Do general pro-environmental behaviour, attitude, and knowledge contribute to energy savings and climate change mitigation in the residential sector?

Abstract

Energy consumption in the residential sector has grown significantly over the last 30 years. In recent years, a large number of authors have analysed the determinants of behaviour related to climate change. However, in this paper, referring to the behaviour and consumption level, we focused on energy consumption and direct household CO2 emissions. Thus, the objective of this study was to evaluate the determinants of energy consumption and CO2 emissions in the Lithuanian residential sector. Energy consumption was evaluated referring to the residential bills based on the official energy prices; CO2 emission equivalent was calculated employing the emission factors for separate energy resources. The regression analysis revealed that attitudes were significant only in the case of energy consumption for heating, but not in the case of heating-related CO2, which depended solely on the housing area, the type of fuel, and home heating (centralized). Meanwhile, concerning electricity consumption and related CO2 emissions, the pro-environmental behaviour was one of the factors along with the type of house, the number of children, family size, and gender. Results indicated that a complex of different factors needed to be considered to increase energy savings and CO2 reduction inthe residential sector regarding heating and electricity consumption.