Assessing residents’ views, awareness levels and adoption of solar panel for homes. case study: Taman Sinar Bukit and Sinar Baru, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah

This article aims to assess the residents' views, level of awareness, and readiness to adopt and
use solar energy, i.e., a renewable energy (RE) technology, within the case study area. The study collected residents' opinions regarding RE and what strategies are suitable for promoting the use of energy-efficient appliances in homes and neighbourhoods. We identified residents using a purposive sampling method to complete the questionnaire. The design of the queries includes a Likert-like scale of responses. Some patterns were found by describing the frequencies and crosstabulating significant variables using the Chi-Square test of associations. The majority of the respondents have little knowledge or are unaware of RE. The variables of education level and level of awareness were not significant to the adoption of RE, i.e., the variables were not dependent. However, residents view the importance of RE in achieving energy independence and environmental protection as significantly associated and dependent upon each other. Those who view achieving energy independence as important are more ready to adopt RE than those who view it as unimportant. The majority of respondents view the financial costs of maintenance and installation as the major barriers to the adoption of RE. The significance of this paper lies in its contribution to insights of potential RE users’ awareness, acceptance, and adoption of solar energy technology which is relevant to the education and outreach efforts towards the Sabah Energy Roadmap and Master Plan 2040Future research work on solar panel adoption in Malaysia should focus on understanding the factors influencing adoption, evaluating the effectiveness of policies, and exploring the potential of integrating solar with other energy-efficient technologies.