Household energy consumption

Abstract

Consumers generally have a positive attitude towards energy conservation and a fair amount of environmental consciousness. Still energy use in households (and in particular electricity) continues to rise (EnergieNed, 1995; ECN, 1996). The transformation of this consciousness into action is obstructed, among other reasons, by the fact that energy use is often bound up with more comprehensive behavioral patterns and habits. Applied research on energy-related behavior shows that habits can be better predictors than variables in the predominant models of attitude-behavior relationships (Engel, Blackwell and Miniard, 1995; Karns and Khera, 1983; Macey and Brown, 1983; van Raaij and Verhallen, 1983; Ritsema, Midden and van der Heijden, 1982). Habits may resist the cognitive and financial means that are primarily based on these models (de Bruin and Siderius, 1993; Gladhart, 1977; Hoevenagel et al., 1996; Jelsma and Popkema, 1997). In this chapter, the question is raised how technology can contribute to decrease household energy use resulting from habitual behavior. As a first step in answering this question the concept of habitual behavior must be elucidated. In the applied research mentioned above many examples are given, such as clothing habits, leaving lights on, using bedrooms for other purposes, ventilation habits or doing the laundry on Mondays. Relevant habitual behavior thus covers a broad range: specific or more general, frequent as well as less frequent, and more or less automatic or subconscious activities play a role. However, an unambiguous definition and models explaining the concept are mostly absent. Definitions and frameworks can be found in fundamentally oriented research. Two groups may be identified. In the first, the variable habit is used to enhance the predictive power of models of repetitive actions. It is defined as 'past behavior/experience', and this behavior can be more or less conscious and frequent (e.g. Goldenhar and Connell, 1992; Hamid and Sheung-Tak, 1995; Macey and Brown, 1983). The second group limits habitual behavior to frequent, situation-specific, goal-oriented and automatic acts (e.g. Aarts, 1996; Triandis, 1977; Mittal, 1988; Ronis, Yates and Kirscht, 1989; Bargh and Gollwitzer, 1994; Ouelette and Wood, 1998). Repetition causes reasoned actions with the associated situations and goals to be stored into mental structures. These structures guide future behavior without conscious monitoring when triggered by an external cue. 'Habit' is measured variously as 'frequency of past behavior', 'unconscious recurrence of the acts in the past', or 'frequency of association' of certain situations with behavioral choices.28 The main problem posed by present literature is that the definitions or models are either not specified or seemingly incompatible with habitual activities in household energy use. Doing the laundry on Mondays, for instance, does not fit a description of an automatic act without conscious monitoring. There are also some additional problems. It is not certain whether 'habit' refers to a mental disposition, to the behavior, or to both. The criteria are not clear, e.g. what frequency indicates a habitual act, and when may it be called really 'automatic' or 'unconscious'? Repetitive nonbehavior is not explicitly dealt with; this type of habit, though, plays an important role in energy-related activities (i.e. leaving lights on). And the situation or cue (e.g. technology) are mentioned occasionally, but without elaboration. © 2006 Springer.