Week 9: Solar Data

Hello everyone, and welcome to my ninth week of blogging. After finishing my AP exams last week, I was finally able to spend more time focusing on my senior project. Last week, I focused on completing my introduction and literature review. This week, the majority of my work focused on analyzing the data and graphs I had created in the previous weeks.

One of the more notable statistics that caught my eye was the gap between interest and actual adoption when it comes to solar installation. A large majority of respondents said they would install solar if possible, yet very few currently have it, which raises the question of what barriers are standing in the way. That question shaped how I analyzed my other graphs.

Specifically, looking at the building type and ownership data helped answer part of that question. A significant portion of respondents live in apartment buildings, co-ops, or do not own their property, which are factors that make solar adoption more complicated. Put simply, if you do not own the roof or your property in general, it is not in your power to make the decision to install solar. Rather, it is up to the person who owns the rights to the building, and because of the high installation cost of solar, as well as the limited short-term financial return of rental properties, solar installation is often uneconomical for landlords.

Taken together, these graphs suggest that the interest in solar is genuinely there, but financial and primarily ownership-related obstacles are preventing installation. Toward the end of the week, I also began working on my presentation, which was a nice change of pace. I am still in the early stages, but I have a solid outline in place and am feeling confident about where it is headed. Looking forward to keeping you guys updated!