Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews
9 (2005) 69–83
www.elsevier.com/locate/rser
A target group-specific approach to ‘‘green’’
power retailing: students as consumers
of renewable energy
Stefan Gossling
a,Ã
, Timo Kunkel
b
, KimSchumacher
b
,
Nadine Heck
b
, Johannes Birkemeyer
b
, Jens Froese
b
,
Nils Naber
b
, Elke Schliermann
b
a
Department of Service Management, Lund University, Box 882, 251 08 Helsingborg, Sweden
b
Department of Human Geography, Freiburg University, Werderring 4, 79085 Freiburg, Germany
Received 12 January 2004; accepted 21 January 2004
Abstract
An extensive body of literature exists on the obstacles that have to be overcome in green
power retailing. In this article, target group-specific marketing is evaluated as a strategy to
increase the share of residential customers of green power. A sample of students in the city
of Freiburg, Germany was interviewed in order to assess their awareness of environmental
issues, their willingness to change to green power products, and to better understand individ-
ual hindrances in changing the power supplier. The analysis shows that students are highly
positive towards green power products, but for several reasons difficult to reach in market-
ing campaigns. Aspects to be considered in addressing this consumer-group include the stu-
dents’ particular expectations towards green products, their living-conditions, price sensitivity,
and their perception of the relative effort involved in changing the power provider.
# 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Consumer demand; Energy markets; Marketing; Renewable energy; Sustainable Develop-
ment; Willingness-to-pay
Ã
Corresponding author. Tel.: +46-42-35-66-29; fax: +46-42-35-66-60.
E-mailaddress: stefan.gossling@msm.hbg.lu.se (S. Gossling).
1364-0321/$ - see front matter # 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.rser.2004.01.005