Domestic energy consumption—What role do comfort, habit, and knowledge about the heating system play?

Abstract

Abstracts The aim of this study was to gain a better understanding of human factors potentially related to energy consumption in domestic households. In particular, the focus was on the meaning of comfort and comfort actions, barriers to and motivators for saving energy, and knowledge about the heating system. Data were collected using surveys, interviews, and monthly energy meter readings. The data of the main sample, social housing tenants, were supplemented by a sample of University staff to test if similar results would be obtained in two very different samples. Findings largely overlapped in the two groups. In summary, the main results were that (1) warmth was given most often as the meaning of comfort, (2) comfort practices were to a large extent defined as temperature-related actions with low energy use, (3) a deficit in the quality and quantity of instruction on how to use the heating system was reported, (4) being used to behaving in a certain way was seen as the most important barrier to behaviour change and was also related to actual energy consumption and self-reported energy consumption actions, and (5) willingness for behaviour change was greatest in order to save money.