solar panels in a group of cities across three continents. By use of experimental big data from the Google Environmental Insights Explorer (GEIE) collected over two months in early 2023 as well as additional official data sources, the link between the potential rooftop solar (RPV) offset ratio and a set of city characteristics are estimated by use of linear regression methods. The data consist of 352 observations from a large group of cities in Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States between 2018 and 2021. The main independent variable is population density, and additional control variables are the availability of public mass transportation, country, topography, and year.
Quantile regressions (Q 0.5), considering the skewed distribution of the dependent variable, reveal that population density is linked to the potential RPV offset ratio at the one per cent significant level and with a negative sign. Countries where the RPVs are installed are also significant, with the largest offsetting potential in Australia compared to the reference country Canada. The years 2020 and 2021 are also significant, indicating that reduced transport emissions due to lockdowns, travel restrictions, and the aftermath of the global COVID-19 pandemic relate to the offsetting potential. A robustness analysis shows that the negative relationship with population density, in principle, does not appear until beyond approximately 2000 inhabitants per square kilometre. | |
