Household Energy Behaviour Research Articles

Energy behaviour as a collectif

A household’s energy behaviour consists of several processes and interactions and involves the decisions and functions of several entities. The topic of this study is to reconstruct, through narrations, the process of designing and implementing the new student dorms at Linköping University through the lens of household energy behaviour. In particular, we aim to investigate how the interactions between entities such as the builders, landlords, users, ventilators, heaters, climate and so forth co-perform energy behaviour in the setting of residential student buildings. Inspired by the actor-network theory, the study treats energy behaviour as a hybrid collectif. It is the relations and their heterogeneity that are important in this approach. The project studies how heterogeneous relations among everyday practices, human experiences and interactions with nonhumans enact energy use patterns.

Occupant Predictors of Household Energy Behavior and Consumption Change as Found in Energy Studies Since 1975

Reported research since 1975 on human behavior and energy consumption was reviewed to identify occupant predictors of household energy‐consumption behavior and energy‐consumption change. The results of this review were framed against a human ecosystem theory model. Occupant predictors of reduced energy‐consumption behavior and energy‐consumption change were classified as occupant characteristics, occupant attitudes, and occupant actions. Variables identified in studies that most frequently affected energy behavior and energy consumption were income, age, education, home ownership, desire for comfort, major weatherization, and incentives. These findings support the underlying premise of the human ecosystem theory: Variables from the natural, the social, and the designed environments and human organism variables interact to affect energy consumption.

Household energy behavior in Nordic countries—an unrealized energy saving potential

We conducted survey research in the Nordic countries on household energy behavior and decision making. Several authors have concluded that there is a 10–20% conservation potential in the Nordic countries from behavioral modifications alone. Nordic energy planners have not systematically incorporated research findings on behavior in their incentive strategies for encouraging energy conservation. Further research will be necessary before Nordic energy behavior and decision-making are fully understood. Ethnographic techniques should be used to generate hypotheses followed by broader surveys of specific target groups.

A RESIDENTIAL ENERGY MARKET MODEL: AN ECONOMETRIC ANALYSIS*

ABSTRACTThis paper develops a multisector residential energy policy model. This model hypothesizes that household energy behavior is affected by conditions in the housing, the mortgage finance, and the energy markets. The relationships encompassed by the model are specified with 32 single and simultaneous equations and tested with quarterly data drawn from behavior in Delaware. After the testing and evaluation of the model for its statistical performance, thereafter, three energy policies are simulated a 5 percent residential energy consumption tax, a set of conventional insulation requirements for all new housing, and a passive solar‐installation requirement for all new housing. These policy choices are evaluated in terms of their impact on energy consumption, prices, demand and size of different types of housing permits, and mortgage financing. Finally, the economic and social implications of these policy impacts are discussed.