Consumers' preferences towards biodiesel in the Spanish transport sector: A case study in Catalonia
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In this paper, we analyse the opinions, attitudes and willingness of consumers to pay for
biodiesel as an alternative to diesel in Barcelona province. Data were gathered from face-toface
structured questionnaires from 300 diesel car owners/users that regularly purchase fuel. A
variation of the traditional choice experiments (CE) was used by excluding the price attribute
from the design. In a subsequent contingent valuation (CV) exercise, respondents were asked
to state their maximum willingness to pay (WTP) for their preferred choice sets using the
“payment card” format. The relative importance of the attributes and levels were calculated by
estimating a random parameter logit model. The results demonstrated, contrary to the literature
in Spain, that consumers were not willing to pay for biodiesel, especially when its production
may negatively affect food prices. The main limitation was that car manufacturers do not
recommend its use. The public authorities are asked to work jointly with the automotive
industry to address this drawback.