Emergent Technologies’ Acceptance; Case Study of Ground Source Heat Pumps in Tehran

Nowadays, the emergent of novel technologies has generated deep changes in the development’s path. But their emergent does not mean their applicability, and a set of various factors affect their diffusion in each society. Technology acceptance by users is one of the most important factors which its unaccomplishment, can cause technology diffusion to be failed. Regarding the remarkable share of energy consumption in buildings for heating and cooling systems in Iran, creation and application of new technologies with higher efficiency and lower energy consumption has been one of the major concerns among policy makers and researchers in recent years. In this paper, adoption and acceptance of ground source heat pump as a case study of new heating and cooling technology for application in new buildings in Tehran is assessed, using a triangulation approach. Questionnaires, deep semi-structured interviews and focus group are used to collect and analyze data. The results show that initial cost, independence, and output air quality of the system are the most important criteria for acceptance of heating and cooling systems. Accordingly, in the current circumstances, the probability of technology acceptance for application in small and medium buildings is low. But, about large buildings, if the appropriate policies are implemented, acceptance is more probable.