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Promoting behavioural change to reduce thermal energy demand in households : a review
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Hafner, Rebecca J., Elmes, David and Read, Daniel (2019) Promoting behavioural change to reduce thermal energy demand in households : a review. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 102 . pp. 205-214. doi:10.1016/j.rser.2018.12.004 ISSN 1364-0321.
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WRAP-promoting-behavioural-change-reduce-thermal-energy-demand-households-Elmes-2018.pdf - Accepted Version - Requires a PDF viewer. Available under License Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives 4.0. Download (1337Kb) | Preview |
Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2018.12.004
Abstract
A reduction in thermal energy consumption in buildings is vital for achieving the reductions in carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions that are part of EU-2050 targets. A key challenge faced by behavioural scientists is to understand what encourages people to adopt more efficient ways of achieving a satisfactory thermal experience. We review the psychological barriers to reducing thermal energy demand in the context of energy-efficient technology adoption, and discuss ways these barriers may be overcome. The barriers include: demand on cognitive resources due to decision complexity; tendency to procrastinate and discount future consequences; deferral to simplifying strategies including repeating past experience and copying the behaviour of others; the desire to act in ways that maintain a positive self-image; and inertia due to fear of regret that one's decision might be ‘wrong’. We discuss behavioural approaches to overcome these barriers, such as emphasising public choice of “green” technology, reframing of benefits, simplifying and optimising the choice environment, focusing on symbolic attributes of new technologies, and changing the temporal structure of costs and benefits. We provide a framework of suggestions for future research which together constitute an important first step in informing behaviour change efforts designed to reduce thermal energy consumption in households.
Item Type: | Journal Article | ||||||||
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Subjects: | T Technology > TJ Mechanical engineering and machinery | ||||||||
Divisions: | Faculty of Social Sciences > Warwick Business School > Strategy & International Business Faculty of Social Sciences > Warwick Business School |
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Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | Dwellings -- Energy conservation -- Psychological aspects | ||||||||
Journal or Publication Title: | Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews | ||||||||
Publisher: | Elsevier | ||||||||
ISSN: | 1364-0321 | ||||||||
Official Date: | March 2019 | ||||||||
Dates: |
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Volume: | 102 | ||||||||
Page Range: | pp. 205-214 | ||||||||
DOI: | 10.1016/j.rser.2018.12.004 | ||||||||
Status: | Peer Reviewed | ||||||||
Publication Status: | Published | ||||||||
Reuse Statement (publisher, data, author rights): | © 2018, Elsevier. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ | ||||||||
Access rights to Published version: | Restricted or Subscription Access | ||||||||
Date of first compliant deposit: | 11 February 2019 | ||||||||
Date of first compliant Open Access: | 19 December 2019 | ||||||||
RIOXX Funder/Project Grant: |
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