Research | Rangahau

Energy Cultures

 

The ‘Energy Cultures' research programme applies a novel combination of complementary social science methods to improve understanding of the drivers of household energy behaviours, and to deliver an effective strategy to achieve more energy-efficient behaviours.

 

The aims are to:

•  Develop an integrated understanding of the values-to-behaviour chain in household space heating and water heating

•  Identify whether clusters of ‘energy cultures' exist, and their characteristics

•  Develop recommendations on effective intervention strategies to improve uptake of energy-efficient technologies and behaviours

•  Test effectiveness of recommended interventions via pilot study with an end user.

 

The proposed research adopts the concept of ‘culture' as a well-established way of making sense of the complex relationship between social/economic/policy settings and everyday practices. We hypothesise that within NZ there are clusters of households with identifiably different sets of attitudes and behaviours relating to energy use (i.e. ‘energy cultures'). We suggest that the lack of success with achieving government energy efficiency targets is that cultural groups respond differently to behaviour change interventions (e.g. education, incentives, social marketing, policies). Identifying the characteristics of, and influences on, different energy cultures will help to develop more effective interventions.

 

It is well established in other fields that householders' values are fundamental in making judgments and choices about their affairs. Values are strongly influenced by past and current socio-cultural contexts of householders' lives. Such values tend to endure as standards for deciding behaviour even if conditions change. Yet while values are a fundamental influence, behaviour is also determined by a complex mix of other drivers, some of which are household-specific. Other drivers have more generic influences such as market and policy settings. For example, the choice and use of heating appliances depends on household demographics, socio-cultural expectations about warmth, price of electricity, motivations for heating, level of knowledge about heating options, house characteristics and available heating technologies. The latter two are in turn influenced by regulatory constraints and the legal environment.

 

Our hypothesis is that barriers to adoption depend on complex interactions amongst this array of factors, which create behavioural clusters or ‘cultures' of energy use that respond differently to behaviour change initiatives. Most international and NZ research to date examines only a single factor or narrow range of factors influencing behaviour, creating a fragmented understanding, which we suggest is a major reason why interventions to date are have had limited success. To identify promising interventions we will examine the complex drivers of household energy decision-making, using complementary social science methods to provide a deeper and more integrated understanding, and to reveal critical barriers to behaviour change. Working with end-users, we will then trial at least one intervention in Year 3.

 

Our multidisciplinary research team draws from Consumer Psychology/Marketing (Prof Rob Lawson), Sociology/Human Geography (Dr Janet Stephenson), Economics (Dr Paul Thorsnes), Physics (Prof Gerry Carrington) and Law (Prof Barry Barton). The project will support a number of postgraduate positions including Masters and PhDs.