nach oben

Energy Efficiency

Erschienen in:

08.02.2018 | Original Article

Characteristics or culture? Determinants of household energy use behavior in Germany and the USA

Erschienen in: Energy Efficiency | Ausgabe 3/2018

Einloggen

Aktivieren Sie unsere intelligente Suche, um passende Fachinhalte oder Patente zu finden.

search-config

KI-gestützte Suche

Aus

Abstract

Multilateral climate agreements are more likely to be successful when they acknowledge and address both differences in country energy use behavior and the factors that shape behavior. This paper employs an Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition to analyze factors underlying differences in residential energy use behavior in Germany and the USA. We focus on three household decisions: purchasing energy-efficient appliances, employing energy-saving measures like turning off lights when leaving a room, and purchasing fuel-efficient vehicles. For all of these decisions, US household adoption is significantly lower than German household adoption. These differences in observed energy use behavior are decomposed into components arising from differences in country mean characteristic and from differences in adoption propensities for given characteristics. Both country characteristics and propensities contribute to observed energy use behavior differences in German and US households. In particular, perceptions of the human role in climate change, financial advantages of energy savings, and effectiveness of energy savings in combating climate change play significant roles in generating observed country difference.

Vorheriger Artikel Mathematical model for estimating variation in specific energy consumption with respect to capacity utilization for aluminum smelting plant

Sie haben noch keine Lizenz? Dann Informieren Sie sich jetzt über unsere Produkte:

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik"

Online-Abonnement

Mit Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik" erhalten Sie Zugriff auf:

über 102.000 Bücher
über 537 Zeitschriften

aus folgenden Fachgebieten:

Automobil + Motoren
Bauwesen + Immobilien
Business IT + Informatik
Elektrotechnik + Elektronik
Energie + Nachhaltigkeit
Finance + Banking
Management + Führung
Marketing + Vertrieb
Maschinenbau + Werkstoffe
Versicherung + Risiko

Jetzt Wissensvorsprung sichern!

Jetzt informieren

Springer Professional "Technik"

Online-Abonnement

Mit Springer Professional "Technik" erhalten Sie Zugriff auf:

über 67.000 Bücher
über 390 Zeitschriften

aus folgenden Fachgebieten:

Automobil + Motoren
Bauwesen + Immobilien
Business IT + Informatik
Elektrotechnik + Elektronik
Energie + Nachhaltigkeit
Maschinenbau + Werkstoffe

Jetzt Wissensvorsprung sichern!

Jetzt informieren

Nur mit Berechtigung zugänglich

Errors are ignored in the specification of the decomposition, as their expected means equal zero.

Urban and Ščasný (2016) find in a multi-country study that the distinction between conservation (curtailment) and efficiency is not empirically valid. This analysis does not attempt to identify distinctions between the two types of energy use behavior.

The survey data has been used, among others, in Schleich et al. (2014) to study the relevance of perceptions of climate policy to planned voluntary climate protection activities, and in Schleich and Faure (2017) to analyze cross-country differences in individual perceptions of climate policy relevance.

Sample size varies slightly the energy-efficient appliance purchase, use of energy saving practices at home, and energy-efficient automobile purchase samples due to additional slight differences in missing values for these variables. Descriptive statistics in table 1 are for the energy-efficient appliance purchase sample.

Conservative methods are employed to calculate average incomes. Thus, the income data reported from the survey is expected to be a lower value than that in census data.

We focus on estimates that are statistically significant at least at p = 0.05 in a two-tailed t test.

The endowment term differences employ the US coefficient to determine the impact of the variable mean differences. The coefficient term differences employ the US variable mean responses to determine the impact of the variable parameter estimate differences.

The endowment term decomposition again employs the US model coefficient estimates to determine the impact of the variable mean differences. The coefficient term differences employ US variable means to determine the impact of the variable parameter estimate differences.

Akerlof, G. A. (2007). The missing motivation in macroeconomics. American Economic Review, 97(1), 5–36. https://doi.org/10.1257/aer.97.1.5.CrossRef

Allcott, H., & Wozny, N. (2014). Gasoline prices, fuel economy, and the energy paradox. The Review of Economics and Statistics, 156, 1–59.

Ameli, N., & Brandt, N. (2015). Determinants of households’ investment in energy efficiency and renewables: Evidence from the OECD survey on household environmental behavior and attitudes. Environmental Research Letters, 10(4), 44015. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/10/4/044015.CrossRef

Arora, R. (2005). Homeownership soars in China. Gallup. http://www.gallup.com/poll/15082/homeownership-soars-china.aspx. Accessed 3 December 2007.

Attari, S., DeKay, M., Davidson, C., & de Bruin, W. (2010). Public perceptions of energy consumption and savings. PNAS Early Edition, 107(37), 16054–16059. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1001509107.CrossRef

Bartiaux, F. , Vekemans, G., & Gram-Hanssen, D. et al. (2006). Sociotechnical factors influencing residential energy consumption—part 1: Sustainable production and consumption patterns. Scientific Support Plan for a Sustainable Development Policy. Belgian Science Policy.

Black, J. S., Stern, P. C., & Elsworth, J. T. (1985). Personal and contextual influences on household energy adaptations. Journal of Applied Psychology, 70(1), 3–21. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.70.1.3.CrossRef

Blinder, A. A. (1973). Wage discrimination: Reduced form and structural estimates. Journal of Human Resources, 8(4), 436–455. https://doi.org/10.2307/144855.CrossRef

Bowles, S. (2008). Policies designed for self-interested citizens may undermine ‘the moral sentiments’: Evidence from economic experiments. Science, 320(5883), 1605–1609. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1152110.CrossRef

Brechling, V., & Smith, S. (1994). Household energy efficiency in the UK. Fiscal Studies, 15(2), 44–56. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-5890.1994.tb00196.x.CrossRef

Cayla, J.M., Allibe, B., & Laurent, M.H. (2010). From practices to behaviors: Estimating the impact of household behavior on space heating energy consumption. In ACEEE Summer Study on Energy Efficiency in Buildings.

Cohen, F., Glachant, M., & Söderberg, M. (2017). Consumer myopia, imperfect competition and the energy efficiency gap: Evidence from the UK refrigerator market. European Economic Review, 93, 1–23. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.euroecorev.2017.01.004.CrossRef

Curtis, F. A., Simpson-Housley, P., & Drever, S. (1984). Communications on energy household energy conservation. Energy Policy, 12(4), 452–456. https://doi.org/10.1016/0301-4215(84)90109-5.CrossRef

Davis, L. W. (2011). Evaluating the slow adoption of energy efficient investments: Are renters less likely to have energy efficient appliances? In D. Fullerton & C. Wolfram (Eds.), The design and implementation of U.S. climate policy (pp. 301–316). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

D'Alessio, G., Gambacorta, R., & Ilardi, G. (2013). Are Germans poorer than other Europeans? The principal Eurozone differences in wealth and income. VOX. http://voxeu.org/article/are-germans-poorer-other-europeans-principal-eurozone-differences-wealth-and-income. Accessed 3 December 2007.

Di Maria, C., Ferreira, S., & Lazarova, E. (2010). Shedding light on the light bulb puzzle: The role of attitudes and perceptions in the adoption of energy efficient light bulbs. Scottish Journal of Political Economy, 57(1), 48–67. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9485.2009.00506.x.CrossRef

Dunlap, R., van Liere, K., Mertig, A., & Jones, R. E. (2000). Measuring endorsement of the new ecological paradigm: A revised NEP scale. Journal of Social Issues, 56(3), 425–442. https://doi.org/10.1111/0022-4537.00176.CrossRef

Dupont, D. P. (2004). Do children matter? An examination of gender differences in environmental valuation. Ecological Economics, 49(3), 273–286. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2004.01.013.CrossRef

European Central Bank (2013). The Eurosystem household finance and consumption survey. Results from the first wave. Statistics Paper Series 2. Eurosystem Household Finance and Consumption Network.

Fehr, E., & Fischbacher, U. (2002). Why social preferences matter—The impact of non-selfish motives on competition, cooperation and incentives. The Economic Journal, 112(478), C1–C33. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-0297.00027.CrossRef

Greening, L. A., Greene, D. L., & Difiglio, C. (2000). Energy efficiency and consumption—The rebound effect—A survey. Energy Policy, 28(6–7), 389–401. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0301-4215(00)00021-5.CrossRef

Hassett, K., & Metcalf, G. (1995). Energy tax credits and residential conservation investment: Evidence from panel data. Journal of Public Economics, 57(2), 201–217. https://doi.org/10.1016/0047-2727(94)01452-T.CrossRef

Hirst, E., & Goeltz, R. (1982). Residential energy conservation actions: Analysis of disaggregated data. Energy Systems and Policy, 6, 135–150.

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). (2014). Climate Change 2014 Synthesis Report Summary for Policy Makers.

Jaffe, A. B., & Stavins, R. N. (1994). Energy-efficiency investments and public policy. The Energy Journal, 15, 43–65.CrossRef

Kahn, M. E. (2007). Do greens drive hummers or hybrids? Environmental ideology as a determinant of consumer choice. Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, 54(2), 129–145. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeem.2007.05.001.CrossRefMATH

Kammerer, D. (2009). The effects of customer benefit and regulation on environmental product innovation: Empirical evidence from appliance manufacturers in Germany. Ecological Economics, 68(8-9), 2285–2295. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2009.02.016.CrossRef

Kollmuss, A., & Agyeman, M. (2002). Mind the gap: Why people act environmentally and what are the barriers to pro-environmental behaviours? Environmental Education Research, 8(3), 239–260. https://doi.org/10.1080/13504620220145401.CrossRef

Krishnamurthy, C. K. B., & Kriström, B. (2015). How large is the owner-renter divide in energy efficient technology? Evidence from an OECD cross-section. The Energy Journal, 36(4), 85–104.CrossRef

Leiserowitz, A., Smith, N., & Marlon, J. R. (2010). Americans’ knowledge of climate change. Yale University. New Haven: Yale Project on Climate Change Communication.

Long, J. (1993). An econometric analysis of residential expenditures on energy conservation and renewable energy sources. Energy Economics, 15(4), 232–238. https://doi.org/10.1016/0140-9883(93)90012-G.CrossRef

Lopez, A. G., & Cuervo-Arango, M. A. (2008). Relationship among values, beliefs, norms, and ecological behaviour. Psicothema, 20, 623–629.

Mills, B. F., & Schleich, J. (2010). Why don’t households see the light? Explaining the diffusion of compact fluorescent lamps. Resource and Energy Economics, 32(3), 363–378. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.reseneeco.2009.10.002.CrossRef

Mills, B. F., & Schleich, J. (2012). Residential energy-efficient technology adoption, energy conservation, knowledge, and attitudes: An analysis of European countries. Energy Policy, 49, 616–628. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2012.07.008.CrossRef

Murray, A., & Mills, B. F. (2014). The impact of low-income home energy assistance program participation on household energy insecurity. Contemporary Economic Policy, 32(4), 811–825. https://doi.org/10.1111/coep.12050.CrossRef

OECD. (2011). Greening household behaviour: overview from the 2011 survey - revised edition. OECD Publishing.

Olli, E., Grendstad, G., & Wollebaek, D. (2001). Correlates of environmental behaviour: Bringing back social context. Environmental and Behavior, 33, 181–208.

Pew Research Center. (2015). Personal toll of climate change a substantial concern in Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa. http://www.pewglobal.org/2015/11/05/1-concern-about-climate-change-and-its-consequences/. Accessed 3 December 2007.

PBL. (2014). Trends in global CO2 emission. The Hague: PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency.

Qiu, Y., Colson, G., & Grebitus, C. (2014). Risk preferences and purchase of energy-efficient technologies in the residential sector. Ecological Economics, 107, 216–229. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2014.09.002.CrossRef

Reiss, P. C., & White, M. W. (2008). What changes energy consumption? Process and public pressures. RAND Journal of Economics, 39(3), 636–663. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1756-2171.2008.00032.x.CrossRef

Sardianou, E., & Genoudi, P. (2013). Which factors affect the willingness of consumers to adopt renewables energies? Renewable Energy, 57, 1–4. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2013.01.031.CrossRef

Schleich, J., & Faure, C. (2017). Explaining citizens’ perceptions of international climate-policy relevance. Energy Policy, 103, 62–71. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2017.01.014.CrossRef

Schleich, J., Gassmann, X., Faure, C., & Meissner, T. (2016). Making the implicit explicit: A look inside the implicit discount rate. Energy Policy, 97, 321–331. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2016.07.044.CrossRef

Schleich, J., Schwirplies, C., & Ziegler, A. (2014). Private provision of public goods: Do individual climate protection efforts depend on perceptions of climate policy? MAGKS Discussion Paper No. 53–2014.

Schultz, T. (1975). The Value of the Ability to Deal With Disequilibria. Journal of Economic Literature, 13, 827–846.

Scott, S. (1997). Household energy efficiency in Ireland: A replication study of owner of energy saving items. Energy Economics, 19(2), 187–208. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-9883(96)01000-6.CrossRef

Sjoberg, L., & Engelberg, E. (2005). Lifestyles, and risk perception consumer behavior. International Review of Sociology / Revue Internationale de Sociologie, 15, 327–362.

Steentjes, K., Pidgeon, N., Poortinga, W., Corner, A., Arnold, A., Böhm, G., Mays, C., Poumadère, M., Ruddat, M., Scheer, D., Sonnberger, M., & Tvinnereim, E. (2017). European perceptions of climate change: Topline findings of a survey conducted in four European countries in 2016. Cardiff: Cardiff University.

Thapa, B. (1999). Environmentalism: The relation of environmental attitudes and environmentally responsible behaviors among undergraduate students. Bulletin of Science, Technology & Society, 19, 432–444.CrossRef

Torgler, B., Garcia-Valinas, M. A., & Macintyre, A. (2008). Differences in preferences towards the environment: The Impact of a gender, age and parental effect. Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei.

United States Census Bureau QuickFacts. (2014). https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/US/PST045216. Accessed 3 December 2007.

United States Environmental Protection Agency. (2016). Global greenhouse gas emissions data.

Urban, J., & Ščasný, M. (2012). Exploring domestic energy-saving: The role of environmental concern and background variables. Energy Policy, 47(2012), 69–80. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2012.04.018.CrossRef

Urban, J., & Ščasný, M. (2016). Structure of domestic energy savings: How many dimensions? Environment and Behavior, 48(3), 454–481. https://doi.org/10.1177/0013916514547081.CrossRef

Verhallen, T., & Van Raaij, W. F. (1981). Household behavior and the use of natural gas for home heating. Journal of Consumer Research, 8(3), 253–257. https://doi.org/10.1086/208862.CrossRef

Vespa, J., Lewis, J. M., & Kreider, R. M. (2013). American's Families and Living Arrangements: 2012. U.S. Census Bureau. https://www.census.gov/prod/2013pubs/p20-570.pdf. Accessed 3 December 2007.

Titel: Characteristics or culture? Determinants of household energy use behavior in Germany and the USA
Publikationsdatum: 08.02.2018
Erschienen in: Energy Efficiency / Ausgabe 3/2018
Print ISSN: 1570-646X
Elektronische ISSN: 1570-6478
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12053-017-9596-2

Springer Professional

Abstract

Bitte loggen Sie sich ein, um Zugang zu Ihrer Lizenz zu erhalten.

Sie haben noch keine Lizenz? Dann Informieren Sie sich jetzt über unsere Produkte:

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik"

Springer Professional "Technik"

Weitere Artikel der Ausgabe 3/2018

Household archetypes and behavioural patterns in UK domestic energy use

Energy efficiency and carbon efficiency of tourism industry in destination

Overcoming the shortcomings of energy intensity index: a directional technology distance function approach

Mathematical model for estimating variation in specific energy consumption with respect to capacity utilization for aluminum smelting plant

Solar water heaters as a pre-heating system for industrial processes

Impact of German Energiewende on transmission lines in the central European region