INVESTIGATING THE IMPACT OF INFORMATION FEEDBACK ON RESIDENTS’ ENERGY-SAVING BEHAVIOR IN THE HEATING SECTOR

Abstract

Global fossil energy consumption is a significant source of carbon dioxide emissions and a major cause of global climate change. Heat consumption in the residential sector is an important part of this consumption. Based on reinforcement theory, this study analyzed the influence mechanism of information feedback on the residents’ energy-saving behaviors and applied the survey data from 1248 households in three Western European countries to analyze the impact of heat consumption information feedback on four typical heat-saving behaviors of residents. Finally, it applied the probit model to measure the quantitative effect of information feedback on the heat-saving behavior. Four heat-saving behaviors were considered: “improving house insulation”, “setting the thermostat to 20°C or below”, “turning the heat down at night” and “closing the windows when the heating is running”. The empirical results showed that heat consumption information feedback has a significant impact on residents’ heat-saving behavior. After adding the controlling variables, such as demographic variables, willingness to pay for greenness, environmental concern and environmental belief, the estimated results changed slightly, but the estimates of the study are still significant. According to the estimates, residents who can obtain the heat consumption information feedback timely were 9.3%, 5.2%, 5.9% and 4.3% more likely than residents who can’t obtain the heat consumption information feedback timely to adopt the heat-saving behaviors of “improving house insulation”, “setting the thermostat to 20°C or below”, “turning the heat down at night” and “closing the windows when the heating is running”.