Abstract
The impact of environmental motivations on the individual’s decisions regarding investments in energy efficiency and the adoption of energy-saving habits are analyzed for a representative sample of Chinese inhabitants from the larger Beijing area, replicating a comparative study on Western Europe. For the considered type of energy efficiency investments and daily energy-saving activities similarities and discrepancies between the two regions are discussed in regard to their sociocultural background as well as governmental regulations. The study provides empirical evidence that for Chinese environmental issues if all only play a tertiary role after monetary and regulatory incentives. The findings could suggest that in China policy programs aimed at raising environmental awareness and forming pro-environmental motivations might not lead to an increase in energy efficiency investments and daily energy-saving activities and the Chinese government’s interests in this regard might be better served by implementing corresponding incentives via regulations. In the long-term. However, social peer pressure might affect a change in the Chinese mentality.
Highlights
The residential sector remains one of the main consumers of energy in almost every country of the world
They offer a decent measure for the presence of environmental awareness on an individual level. 27 of the 28 questions were used as inputs in a factor analysis5 (KMO value of 0.902) to extract five factors; one question had to be left out due to a low communality value
The second extracted factor can be interpreted as a construct measuring an “Active interest in environmental issues” and the fourth extracted factor can be interpreted as a construct measuring “Worries about climate
Summary
The residential sector remains one of the main consumers of energy in almost every country of the world. The total Chinese energy consumption in 2020 reached 7,511 bn kWh. While the residential energy consumption in the period between 1990 and 2012 increased by an average of 11.9% per year (NBS 2015), the most recent data suggests an increase of only 7.1% per year in recent years (NBS 2019). There are many factors shaping this upward trend in energy consumption, such as an increase in the number of households, greater comfort demanded due to an increase in the standard of living, and an increase in electrical appliances in homes (Eurostat 2013). A deeper analysis of behavior patterns and views on environmental topics impacting this sector are of primary importance when discussing issues of climate change
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