Financing Beliefs as a Barrier to Home Energy Renovation

Last registered on October 07, 2026
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Financing Beliefs as a Barrier to Home Energy Renovation
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0019898
Initial registration date
October 07, 2026

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published
October 07, 2026, 11:21 AM EDT

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Locations

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Primary Investigator

Name
Amalie-Maria Meldgaard Jacobsen
Affiliation
University of Copenhagen
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Marie Bruguet
PI Affiliation
University of Copenhagen
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PI Name
Daniel Enemark Riegels
PI Affiliation
University of Copenhagen
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PI Name
Christina Gravert
PI Affiliation
University of Copenhagen
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Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2026-10-07
End date
2027-12-31
Keywords
Behavior, Environment & Energy
Additional Keywords
Energy efficiency, Information avoidance
JEL code(s)
Q41, D83
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
Why do households forgo potentially profitable energy-efficiency investments? We study whether financial constraints affect not only the decision to invest, but also the decision to acquire information about an investment. Acquiring information about energy renovations may be unattractive when homeowners expect that acting on the information will require an unaffordable expenditure. In this setting, financing constraints can therefore discourage information acquisition even before an investment decision is made.
We test this mechanism in a natural field experiment conducted in collaboration with a Danish municipality. We randomly assign 1,502 homeowners living in poorly energy-rated houses to receive either a standard invitation to a subsidized energy audit or the same invitation supplemented with information about subsidies and energy loans available to finance energy renovations. Our treatment therefore lowers the perceived financing barrier associated with acting on the information generated by the audit, while leaving the audit itself unchanged.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Bruguet, Marie et al. 2026. "Financing Beliefs as a Barrier to Home Energy Renovation." AEA RCT Registry. October 07. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.19898-1.0
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Intervention Start Date
2026-10-07
Intervention End Date
2026-10-08

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Sign up to energy audit,
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
We randomly assign 1,502 addresses to receive either a standard invitation to a subsidized energy audit or the same invitation supplemented with information about subsidies and energy loans available to finance energy renovations.
Experimental Design Details
Not available
Randomization Method
Randomization done in office by a computer. Script in python.
Randomization Unit
Address
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
1502 addresses
Sample size: planned number of observations
1502 addresses
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
751 addresses control, 751 addresses treatment
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
The Research Ethics Committee at the Department of Economics at University of Copenhagen
IRB Approval Date
2026-09-04
IRB Approval Number
N/A
Analysis Plan

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