VaasaEtt Global Energy Think Tank » Energy Efficiency

European Energy Consumer Attitudes and Company Strategies towards the Low Carbon Society

Philip — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 21:59:16 +0000

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Interest in CR (corporate responsibility) has grown due to a variety of factors such as worsening global environmental problems, growing consumer concern for moral issues, and the publication of social responsibility standards by ISO. Environmental problems are a key theme of CR. The EU is actively working to counter the global warming problem. It is expected that energy companies, who account for a major percentage of greenhouse gas emissions, will play a critical role in addressing the problem. This research first looked at European and American companies, showing the significance of and promotion systems for CR based on a questionnaire survey of 150 European and 121 North American companies. It was confirmed that European companies are more advanced in areas such as “declaration to participate in the UN Global Compact” and “CO2 reduction targets have been set for each business site.” In-depth interviews were then conducted with 12 European energy companies. These interviews found that climate change and low carbon strategy issues are the concern and responsibility of a wide variety of staff in the business. It was also revealed that energy companies are driven by many motives such as CR and corporate image, etc. in their move towards climate problems and low carbon strategies. Companies also increasingly understand that regardless of their strategies and planned offerings, efficient consumer segmentation and customization will be the key to a successful outcome, as will effective cross-industry partnerships in the area of technological development. Investigation into recent European low carbon attitudes and behaviour further showed that such attitudes and behaviour are driven by not only environmental considerations, but also self-interested considerations of health, lifestyle, taste, quality, self-perceptions and the way consumers wanted others to see them to a larger extent. The research consequently indicates that the achievement of corporate responsibility objectives rests on the result of managerial, market and consumer related issues.

The Benefits of Information on the Efficient Usage of Consumer Durables: Experimental Evidence Concerning Residential Energy Conservation

Sean — Wed, 12 May 2010 14:43:56 +0000

This paper attempts to measure the benefits of information about efficient usage of electric appliances consumers receive through energy conservation, using data from a Japanese experiment. In the experiment, households could easily obtain information on how to achieve efficient usage of electric appliances through a display installed at their residence. The data were used to estimate a utility-consistent, discrete-continuous model of display usage and electricity demand. Full information maximum likelihood estimates of a tranlsog indirect utility function and electricity cost share function indicate that information provision contributed to energy conservation and to welfare improvements of consumers in the experiment.

An Evaluation of a Promotional Campaign By the ESB, Offering Energy-Saving Devices to Night-Saver Electricity Customers

Sean — Wed, 12 May 2010 13:01:59 +0000

This paper deals with a promotion made by the ESB in 1993, aimed at customers who were using night-saver electricity (both domestic and dairy farmers). They were offered a number of devices at subsidized prices, most of which had an energy saving element.

Teaching Homes To Be Green: Smart Homes and the Environment

Sean — Tue, 11 May 2010 08:40:33 +0000

Smart homes crop up far more in conversations about the latest gadgets than they do when talking about energy saving or environmental benefits. But as well as having a place in the futuristic new homes imagined by science fiction, smart technology may help to lower the environmental impact of the homes we live in today. With energy efficiency becoming an increasing preoccupation, smart technology’s potential to help will be just as welcome as its ability to make our lives easier. The government aims to reduce UK carbon dioxide emissions to 60 per cent below 1990 levels by 2050. The domestic sector is responsible for 27 per cent of the UK’s emissions, so it is vital that its environmental impacts are addressed as a key contribution to meeting the overall target.1 Ambitious plans are in place to improve the sustainability of new homes, but improving the environmental performance of existing ones will be more difficult. Three quarters of the 2050 housing stock is already standing and addressing its environmental impact is as important, if not more so, than improving the sustainability of new homes. But existing homes present greater challenges. Forty three per cent of them have features that are difficult to treat from an energy efficiency point of view, such as solids walls, and even measures that achieve significant improvements have diminishing returns.2 Will making homes smarter be the solution? To answer that question, this report looks at smart features and the impressive claims made about their energy and resource savings. Some companies already promote the environmental benefits of smart features but the area is still relatively unexplored and many claims vary greatly or are hard to verify. This report provides an overview of relevant smart features and explores the nature and extent of their environmental benefits. It is clear that there are questions to be answered before smart features can be meaningfully incorporated into policy mechanisms that aim to improve the environmental impact of homes. But it is equally clear that smart features do have a role to play in improving the performance of homes and there are already grounds for seeing them as a useful addition to the range of options on offer. With this in mind, the second half of the report makes recommendations for action. The first recommendation acknowledges the need for a robust evidence base and calls for the government to recognise the environmental potential of smart features and support research to better understand their benefits. Once that is in place, there are various existing policy mechanisms that can support smart features. The report explores these different mechanisms and the changes that are needed in order for them to recognise and promote the environmental benefits of smart features. Some smart homes will be the kind imagined by the technology industry, with an extensive home network and a raft of intelligent appliances. But meeting the UK’s carbon emission targets requires us to tackle the environmental performance of the draughty, inefficiently heated homes that we live in today. Smart features may have a significant role to play in this decidedly un-futuristic setting and this report aims to shed some light on what that role will be.