Moral values as factors for social acceptance

Abstract

Smart grid technologies are considered an important enabler in the transition to more sustainable energy systems, because they support the integration of rising shares of volatile renewable energy sources into electricity networks. However, they are not yet adopted on a large scale. Societal concerns are among the barriers which might lead to a lack of acceptance among end users. In this paper, we show that many societal concerns are related to moral values such as privacy, justice, or trust. We explore the effect of societal concerns in terms of moral values on the acceptance of smart grid technologies. Our results indicate that moral values can be both motivators and barriers for smart grid acceptance. We argue for a more systematic inclusion of relevant values into studies of smart grid acceptance.