Who Is Behaving? Consequences for Energy Policy of Concept Confusion

Kajsa Ellegård,Jenny Palm

doi:10.3390/en8087618

Abstract

Policies to reduce household energy use usually target the individual customer. This is probably one explanation to the limited effect of many information policies, because two concepts with different meanings are confused: individual and household. In most contexts, an individual stands for what s/he does, but in the policy context, an individual is taken to represent the entire household. This is not problematic for a single-person household, but, in a multi-person household, activities performed by different household members influence the whole household’s energy use. This paper illuminates problems arising from confusing the concepts of household and individual when developing policies to reduce household energy use. Examples relate to indoor space heating and energy-intensive home-based activities. The results indicate that it is analytically simple to consider individuals at home, as well as their activities using electrical appliances contributing to heating, but much more complicated to take the whole household into consideration. Our model provides a basis for better-targeted information actions to reduce energy use. Also, empirically based models capturing variations between households with different activity patterns are important for developing policies resulting in reduced energy use for space heating in multi-person households.

Highlights

Policy instruments in the energy area are intended to encourage more efficient or careful use of resources and more ecologically sustainable behavior
We will cite and discuss examples illustrating how it matters if it is an individual or a household that is the target of a policy
Our discussion demonstrates that it is inefficient to base energy policymaking on an average individual taken out of his/her household context

Summary

Introduction

Policy instruments in the energy area are intended to encourage more efficient or careful use of resources and more ecologically sustainable behavior. Instruments promoting such behavior vary greatly, but information is commonly used when targeting actors in the household sector [1]. Information campaigns targeting household sector actors yield poor results, possibly because it is rarely actively sought by household members energy use information is available, for example, on websites [3]. When energy companies distribute information encouraging reduced household energy use, such as energy saving advice and descriptions of new pricing models, they usually target the customer

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion