#26: Evaluating Policy Measures On The Adoption Of Energy-Efficient Appliances Among Malaysian Households

MALAYSIA is a developing country where its growing population and expansion of economic activities especially in the residential sector have been the major drivers for the increasing demand for energy supply. Household appliances are highly utilized products that consume considerable amount of electricity. The wide adoption of energy-efficient appliances saves electricity resources and promotes the development of low-carbon economy in Malaysia. Unfortunately, energy-efficient appliances are generally more expensive than ordinary household appliances, thereby hindering their widespread adoption. The government has implemented in various initiatives and programs to widespread the penetration of energy-efficient appliances. However, Malaysians is still hesitant to embrace the energy efficiency technology at a satisfactory level. Given that understanding of this knowledge is lacking in Malaysia, the variables impacting household readiness to adopt energy-efficient appliances should be investigated. The quantitative data from 291 respondents found that attitude, perceived value, and social norm positively influences the residents’ readiness to purchase energy-efficient appliances. More importantly, the social norm antecedents represented by perceived subsidy policy measures, perceived information provision, perceived effectiveness of energy efficiency labelling institutional mechanism and media exert a significant influence in shaping Malaysian residents’ readiness for adopting eco-friendly appliances. Therefore, the government is urged to widespread the subsidy policy implementation to manufacturers and suppliers since upstream policy incentives can reduce consumer initial cost, increase product availability at the retail level, and strongly influence manufacturers to improve product quality. Efforts should also be made to develop additional new funding mechanism to suit local circumstances. Finally, the government should enhance publicity efforts on energy conservation and environmental protection to improve the people’s environmental awareness towards environmental-friendly appliances.