Harold Wilhite

A cross-cultural analysis of household energy use behaviour in Japan and Norway

In this paper we compare and contrast the results of ethnographic investigations of energy use behaviour in Fukuoka, Japan and Oslo, Norway. These studies show significant differences in end use patterns for space heating, lighting and hot water use. We discuss how these patterns are related to cultural and economic factors. Our findings show that while energy intensive space heating and lighting habits have become an integral part of the presentation of the Norwegian home, Japanese space heat and light habits are more disciplined and less culturally significant. In Japan, the bathing routine is extremely important to the Japanese lifestyle and at the same time very energy intensive. Other energy intensive patterns are identified which do not have the same cultural significance, such as lax temperature setback in Norway and dish washing practices in Japan. The policy implications of these findings are discussed.

Making practice theory practicable: Towards more sustainable forms of consumption

In recent years, there has been growing interest in applying social practice theory to theorizing consumption, specifically in relation to transforming practices that have problematic environmental impacts. In this paper, we address the questions: how do changes in practices occur, and what are the levers for influencing change towards more sustainable consumption practices? We argue that a view of agency distributed across people, things and social contexts is fruitful. We also explore learning through membership in communities of practice, where people are involved in experiments with or exposure to new practices. We relate three case studies in the arena of food consumption practices then discuss the practicalities and pitfalls involved in translating social practice approaches into practicable recommendations for encouraging more sustainable forms of consumption.

Who Really Benefits from Fairtrade? An Analysis of Value Distribution in Fairtrade Coffee

Fairtrade is a market-based approach to social and environmental development for producers through the use of standards and a price floor. This article analyzes the benefits and costs of Fairtrade coffee through an economic value chain approach. The study determines the economic income from Fairtrade coffee throughout the chain as well as exploring the benefits and consequences of Fairtrade for local producers in Nicaragua and Guatemala. Our analysis shows that consumer countries acquire the larger share of economic income, mainly because Fairtrade is positioned within the conventional market where large multinationals control the supply chain. The participation of large multinationals has led to increasing pressure and tough competition for the certified producer cooperatives in the Fairtrade market. On the consumer side, while consumer marketing narratives emphasize producer benefits of Fairtrade, our results demonstrate that its total benefits for primary producers is modest. El comercio equitativo es un enfoque con base en el mercado del desarrollo social y ambiental de los productores estableciendo estándares y un precio base. En este artículo se analizan los costos y los beneficios del comercio equitativo del café utilizando el enfoque de la cadena de valor económico. El estudio determina el ingreso económico del comercio equitativo del café de los diferentes eslabones de la cadena y explora las consecuencias y los beneficios que afectan los productores locales en Nicaragua y Guatemala. El análisis que realizamos muestra que los países consumidores obtienen una mayor proporción del ingreso económico obtenido, principalmente debido a que el comercio equitativo se encuentra ubicado dentro del mercado convencional que es controlado por las grandes multinacionales quienes controlan la cadena de la oferta. La participación de las grandes multinacionales genera una mayor presión y una dura competencia entre las cooperativas de productores certificados. Aunque a los consumidores de café de comercio equitativo se les presenta el argumento de mercadeo de que los pequeños productores obtienen un beneficio mayor, en realidad el resultado del análisis demuestra lo contrario, los productores obtienen un beneficio módico con respecto al beneficio total obtenido.

Equating Efficiency with Reduction: A Self-Deception in Energy Policy

European energy policy has not faced up to something about which there is increasingly little doubt: Global reduction, or even stabilisation in energy use will not be achieved unless Europe and the other rich OECD countries aim at significantly curbing their energy services (heat, light, motive power, mobility and so on). The policy makers at the centre of the policy discourse on energy sustainability suffer from a form for self-deception which revolves around the equation of ‘efficiency’ with ‘reduction’ and ‘sustainability’, i.e., the untenable contention that technological and market efficiency alone will offset continued growth in energy services to the extent that deep reductions in energy use are possible. Many researchers and environmentalists seem to have, partly for strategic reasons, adapted to this view and thereby supported politicians in the self-deception. In this paper we use results from India and China, with more than one third of the world population, to show how there is likely to be dramatic increases in energy use and greenhouse gas emissions in those countries over the next half-century. Much of this increase will be in conjunction with the development of basic services and infrastructure for homes, businesses, transport, health and public services, so that it is neither ethical nor even practical to argue for restrictions in overall energy growth in these and other developing countries. This places the onus for deep reductions in energy use on Europe, North America and the other affluent countries. The paper explores what such a change of focus would mean for policy and research agendas, and why there is friction to moving the policy envelope from ‘efficiency’ to also include ‘sufficiency’.

The rise and fall of the ‘people's car’: middle-class aspirations, status and mobile symbolism in ‘New India’

When the Indian car manufacturer Tata Motors launched its new ‘peoples car’ in 2008 it was widely predicted to revolutionise automobility in India. Yet seven years after the launch, the car has barely made an impact on the Indian car market and is widely regarded as a failure. This article offers a detailed study of the rise and fall of Indias ‘peoples car’. Based on a mapping of the changing popular representations and symbolic imaginaries that attach to the car as a means to mobility and an object of identity and social status, we suggest that the car failed neither because it was mediocre, nor because it remained economically out of reach for most Indians. Rather, we argue that its insertion into the lower ranks of a powerful status hierarchy of identity-defining objects precluded it from adequately tapping into new and hegemonic forms of consumer aspiration in ‘New India’.

A Socio-Cultural Analysis of Changing Household Electricity Consumption in India

The reasons behind growth in middle class household electricity consumption in India are examined, where household appliances are rapidly taking a place in home cooking, cleaning and cooling consumption. The resulting electricity demand comes with high environmental costs, both locally and globally, since the electricity fuel of choice in India is coal, which is plentiful. The analysis, based on ethnographic research in the Kerala capital city Trivandrum, examines changes in home consumption practices and relates them to political and social changes in India, especially in Kerala, over the past decades. The research demonstrates how an understanding of gender relations; family and household structures; work migration in cross-national ethnoscapes; and changes in India’s political relationship to global markets and globalising media are all important to the theorising of changing energy consumption. An important finding is that women are indirectly responsible for increasing consumption as home appliances are purchased to alleviate time pressure. Social performance is also contributing to changing consumption; the purchase of household appliances is not only a sign of ‘getting ahead’ but also of ‘keeping up’ with rapidly changing consumption norms.

Staying Cool, Looking Good, Moving Around: Consumption, Sustainability and the ‘Rise of the South’

The nature of global development has changed substantially over the past three decades in step with the intensified globalisation of capitalism and its imperatives of growth and expanding consumption. Most significant is the ongoing shift in the balance of the global economy towards the South in general and the East in particular. As the ‘Rise of the South’ materialises, a number of emerging economies are moving beyond their roles as factories of the world and are turning their focus towards expanding domestic markets. The emergence of high-consuming middle classes in these countries represents a profound challenge for global sustainability. When coupled with the as-yet unsuccessful efforts to constrain the consumption in the mature capitalist countries, rising global consumption constitutes one of the greatest challenges to sustainable development. Neither development theory nor sustainability policy has adequately acknowledged surging global consumption. How do we best understand the changes behind the dramatic increase in consumption? Drawing on social practice theory as well as the political economy of capitalist development, this article analyses the social and environmental dimensions of increasing consumption in the South, using India and Vietnam as case studies.

Revisiting household energy rebound: Perspectives from a multidisciplinary study

In this paper, an interdisciplinary team of economists and anthropologists study the perplexing case of Norwegian households’ heat pump ownership. The heat pump is a technology that has the potential to reduce electricity consumption by up to 25% compared to conventional electric heating, but, as we demonstrate in this study, when taken into use it results in little or no change in electricity consumption. To explain this large rebound effect, we use a quantitative economic analysis combined with qualitative interviews attuned towards examining the effect of heat pumps on people’s everyday practices. We find that, on average, households with and without a heat pump use approximately the same amount of electricity. The main sources of rebound identified was higher indoor temperature and heated living space, less firewood and fuel oil use and less use of night-set-backs or reduced temperature while away from the home.

Wellbeing and Sustainable Consumption

This chapter challenges the apparent contradiction between wellbeing and ecological sustainability based on the non-satiation and individualist maximization assumptions in conventional economics. It focusses on sustainable consumption, first because consumption and wellbeing are intimately related and second because consumption in the rich and emerging countries is contributing to a number of serious environmental problems, including climate change. Evidence from wellbeing research suggests that the relationship between consumption and wellbeing is neither lineal nor positive, and that individual’s wellbeing is highly correlated with that of friends, family and the environment. This evidence supports a reconceptualization of the relationship between consumption and wellbeing that draws on an alternative approach that encompasses the social, economic, technological, natural and political contexts that support habitual behavior. Once the importance of habits is acknowledged, sustainability research and policy need to be rethought to investigate societal processes, such as the ones currently at work in transition towns, which have the potential to promote both wellbeing and the environment.

Changing patterns of air conditioning in Japan

Japanese air conditioning patterns have changed significantly over the past 30 years. The changes can be linked to increasing affluence and the consequent changes Japanese life patterns, but also to changes in the style and content of the Japanese dwelling. The advertising media has contributed to the changes by reshaping perceptions of what it is to be a modern Japanese family.