Loren Lutzenhiser

A cultural model of household energy consumption

In this paper, we consider the development of demand-side research, from an early interest in conservation behavior to a later focus on physical, economic, psychological and social models of energy consumption. Unfortunately, none of these models account satisfactorily for measured energy consumption in the residential sector. Growing interest in the end-uses of energy (e.g. in support of load forecasting, demand-side management and least-cost utility planning), increasing international studies of energy use, and continuing work in the energy and lifestyles research tradition now support an emerging cultural perspective on household energy use. The ecological foundations of the cultural model and its applications in energy research are discussed, along with some of the analytic consequences of this approach.

The Legacy of Twenty Years of Energy Demand Management: we know more about Individual Behaviour but next to Nothing about Demand

Our intention in the paper has been to explore a new approach to the science of energy demand: one which adequately accounts for the actors, institutions and networks which contribute to change; which re-envisions the object of inquiry as the services which energy provides; and which is equipped to understand change. This new approach would not obviate the individual, nor research intended to track changes in how individual consumers think and act; it would, however, recast demand as the result of interactions in the social, cultural and technical contexts in which individual lives are played out.

Economic Sociology and the Social Problem of Energy Inefficiency

The rebirth of economic sociology in the last decades of the 20th century was largely about intellectual identity formation and developing theoretical foundations. The authors argue that economic sociology is poised to make a contribution to the understanding and solution of social problems. They use the example of energy inefficiency in the commercial buildings industry to suggest that economic sociology offers useful alternatives to current economic-based policy analyses.

Social Stratification and Environmental Degradation: Understanding Household CO2 Production

Arguing against the economic model of consumer sovereignty that is assumed in policy discourse concerning the environmental effects of consumer demand, this analysis explores the social origins of one consumption-based environmental problem (greenhouse gas emissions), and considers the social impact of carbon tax proposals aimed at slowing global warming. It uses data on household-level energy consumption in California to show patterned variation in energy use and carbon emissions among households. This variation is accounted for by social class and life cycle differences in housing, appliances, travel, and lifestyle—the cultural expressions of a materialized social structure. A comparison of the economic impact of alternative carbon tax proposals shows that tax rates designed to significantly reduce global emissions would also differentially increase energy costs, with regressive effects upon low- and moderate-income households. Despite the possibility of compensating energy subsidies, caveats are offered based on the history of federally funded low-income energy assistance programs in the United States. Carbon taxes are not simple substitutes for social class and life cycle-appropriate policies designed to: (1) equitably increase the efficiency of housing and household technology, (2) reshape residential settlement patterns, and (3) fundamentally improve the transportation system in the United States.

A theory-based approach to market transformation

Abstract Market transformation (MT) programs face numerous challenges in identifying targets, understanding markets, and intervening effectively in them. Traditional energy efficiency program approaches generally lack the tools necessary to meet those challenges. New energy market realities and new public good roles for government will require more sophisticated forms of MT that focus on markets rather than end users. One such approach, being developed by the California Energy Commission, stresses the importance of theory-based MT, with tight linkages between existing theory, program design, empirical testing of crucial assumptions, evaluation, and theory development. Feedback and iterative learning are involved at all stages. Because a clear understanding of market dynamics is crucial to this approach, multidisciplinary research plays a key role.

Innovation and organizational networks Barriers to energy efficiency in the US housing industry

Abstract Models that assume optimizing consumers and rational firms fail to account for market resistance to cost-effective energy-efficiency improvements. This paper looks for clues in social science research on organizations and technology change. An alternative model derived from those literatures is proposed which focuses on the role of organizational networks in shaping and constraining innovation. This perspective is applied to data from a study of residential cooling, in which we find that producer networks routinely limit technology transfer in a variety of ways. Some of the influences of market factors, industry structure, technical knowledge and ancillary network actors (eg architects, appraisers, realtors, lenders, utility managers and code officials) are explored. Non-energy developments that are likely to influence future energy-efficiency choices in these systems are also considered, and research and policy recommendations are offered.

Social Structures and Economic Conduct: Interpreting Variations in Household Energy Consumption

The consumption of natural resources is rapidly emerging as a major social problem, and social efforts to control this consumption are guided in part by research that tries to specify the meaning of resources to consumers. This paper compares a sociological perspective with the more widespread economic model of consumption, using data from study of billing systems, sociocultural status, and household energy use in a California apartment complex. The research suggests that the role of marginal price in ordering consumption can be interpreted as a contingent feature of the socially structured relationship between consumption and social status. It also suggests that the utility of a technology is a secondary and emergent product of its use, a fact obscured by the conventional analytic separation of supply and demand or means and ends.

A question of control: alternative patterns of room air-conditioner use

Abstract A study of room air-conditioner use in 279 California apartments discovered distinct manual and automatic patterns of control, with most users opting for a manual control strategy. Manual control seems to be an effective alternative to the thermostatic control intended by the manufacturer. Users of both strategies are sometimes guided by theories of air-conditioner operation and control that are not in agreement with engineering accounts of the machines design. When various control strategies are compared, we find that most fit quite well with user experience - although some may result in cooling outcomes and energy costs that users do not intend. The energy consumption levels resulting from competing approaches are also compared, and the research and policy implications of the analysis are considered.

Contracting knowledge: the organizational limits to interdisciplinary energy efficiency research and development in the US and the UK

Abstract Comparison of the organization and management of government funded energy efficiency research and development in the United States and the United Kingdom reveals a number of common features as well as some important differences. The UK pattern is one of centralized agenda-setting and competition in which rival research contractors bid for small, pre-determined, “bite-sized” pieces of work. By contrast, the US approach involves complex negotiations between federal energy and environmental policy agencies and semi-entrepreneurial national laboratories. How do these differing research environments influence the knowledge we have of energy efficiency? How do these organizational features affect the shaping of research agendas, the definition of research problems and the management and dissemination of resulting expertise? More specifically, what consequences do these arrangements have for the conduct of needed social science studies within this conventionally technical field? In exploring these questions, the paper identifies a variety of ways in which opportunities for inter-disciplinarity are inadvertently structured by the mechanics of research management.

The Contours of U.S. Climate Non-Policy

Nearly a decade after the Rio summit and 3 years after the signing the Kyoto Protocol, the United States is without a climate policy. Contentious debate focuses on the costs and fairness of various policy options to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The previous Federal Administration had proposed three primary market-based technology-centered climate policy approaches. Two of these (global emissions trading and electric utility deregulation) are untested in this context and are effectively stalled. The third (energy efficiency research and development) proposed to expand efforts that have met with mixed success in the past. After reviewing the current state of U.S. climate policy deliberations, this article considers these three approaches in detail. While none is realistic in its present form, each can serve as a basis for future climate policy development in a more congenial political climate, and with a broader range of policy options and interested actors involved.