Target Audience: Science, Administration (Politics, Legislation), Industry (Companies)
Objectives:
present innovative aspects of energy efficiency in households
identify challenges and options for action
Format: short lectures and discussion Language:
English
Besides housing, appliances and lightning account for an important part
of energy demand of households. The reduction of energy use in
households by changing user patterns (e.g. completely switching off
appliances) and the purchase of energy efficient domestic appliances
also reduce consumers’ expenses short- to medium-term. Instruments such
as labelling, the nomination of top-ten energy efficient products or
energy consulting aim at supporting households’ sustainable
consumption. Still, there exists a high potential to reduce household
energy demand.
The session therefore discusses the following issues:
What can be learned from the research findings on sustainable consumption regarding energy efficiency in households?
What are the relevant obstacles for mainstreaming consumption patterns that lead to more energy efficiency?
What major challenges and options for action can be identified?
What instruments and measures are suitable for supporting energy efficiency in households?
Workshop Moderation
Weiß, Julika Institute for Ecological Economy Research (IOEW), Berlin , Germany
focussing on the individual and contextual factors that influence the effectiveness of efficiency instruments for private households
different levels of influence (e.g. directly vs. indirectly)
types of energy behaviour (e.g. one-shot behaviour vs. repetitive efforts)
context levels (physical, social and political framework)
FISCHER, Corinna:
discussing existing and possible instruments for promoting energy efficiency in households
emphasizing, that for both policy making and policy evaluation it is important to decide, what type of behaviour is addressed and which factors are influenced by an instrument
GÖTZ, Konrad:
focussing on the question, whether intelligent metering and feedback systems help consumers to save energy
discussing what kind of feedback systems is most favourable: traditional electricity bills, smart metering boxes or the opportunity to evaluate one’s consumption via Internet
Main issues of Dialogue
Households can not be considered as an entity, but as a group of people with sometimes very differing needs and motives.
Peer pressure was mentioned as a further important factor influencing the behaviour of the different household members.
It was questioned whether there is enough time to evaluate instruments as thoroughly and theory driven as presented by Ms. Fischer or if it would not be more appropriate to chose more pragmatic methods. On the other hand it was emphasized, that many policy instruments aiming at climate protection do not consider, how they might influence consumers’ behaviour as there is to much hurry to act. Thus it is questionable, whether they will be successful at all.
Research for Sustainable Development - full paper (DIN-A4) - 68 pages (URL: http://www.fona.de/pdf/publikationen/research_for_sustainable_development.pdf)
Research for Sustainable Development - abstract (DIN-A5) - 20 pages (URL: http://www.fona.de/pdf/publikationen/research_for_sustainable_development_short.pdf)
Research for Sustainable Development
