Sustainable Behavior among Romanian Students: A Perspective on Electricity Consumption in Households

Vasile Gherheș and Marcela Alina Fărcașiu
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Vasile Gherheș: Department of Communication and Foreign Languages, Politehnica University of Timisoara, 300006 Timisoara, Romania
Marcela Alina Fărcașiu: Department of Communication and Foreign Languages, Politehnica University of Timisoara, 300006 Timisoara, Romania

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 16, 1-17

Abstract: The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) estimates that the environmental pressure from households will increase significantly by 2030. Sustainable consumption means making consumers aware of the social and environmental impacts of the goods and services they use. In this respect, special attention must be paid to electricity consumption since its generation affects the environment. The present research aims at capturing electricity consumption behaviors among students, after having applied an online questionnaire between March and April 2021, recording 816 responses. The results of this research highlighted the fact that for seven out of fourteen statements, percentages of over 50% for the “always” and “often” answer variants were recorded, but cases when the highest percentages were for the “rarely” and “never” answer variants (e.g., “You read the hours on the light bulb packs before purchasing them”, “You put your mobile phone in the power saving mode so that you don’t have to charge it so often” and “You unplug the electrical and electronic equipment that you do not use”) were also observed. Decrypting consumer behaviors is a key point for building strategies that will lead to consumers’ awareness of conserving electricity in households and, thus, to a reduction in their environmental impact.

Keywords: electricity consumption; consumption behavior; households; students; sustainable consumption; environmental impact; environmental protection (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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