Mind the map? Mapping the academic, citizen and professional stakeholder views on buildings and heating behaviour in Spain

Abstract

The residential building sector is a major driver of current and future energy consumption and associated CO2 emissions. The main use of energy by households is for heating. Consumers’ heating behaviour results from the interactions of internal and external drivers, which makes it a complex system. We used Fuzzy Cognitive Mapping method to represent key drivers and interactions in that system. Maps were drawn up at three focus groups representing different social groups from Spain – academics, citizens and energy experts – in order to capture heterogeneity of behaviours. Maps seek to identify and set out the factors that influence heating costs as well as private and public adaptation measures to minimise them. The core common concepts of the maps deal with consumer behaviour regarding investment in energy efficiency technologies such insulation or thermostat, attitudes regarding the environment or the thermal comfort temperature, economic factors such as price and income and regulatory interventions. The most significant differences between the groups were that the academics and energy experts considered that taxes could improve energy savings. The results shown in this paper may be helpful in designing effective policies on heating consumption.