Household energy requirement and value patterns

Abstract

For an effective consumer energy policy, it is important to know why some households require more energy than others. The aim of the study described here was to examine whether there is a relationship between the total household energy requirement, on one hand, and value patterns, the motivation to save energy or the problem perception of climate change, on the other. To examine these relationships, we held a consumer survey among 2304 respondent households.We did not find significant differences in the energy requirement of groups of households with different value patterns, taking into account the differences in the socio-economic situation of households. Only for the 'motivation to save energy' we did find that the least motivated group requires 10 GJ more energy than the average and most motivated groups; this is about 4% of the total household energy requirement.This means that a self-regulating energy policy, solely based on the fact that a strategy of internalising environmental responsibility will not be effective in saving energy. There are indications that a social dilemma is one of the reasons why people's consumption patterns do not conform to their value patterns, problem perception or motivation to save energy. r

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“…Also, to reduce the power of this assumption, other explanatory variables are added to one household demand model to reduce the burden of income determinism. These are number of persons in the household, degree of urbanity, state, age of reference person, and dwelling type, which have all previously been observed to be significant factors in determining household consumption patterns (Wier et al, 2001;Lenzen et al, 2004;Vringer et al, 2007).…”

“…This view is gradually being eroded. Many recent studies based on life-cycle analysis (LCA) show thatthe amount of energy consumed indirectly by households is often higher than energy consumed directly through electricity, gas, and motor fuel, and is a growing proportion (Vringer and Blok, 1995;Lenzen, 1998a;Vringer and Blok, 2000;Weber and Perrels, 2000;Reinders et al, 2003;Lenzen et al, 2004;Vringer et al, 2007). These facts point to indirect effects becoming more significant than direct effects over time and with increasing incomes.…”

“…While this common sense view at first seems a reasonable assumption, empirical research has shown that this is not the case. The main conclusion in the literature is that there is no significant difference in total energy requirements and greenhouse gas emissions from consumption patterns between households with different environmental values (Stokes et al, 1994;Jensen, 1999;Pedersen, 2000;Vringer et al, 2007).…”

“…Most recently Vringer et al (2007) surveyed 2,304 Dutch households to examine consumption pattern variation due to different values and beliefs. The most critical finding is that"…net income is, by far, the most important factor in explaining the variance of the total household energy requirement (about 60%)" (Vringer et al, 2007 p556).…”

“…Both age and number of persons per household were highlighted by Vringer et al (2007) as having significant impact on household energy requirements and greenhouse gas emissions. Also Lenzen et al (2004) observe that the degree of urbanity and dwelling type have significant effects on household energy requirements.…”