A social psychological perspective on energy conservation in residential buildings.

Yates, Suzanne; Aronson, Elliot

doi:10.1037/0003-066x.38.4.435

Cited by 124 publications

(69 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…Tenants/users of technological artefacts play an important role in the configuration of the collectif energy behaviour. Several empirical studies have shown that the lifestyle and identity of tenants are equally significant factors for energy use (see, for example, Hallin et al 1986;Yates 1983;Wild & Wilhite 1985;Palmborg 1986;Skill 2008). Shove explains that energy consumption constitutes a mirror image of the collectif that individuals live in.…”

Section: Informationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Energy behaviour as a collectif

Galis

Gyberg

2010

Energy Efficiency

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Section: Informationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Energy behaviour as a collectif

Galis

Gyberg

2010

Energy Efficiency

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“…Prior research indicated that energy costs as a proportion of total expenditures, transaction costs of information gathering, tendency to be risk-averse, heterogeneity of preferences, lack of information, lack of trust in information sources, and adverse reactions to physical home changes explain a lack of investment in cost-effective energy efficiency home upgrades (Lutzenhiser, 1993;Frederick, Loewenstein & O'Donoghue, 2002;Wilson & Dowlatabadi, 2007). Generally, consumers tend to place a higher weight on information that is psychologically vivid and observable (Yates & Aronson, 1983). For example, households are sensitive to the initial costs of energy-efficient home upgrades and they often use current energy prices to calculate the payback for these capital investments (Gillingham, Newell & Palmer, 2009).…”

Section: Determinants Of Energy Efficiency and Conservation Behaviorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Energy Efficiency and Conservation Attitudes: An Exploration of a Landscape of Choices

McClaren

2000

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This study explored energy-related attitudes and energy-saving behaviors that are no-or low-cost and relatively simple to perform. This study relied on two data sources: a longitudinal but cross-sectional survey of 4,102 U.S. residents (five biennial waves of this survey were conducted from 2002 to 2010) and a 2010 cross-sectional survey of 2,000 California residents. These two surveys contained data on two no-and low-cost behaviors: changing thermostat setting to save energy (no-cost behavior) and CFL installation behavior (low-cost behavior). In terms of attitudes, two attitudinal measures emerged from these data following a Cronbach's alpha and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA): the pro-environmental attitude and concern for the energy use in the U.S. society.These two attitudes, along with other socio-demographic and external factors (home ownership, weather, price of energy, etc.), were examined to assess whether attitudebehavior relationships persisted over time, were more prominent across certain groups, or were constrained by income or other socio-demographic factors. Three theoretical viewpoints of how attitudes may relate to behavior guided the analysis on how attitudes and contextual factors may inter-relate either directly or through a moderator variable to affect thermostat-setting and CFL installation behavior.Results from these analyses revealed four important patterns. First, a relationship between the pro-environmental attitude and the two behaviors (thermostat-setting and CFL installation behavior) was weak but persistent across time. Second, financial factors such as income moderated the pro-environmental attitude and CFL installation relationship, indicating that the pro-environmental attitude could influence the behavior ii in those situations where financial resources are sufficient to comfortably allow the consumer to participate. Third, this study documented that most people reported changing thermostat settings to save energy or having one or more CFLs in their homes. This finding suggests that organizations, policy makers, or energy efficiency program administrators may want to assess whether they should pursue these two behaviors further, since they appear to be very common in the U.S. population. Last, this study showed that thermostat-setting and CFL installation behavior have multi-factorial influences; many factors in addition to attitudes were significantly associated with these behaviors, and all these factors together explained no more than 16% of behavioral variance. This suggested that if energy-saving behaviors are a function of many different variables, of which none appear to be the "silver bullet" in explaining the behaviors (as noted in this study), then policy analysis should explore a broader number of causal pathways and entertain a wider range of interventions to influence consumers to save energy.iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

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“…Further factors on the consumer's side from empirical studies that lead to overuse of energy and reduce the effectiveness of the energy saving policies are identified (see Hausman, 1979;Kempton and Montgomery, 1982;Yates and Aronson, 1983). Such parameters are the use of higher discount rates (than the social discount rates) in consumers' energy efficiency investment decisions, salience effects whereby excessive weight is given to psychologically vivid attributes and often-incorrect use of technology.…”

Section: Consumer's Behaviormentioning

confidence: 99%

An ex-ante evaluation of a White Certificates scheme in The Netherlands: A case study for the household sector

2007

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Increased efficiency of energy demand is generally recognized as a very cost-effective strategy to reduce energy requirements and the related environmental impacts (e.g. the greenhouse effect). In order to improve energy efficiency the use of innovative market mechanisms, such as the White Certificates (WhC), has been proposed. The basic idea underlying this policy instrument is that specific energy saving targets are set for energy suppliers or energy distributors. These requirements must be fulfilled in a predefined time frame. The focus of this paper is on the effect on energy efficiency improvement, on the behavior of the end consumers and the market of energy efficiency measures. Furthermore, we study the possible effects of WhC in The Netherlands by means of a theoretical analysis and an empirical bottom-up model. We compare concrete energy efficient technologies in terms of cost-effectiveness and energy efficiency improvement. In combination with existing Dutch policies for energy efficiency improvement in the built environment, the contribution of this innovative scheme could enhance the accomplishment of energy efficiency targets. In this paper, two packages of energy saving measures of a WhC scheme are studied for Dutch households. The costs of these technologies are estimated through the use of different discount rates, which imply overcoming of the market barriers through the use of the WhC. A scheme that includes all available technologies as flexible options appears as a realistic solution and can generate cost effectively up to 180 PJ primary energy savings and 4550 Mh cumulative net savings in the year 2020, at a discount rate of 5%, under the precondition that the policy and administrative costs can be kept low. r

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A social psychological perspective on energy conservation in residential buildings.

Abstract: The effects of videotape modeling and daily feedback on reside/ilia/ electricity conservation, home temperature, and humidity, perceived comfort, and clothing worn: Winter and summer. Unpublished manuscript,

Cited by 124 publications

References 29 publications

Energy behaviour as a collectif

Energy behaviour as a collectif

Energy Efficiency and Conservation Attitudes: An Exploration of a Landscape of Choices

An ex-ante evaluation of a White Certificates scheme in The Netherlands: A case study for the household sector

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