Advances in understanding energy consumption behavior and the governance of its change - Outline of an integrated framework
Abstract
Transforming today’s energy systems in industrialized countries requires a substantial
reduction of the total energy consumption at the individual level. Selected instruments
have been found to be effective in changing people’s behavior in single domains.
However, the so far weak success story on reducing overall energy consumption
indicates that our understanding of the determining factors of individual energy
consumption as well as of its change is far from being conclusive. Among others, the
scientific state of the art is dominated by analyzing single domains of consumption and
by neglecting embodied energy. It also displays strong disciplinary splits and the literature
often fails to distinguish between explaining behavior and explaining change of behavior.
Moreover, there are knowledge gaps regarding the legitimacy and effectiveness of the
governance of individual consumption behavior and its change. Against this backdrop,
the aim of this paper is to establish an integrated interdisciplinary framework that offers
a systematic basis for linking the different aspects in research on energy related
consumption behavior, thus paving the way for establishing a better evidence base to
inform societal actions. The framework connects the three relevant analytical aspects of
the topic in question: (1) it systematically and conceptually frames the objects, i.e., the
energy consumption behavior and its change (explananda); (2) it structures the factors
that potentially explain the energy consumption behavior and its change (explanantia); (3)
it provides a differentiated understanding of change inducing interventions in terms of
governance. Based on the existing states of the art approaches from different disciplines
within the social sciences, the proposed framework is supposed to guide interdisciplinary
empirical research. Show more
Permanent link
https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000104153Publication status
publishedExternal links
Journal / series
Frontiers in Energy ResearchVolume
Pages / Article No.
Publisher
Frontiers MediaSubject
Energy-related consumption patterns; behavior change; Interdisciplinary framework; Governance of individual behaviorOrganisational unit
03539 - Filippini, Massimo / Filippini, Massimo
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