Trends In Alternative Fuel Cars, Solar Panels, and Internet Access And Use

The Bureau of Business and Economic Research (BEBR) surveys about 500 consumers each month to gauge their confidence about the economy and their personal economic well-being. As part of its consumer sentiment surveys, BEBR began asking questions in April 2012 on a quarterly basis about consumers’ access to the Internet at home and on a biannual basis about their ownership of alternative fuel cars and houses with solar panels. The questions were revised in July 2012 to collapse alternative fuel questions, better capture whether houses with solar panels were purchased and the incentives governing the purchase, and to elicit responses about Internet service usage. The question of how the Internet was used (banking, entertainment, getting information or news, or shopping) was subsequently deleted because the type of usage in recent years has so expanded as to make the responses almost meaningless. The most recent BEBR survey posing questions about alternative fuel vehicles, solar panels, and Internet access was October 2014, when there were 508 completed interviews.

 

The trends have been pretty stable from April 2012 through October 2014 in most respects.  Below is a summary of the findings….

 

 

POSTED:  December 17, 2014