IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/engenv/v20y2009i3p345-365.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Energy Efficiency: Temporal and Geographical Trends in Europe

Author

Listed:
  • Dominic Stead

    (Senior Researcher, Delft University of Technology, OTB Research Institute for Housing, Urban and Mobility Studies, PO Box 5030, 2600 GA Delft, The Netherlands)

Abstract

Pan-European opinion surveys are carried out regularly in all European member states on behalf of the European Commission. From time to time, these ‘Eurobarometer’ surveys focus on energy related issues. This paper draws on three such surveys across a period of almost 20 years (1984, 1993 and 2002) in order to examine temporal trends in individual actions and intentions concerning energy efficiency across European member states. The main focus is on broad energy efficiency measures and the differences in stated actions and intentions over time and between countries. The paper examines whether actions and intentions differ according to socio-economic factors such as age, gender and education, and whether these differences are stable over time. Levels of public support for different types of energy efficiency instruments are also examined. The paper indicates that reported actions concerning energy efficiency have remained relatively stable over time in most European countries but intentions to do more have declined. Socio-economic variables such as age, gender and education appear to influence actions and intentions to save energy, suggesting that there is a social divide regarding energy conservation. Evidence suggests that many Europeans believe that they have already done what they can in terms of reducing their own energy consumption.

Suggested Citation

  • Dominic Stead, 2009. "Energy Efficiency: Temporal and Geographical Trends in Europe," Energy & Environment, , vol. 20(3), pages 345-365, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:engenv:v:20:y:2009:i:3:p:345-365
    DOI: 10.1260/095830509788066493
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1260/095830509788066493
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1260/095830509788066493?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Crossley, David J., 1983. "Identifying barriers to the success of consumer energy conservation policies," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 8(7), pages 533-546.
    2. Dillman, Don A. & Rosa, Eugene A. & Dillman, Joye J., 1983. "Lifestyle and home energy conservation in the United States: the poor accept lifestyle cutbacks while the wealthy invest in conservation," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 3(3-4), pages 299-315, September.
    3. Walsh, Michael J., 1989. "Energy tax credits and housing improvement," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 11(4), pages 275-284, October.
    4. Boardman, Brenda, 2004. "New directions for household energy efficiency: evidence from the UK," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 32(17), pages 1921-1933, November.
    5. Poortinga, Wouter & Steg, Linda & Vlek, Charles & Wiersma, Gerwin, 2003. "Household preferences for energy-saving measures: A conjoint analysis," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 24(1), pages 49-64, February.
    6. Ritchie, J R Brent & McDougall, Gordon H G & Claxton, John D, 1981. "Complexities of Household Energy Consumption and Conservation," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 8(3), pages 233-242, December.
    7. Berry, Linda G. & Brown, Marilyn A., 1988. "Participation of the elderly in residential conservation programmes," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 16(2), pages 152-163, April.
    8. Long, James E., 1993. "An econometric analysis of residential expenditures on energy conservation and renewable energy sources," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 15(4), pages 232-238, October.
    9. Olsen, Marvin E., 1983. "Public acceptance of consumer energy conservation strategies," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 4(1-2), pages 183-196, October.
    10. Giuliano, Genevieve & Dargay, Joyce, 2006. "Car ownership, travel and land use: a comparison of the US and Great Britain," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 40(2), pages 106-124, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Sardianou, Eleni, 2007. "Estimating energy conservation patterns of Greek households," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(7), pages 3778-3791, July.
    2. Nair, Gireesh & Gustavsson, Leif & Mahapatra, Krushna, 2010. "Factors influencing energy efficiency investments in existing Swedish residential buildings," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(6), pages 2956-2963, June.
    3. Mills, Bradford & Schleich, Joachim, 2012. "Residential energy-efficient technology adoption, energy conservation, knowledge, and attitudes: An analysis of European countries," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 616-628.
    4. Sütterlin, Bernadette & Brunner, Thomas A. & Siegrist, Michael, 2011. "Who puts the most energy into energy conservation? A segmentation of energy consumers based on energy-related behavioral characteristics," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(12), pages 8137-8152.
    5. Wüstenhagen, Rolf & Schleich, Joachim & Rennings, Klaus & Heinzle, Stefanie & Brohmann, Bettina, 2009. "What's Driving Sustainable Energy Consumption? A Survey of the Empirical Literature," ZEW Discussion Papers 09-013, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    6. Islam, Towhidul, 2014. "Household level innovation diffusion model of photo-voltaic (PV) solar cells from stated preference data," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 340-350.
    7. Elisha R. Frederiks & Karen Stenner & Elizabeth V. Hobman, 2015. "The Socio-Demographic and Psychological Predictors of Residential Energy Consumption: A Comprehensive Review," Energies, MDPI, vol. 8(1), pages 1-37, January.
    8. Fiorillo, Damiano & Sapio, Alessandro, 2019. "Energy saving in Italy in the late 1990s: Which role for non-monetary motivations?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 165(C), pages 1-1.
    9. Mills, Bradford F. & Schleich, Joachim, 2009. "Profits or preferences? Assessing the adoption of residential solar thermal technologies," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(10), pages 4145-4154, October.
    10. Jun Fan & Lijuan Peng & Tinggui Chen & Guodong Cong, 2024. "The role of social impact on consumer attitudes toward green and healthy home appliances during the COVID-19 pandemic," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 26(11), pages 28063-28105, November.
    11. Li Hua & Shanyong Wang, 2019. "Antecedents of Consumers’ Intention to Purchase Energy-Efficient Appliances: An Empirical Study Based on the Technology Acceptance Model and Theory of Planned Behavior," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(10), pages 1-17, May.
    12. Hilary Boudet & Chad Zanocco & Greg Stelmach & Mahmood Muttaqee & June Flora, 2021. "Public preferences for five electricity grid decarbonization policies in California," Review of Policy Research, Policy Studies Organization, vol. 38(5), pages 510-528, September.
    13. Islam, Towhidul & Meade, Nigel, 2013. "The impact of attribute preferences on adoption timing: The case of photo-voltaic (PV) solar cells for household electricity generation," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 521-530.
    14. Véronique Vasseur & Anne-Francoise Marique & Vladimir Udalov, 2019. "A Conceptual Framework to Understand Households’ Energy Consumption," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(22), pages 1-22, November.
    15. Klingler, Anna-Lena, 2017. "Self-consumption with PV+Battery systems: A market diffusion model considering individual consumer behaviour and preferences," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 205(C), pages 1560-1570.
    16. Mills, Bradford & Schleich, Joachim, 2010. "What's driving energy efficient appliance label awareness and purchase propensity?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(2), pages 814-825, February.
    17. Boudet, Hilary S. & Flora, June A. & Armel, K. Carrie, 2016. "Clustering household energy-saving behaviours by behavioural attribute," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 444-454.
    18. Oikonomou, Vlasis & Rietbergen, Martijn & Patel, Martin, 2007. "An ex-ante evaluation of a White Certificates scheme in The Netherlands: A case study for the household sector," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(2), pages 1147-1163, February.
    19. Ward, David O. & Clark, Christopher D. & Jensen, Kimberly L. & Yen, Steven T. & Russell, Clifford S., 2011. "Factors influencing willingness-to-pay for the ENERGY STAR® label," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(3), pages 1450-1458, March.
    20. Morton, Craig & Wilson, Charlie & Anable, Jillian, 2018. "The diffusion of domestic energy efficiency policies: A spatial perspective," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 77-88.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:engenv:v:20:y:2009:i:3:p:345-365. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.