Multiplying Energy-Saving Behaviour in Cities Through Formal Social Groups
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Multiplying energy-saving behaviour in cities through formal social groups Corinne Moser Roman Seidl Bettina Furrer ZHAW School of Engineering ETH Zürich ZHAW School of Engineering Institute of Sustainable Development Institute for Environmental Decisions, Natural Institute of Sustainable Development Technoparkstrasse 2 and Social Science Interface Technoparkstrasse 2 CH-8401 Winterthur Universitätstrasse 22 CH-8401 Winterthur Switzerland CH-8092 Zürich Switzerland [email protected] Switzerland [email protected] [email protected] Yann Blumer ZHAW School of Management and Law Vicente Carabias-Hütter Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship ZHAW School of Engineering Stadthausstrasse 14 Institute of Sustainable Development CH-8400 Winterthur Technoparkstrasse 2 Switzerland CH-8401 Winterthur [email protected] Switzerland [email protected] Keywords broader social context, case studies, social networks, energy their members to save energy. This may concern activities that sufficiency, energy saving potential, local activities are related to the purpose of the group (e.g., members of a sports club use public transport instead of individual cars to go Abstract to away games) and potentially also members’ private activities (e.g., use of public transport instead of car for private leisure ac- Cities are key agents of change in the ongoing energy transition tivities). As an outlook, we formulate first ideas for real-world in Switzerland. They promote technical efficiency measures and experiments to systematically test the influence of formal social behavioural change to save energy – both by being role mod- groups on individual energy-saving behaviour. els and by addressing consumers directly. A crucial question is how cities can best elicit private consumers’ full potential of energy saving through adapting their habitual behaviour or Introduction routines, or in other words, how cities can promote energy suf- Many countries, among them Switzerland, currently face a ficiency. challenging transition towards more sustainable energy sys- This paper presents first findings of a transdisciplinary pro- tems. In the case of Switzerland, a new energy strategy follows ject involving researchers from ZHAW, ETH Zurich and the ambitions goals regarding the promotion of renewables, sub- three Swiss cities of Winterthur, Baden, and Zug. The project’s stituting nuclear energy, and reduction of per capita consump- key idea is that cities can promote energy sufficiency of private tion (Swiss Federal Council, 2013). Hydropower production consumers through middle-actors. In particular, it examines – which already today contributes to around 60 % of Switzer- whether formal social groups (e.g., sports clubs) may function land’s electricity production – shall be further increased and as powerful multipliers for energy-saving activities. electricity production from new renewables – which currently Thus, the aims of this paper are: i) to identify activities of represents a very small share in Switzerland – shall be expand- the three analysed cities to promote private energy-saving, and ed from 2.25 TWh in 2013 (Kaufmann, 2014) to a yearly pro- ii) to discuss the role of formal social groups in cities when ad- duction of 24.2 TWh by 2050. Furthermore, the average per dressing private consumers. capita consumption of final energy should decrease by 54 % by We will present findings from three in-depth case studies 2050 (year of reference: 2000). This mainly concerns fossil fu- in the cities of Winterthur, Baden, and Zug. For each city, we els. With respect to the average per capital electricity consump- identify and structure currently applied energy-efficiency and tion, a decrease of 18 % is envisioned (Swiss Federal Council, sufficiency activities to promote energy-saving of private con- 2013). According to the new energy strategy, these goals shall sumers (document analysis). Based on our findings we suggest mainly be achieved through increased energy efficiency (e.g., strategies how the three analysed cities may best address private of appliances, cars, and buildings). consumers to achieve energy-saving. Special attention will be In Switzerland, households currently demand 29 % of final given to formal social groups and their potential to motivate energy and mobility/transport demands 35 % (BFE, 2014). ECEEE SUMMER STUDY PROCEEDINGS 2133 Contents Keywords Authors 9-190-15 MOSER ET AL 9. DYNAMICS OF CONSUMPTION Table 1. Examples for one-shot decisions and changes in routine behaviour structured by different energy services and required changes of behaviour. Please note that different groups of people might experience different difficulty levels for performing the same behaviours or decisions. Required changes of One-shot decisions Repeated behaviour behaviour (examples) (examples) No or small changes • Buying an energy-efficient • Driving (Ecodrive) car Large changes • Moving closer to place of • Changing commuting and leisure mode of Transport work to avoid commuting transport • Using shared transport systems No or small changes • Refurbishment of home • Changing ventilation behaviour • Turning off heating when absent • Reducing heating in rarely used rooms Large changes • Reducing living space • Changing showering behaviour, showering instead of bathing • Reducing space heating, changing of clothing Heating/hot water Heating/hot behaviour No or small changes • Buying more efficient • Switching off plug bar when away appliances (e.g., fridge) • Turning out lights when away • Cooking patterns (e.g., cover pots) Electricity Large changes • Refraining from purchase • Line-drying laundry instead of using tumble of appliance drier Regarding mobility and transport, 70 % of final energy is spect, the column on one-shot decisions is an interesting one: demanded for transporting people on the road (BFE, 2013). Those decision that require no or only small changes of be- These numbers make clear that the decisions and everyday haviour (and, of course, resources such as time and money are behaviour of individuals at home as well as their travel be- required) are typical energy-efficiency measures (e.g., buying a haviour play a crucial role for reaching the goals of the Swiss more energy-efficient car, refurbishing home, and buying more government on reducing energy consumption. Thus, isolated energy efficient appliances). There are, however, also one-shot efficiency measures will not suffice to reach the ambitious decisions that require changes of behaviour or even of lifestyles, goals of Switzerland’s new energy strategy. This is on one hand such as moving closer to workplace to avoid commuting, re- because of economic and technical limitations of efficiency, ducing living space per capita or refraining from consump- but more importantly due to rebound effects(Darby, 2007; tion. Although one-shot, these are interesting patterns from an Herring, 2006). To guarantee a reduction of per capita energy energy-sufficiency perspective. For simplicity reasons, we do consumption, energy efficiency measures need to be combined refrain from further differentiating between different groups with more sufficient consumption patterns(Notter, Meyer, & of people which might experience different difficulty levels in Althaus, 2013). performing these behaviours. For a single person, it is prob- In accordance with Breukers and colleagues (2013), we un- ably less difficult to change living place or move to a smaller derstand energy sufficiency as a change in routine behaviours apartment compared to e.g., a family of two adults working at or lifestyles that leads to less energy consumption. In contrast different places and schoolchildren. to efficiency measures, which are characterized by one-shot de- There exist a variety of studies about energy-efficient and cisions (e.g., buying an energy-efficient fridge) and do not -re energy-sufficient behaviour (Abrahamse, Steg, Vlek, & Rothen- quire behavioural changes, energy sufficiency is about changes gatter, 2005; Gardner & Stern, 2008). For example, Poortinga of energy-relevant behaviour and lifestyles. Examples for ener- and colleagues (2003) found out that people prefer technical gy-sufficient behaviour are: eating vegetarian food instead of efficiency measures over behavioural change to save energy. meat, wearing a pullover and warm socks in winter instead of At the same time, they prefer energy-saving measures at home turning up the heating in one’s apartment, using public trans- to measures in mobility. Another study in Switzerland iden- port for commuting instead of private car, or line-drying laun- tified societal potentials for sufficiency measures in different dry instead of using the tumbler. domains (Moser, Rösch, & Stauffacher, under review): While a Table 1 gives some examples for one-shot decisions and vegetarian diet was strictly rejected by study participants, sub- changes in routine behaviour structured by different energy stantial sufficiency-potentials seem to exist in the domains of services (electricity, heating/hot water, and mobility). Here, we household room temperature, personal leisure travel behaviour also differentiate the required changes of behaviour. In this re- and amount of per capita living space. 2134 ECEEE 2015 SUMMER STUDY – FIRST FUEL NOW Contents Keywords Authors 9. DYNAMICS OF CONSUMPTION 9-190-15 MOSER ET AL Still, one crucial question concerns the issue of how to mo- as social groups might be important “middle-actors” (Parag & tivate people to change their everyday energy-related