“Triple Target” policy framework to influence household energy behavior: Satisfy, strengthen, include

Constantine Spandagos, Masaru Yarime, Erik Baark and Tze Ling Ng

Applied Energy, 2020, vol. 269, issue C, No S0306261920306292

Abstract: A broader understanding of the behavioral aspect of energy consumption is increasingly critical for the formulation of policies that are effective in encouraging households to save energy. Such understanding is currently hindered, as the two counterparts of energy-saving behavior, namely efficiency and conservation, are not examined holistically; it is also hindered by the limited exploration of the underlying factors that may shape energy consumers’ perceptions of environmental, economic and comfort objectives. To address these research gaps, this paper is examining air-conditioning energy use patterns and attitudes in an urban setting, and provides evidence that consumer perceptions are affected by the choice of behavior: for instance, the importance scores assigned to environmental and economic objectives for efficiency behavior are by 33% higher compared to those for conservation behavior. On the other hand, comfort is the most important objective for conservation. Moreover, these perceptions are found to be affected more by the consumers’ psycho-cognitive characteristics, and less by socio-demographics. These findings introduce the “Triple Target” framework, to aid policy-makers in stimulating targeted behavioral change by means of: satisfying the most important objectives for each behavior; strengthening population characteristics that positively affect change; including as many population segments as possible, without considering socio-demographics as barriers to energy-saving. In this direction, the development of smart technology can be utilized to better inform residents about all the possible benefits associated with the two behaviors. Finally, insulation developments and extended labeling programs can be utilized to further enhance such efforts for conservation and efficiency, respectively.

Keywords: Policy framework; Behavioral change; Efficiency and conservation; Environmental perceptions; Economic perceptions; Comfort perceptions (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306261920306292
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:appene:v:269:y:2020:i:c:s0306261920306292

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/405891/bibliographic
http://www.elsevier. ... 405891/bibliographic

DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2020.115117

Access Statistics for this article

Applied Energy is currently edited by J. Yan

More articles in Applied Energy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().