We are in our fourth week of our capstone project. This blog post is an update on where we are, insights we have found, and where we are going next.

Focus Statement

What have Central Texas homeowners learned in the process of transitioning to solar energy, and what were the gaps in their expectations versus the realities of their lived experience?

Initial Findings

Below are some initial findings from our interviews with the following three participants/households:

• Scott, a retired man from Wimberly who installed solar panels on his home very recently.

• Peter and Nancy, a couple with one son who installed solar on their home after their experience living through the 2021 winter storm.

• Pedro and Lily, a couple with three daughters who installed solar on their home after a salesperson came to their house.

1. Information about climate change is learned passively throughout their lifetime.

The participants that we have interviewed struggle to think of the specific times they first encountered and learned about the problem of climate change. But when they dig deep, they recall the points in time at which they saw a show, read a newspaper article, or had a conversation with a friend that framed their understanding of climate change. These points in time occur all throughout their lives, passively informing their opinions and the choices they make.

For example, Pedro tried to recall what influenced his early perspectives on climate change, and struggled to come up with one defining moment.

“I mean, I grew up with Captain Planet and stuff [...] I remember one conversation I was having with my roommate. In college, we were talking about climate change. [...] but I can't think of when I was convinced that climate change is bad?” - Pedro

In contrast, Nina had some experience learning about climate change from her job,

“[As a marketing researcher] I get to listen to podcasts about solar. Amazing! I think [installing residential solar] was one of the key things that instantly made sense to me because I had that background.” - Nina

2. A catalyst event can trigger someone who is passively learning about solar energy into being actively committed to installing solar panels on their home.

Peter and Nina experienced living through the winter storm of 2021 for four days without electricity. In our conversation with them, Nina recounted staying at their friend’s house in close quarters:

“It was the two of us with our son, and our two dogs, in a two bedroom apartment, with a man who has his own cat. And it was a lot! I'm glad we're still friends.” - Nina

Overall, they were primarily concerned for their young son, who was frightened due to the uncertainty of the situation.

While they were in their friend’s living room, they googled solar companies and started making calls, knowing it could provide them a backup system should their house ever lose electricity from the grid again. Their desire to avoid another power-less situation led them to committing to and installing solar less than a year later.

Recruiting & Next Steps

We plan to interview 12 participants by April 22. We have used a variety of recruiting methods such as:

• Emailing solar businesses for referrals.

• Posting on online forums.

• Leaving flyers at houses with solar panels.

To date, we have:

• Completed 4 interviews. 

• Scheduled 5 interviews.

• Engaged with 3 other participants who are in the process of booking an interview. 

• Met with a Subject Matter expert.

Our next steps will be to continue recruiting participants, and secure interviews with the 5 participants pending booking. As we gather data from our interviews, we will continue to expand and develop our growing list of themes.

Work produced by Olivia Posner, Jacob Pfeifer, & Patricia Nuñez