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Barriers in Energy Behaviour among End Consumers and Households (BarEnergy)

Overall aims

The main aim of the project was to develop methods to identify the relevance and strengths of various barriers for energy behaviour changes among end consumers and households and to discuss how activities from political authorities, energy producers and NGOs can overcome these barriers. Six European countries participated in the three-year project – the UK; the Netherlands; France; Hungary; Switzerland; and Norway. In addition, researchers from Greece also took part in the quantitative consumer survey.

Context

The BarEnergy project itself took as its starting point the EU Green Paper on Energy Efficiency as the political point of departure in order to meet the main aims and objectives outlined in the proposal. In Doing More with Less (COM, 2005), the European Commission identifies three specific domains for EU member states’ energy policy measures: buildings, domestic appliances and limiting the fuel consumption of vehicles. The research itself related primarily to behaviour and barriers for changes among individuals and households in these domains.

Research questions and methods

The project combined an individual and an institutional approach to both the theoretical and practical elements of the research, and was based around the premise that household energy behaviour – and changes in this behaviour – could only be understood by considering individual values, attitudes, norms and knowledge among individuals, together with the context in which this behaviour takes place. These barriers were identified as: Physical and structural; Political; Cultural-normative or social; Economic; Knowledge based; Individual-psychological.

Participating countries were chosen for variations in their political, social, and economic structure in order to test what differences might exist through three empirical work packages. The project was developed as follows:

  • Theoretically in work package (WP3) ‘state of the art’, and in WP2 ‘Establishing common understandings and research platform for project;
  • Empirically in WP3-6. Research triangulation incorporating qualitative stakeholder interviews, representative consumer survey and focus groups among targeted consumers.  Each element should have informed the design of the following one;
  • Politically in the concluding WP7 and WP8. Providing an overview of barriers and opportunities to more sustainable energy use and suggestions on how these might be overcome

Results

  • Knowledge based and economic issues are the most significant barriers across all countries and issues;
  • High initial costs and low energy prices disincentives to changes in heating practices and refurbishment;
  • Low profile for green energy related to lack of trust in power companies (France, Netherlands, Switzerland, and UK);
  • The extent to which households use energy from sustainable energy sources differs considerably across European countries;
  • Most participants across the participating countries were in favour of policy measures which utilise a ‘carrot over the stick’ approach;
  • People are now more aware of environmental consequences of energy use in daily practices;
  • Comfort, convenience and price are the most significant issues for consumers;
  • Information alone is not sufficient to encourage more sustainable energy behaviour;
  • Participants thought that policies were currently ‘too focused on households’ to the detriment of government and business responsibilities (France);
  • There was notable scepticism in all countries – particularly UK, France, and Switzerland – concerning political messages about sustainability.

Implications

  • The psychological/social-cultural attractions of car use currently dominate alternatives in all participating countries;
  • A general trend towards private car use as opposed to more widespread use of public transport;
  • There is felt to be a lack of clarity over environmental issues and a lack of credibility in the ‘messenger’;
  • A widespread perception exists that most messages have failed to tap into the drives and motivations of the majority of consumers;
  • There is a tendency in policy communications to equate provision of information with action;
  • Difficulties are posed for politicians when faced with interrelated barriers, particularly psychological/social-cultural issues;
  • A perception amongst stakeholders and consumers that action by individual must be promoted in the context of greater responsibility and leadership from political leaders and businesses.

Outputs (UK)

National Report (D19) Qualitative Interviews with Stakeholders

National Report (D23) Analysis of the National Surveys

National Report (D26) National Report from the Focus Groups

European Integrated Report (D27) European Integrated Report on the Focus Groups

Final Report (D32) BarEnergy: Barriers to Changes in Behaviour Among end Consumers and Households

Fudge S and T Bedford 2011. Barriers for energy changes among end consumers and households: UK national report of stakeholder interviews for the EU Framework 7 BarEnergy project RESOLVE Working Paper Series 10-11. Guildford: University of Surrey.

Fudge S 2011. Barriers for energy changes among end consumers and households: UK national report of Focus Group discussions for the EU framework 7 BarEnergy Project. RESOLVE Working Paper Series 11-11. Guildford: University of Surrey.

Fudge S 2012. Exploring barriers to more sustainable energy use across six EU countries: the BarEnergy project. In T Jackson and I Christie (Eds) Lifestyles, Values and the Environment. London: Earthscan/Routledge.