Exploring the Effectiveness of an Energy Efficiency Behaviour Change Project on Well-Being Outcomes for Indigenous Households in Australia
Abstract
:1. Introduction
- In what ways can a community-based social marketing program positively impact the energy efficiency outcomes for Indigenous households in a culturally suitable way?
- To what extent do home characteristics and household types influence Indigenous household responses to energy efficiency support programs?
2. Project Development and Conceptualisation
2.1. The Project
2.2. Social Marketing for Behaviour Change
2.3. Barriers to Improving Household Energy Efficiency
2.4. Project Conceptualization
2.4.1. Knowledge
2.4.2. Behaviour
2.4.3. Physical, Social, and Emotional Well-Being
2.5. Delivering Home Energy Visits in Indigenous Households
3. Data Collection and Analysis
3.1. Scale Validity and Reliability
3.2. Effectiveness of Home Visits
3.3. Respondent Groupings by Objective Characteristics (‘Home and Household Type’)
3.3.1. Home Characteristics-Based Grouping
- ‘Small modern homes’ (SMH)—consisted of 107 homes with 4 total rooms on average, falling into the smallest size category. Homes typically had modern features such as an evaporative cooling system and gas heating.
- ‘Small traditional apartments’ (STA)—consisted of 128 small apartments, typically with 4 rooms, fan cooling, no insulation, no typical heating, and blinds covering their windows.
- ‘Small traditional houses’ (STH)—consisted of 271 small houses, typically resembling the traditional Western brick style of the 1950–1960s, with 5 rooms per dwelling. Homes typically had a dark roof, ceiling insulation, gas heating, and no particular cooling.
- ‘Medium modern houses’ (MMH)—consisted of 172 homes that were medium-sized houses, with 5 rooms on average. Homes typically had gas heating, evaporative cooling, double glazed or tinted windows, curtains, and ceiling insulation.
- ‘Large traditional houses’ (LTH)—consisted of 71 large houses with 7 rooms on average. The windows were typically single glazed and there was no typical heating or cooling.
- ‘Large modern houses’ (LMH)—consisted of 50 large houses with blinds, dark roofs, ceiling insulation, gas heating, air conditioning systems, and with 8 rooms on average.
3.3.2. Household Characteristics-Based Grouping
- ‘Densely occupied households’ (DOH)—47 homes that housed an average of 6 people (4 children), with 2.1 people per bedroom and 5.7 people per bathroom.
- ‘Standard family households’ (SFH)—343 homes characterised by an average of 4 occupants (2 children), with 1.5 people per bedroom and 3.9 people per bathroom.
- ‘Empty nest households’ (ENH)—409 homes that housed an average of 2 occupants and no children, with 1 person per bedroom and 1.9 people per bathroom.
3.4. Analysis of the Differences in Effectiveness of Approaches
4. Discussion, Conclusions, and Limitations
Author Contributions
Funding
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
Appendix A
What do you think (or feel) about the following? 5-point scale from Not at all to Completely |
Are you willing to reduce your energy use? |
Do you find your energy bill confusing to understand? |
Are you clear about what “energy rating” stars mean? |
Are you unsure about specific ways to reduce your energy bill? |
Do you think heating uses more energy than all other appliances? |
Do you think reducing the thermostat by 1 degree makes any real difference? |
Do you know how to run appliances in the most efficient way? |
Are you relaxed about how much energy your household uses? (R) |
Are you worried about being able to pay your energy bill? |
Do you feel stressed when having guests because of the increase in your energy bill? |
Are you worried about being disconnected? |
How often have you… 5-point scale with response points Never, Almost Never, Sometimes, Often, Always |
Turned off the TV at the wall? |
Turned off lights when leaving a room at night? |
Shut the door when leaving a room that is heated or cooled? |
Adjusted the thermostat on heating or cooling to reduce your energy bill? |
Deliberately turned off appliances to reduce your bill? |
Has this affected you at night time? (e.g., having to turn off lights, TV) |
Felt discomfort in your home due to temperature? (too hot/too cold/drafts) |
Felt uncomfortable being home due to energy use? |
Helped out friends or family with their energy use? |
Felt your well-being at home affected by limiting your energy use? |
Appendix B
Classification Dimension | Schema-Data Variable(s) | Index Used |
---|---|---|
Dwelling age | DWELLING_AGE | Dichotomised (0–5, 5–9, etc.) |
Wall material | WALL_CONSTRUCTION | Dichotomised (brick, concrete, wood, other) |
Roof cover material | ROOFING | Dichotomised (tiles) |
Roof colour | ROOF_COLOUR | Dichotomised (dark, intermediate, light) |
Total number of rooms | BEDROOMS BATHROOMS LIVING_ROOMS | Total value of number of rooms |
Number of storeys | STORIES | Dichotomised (one, two, more) |
Window types | WINDOW_TYPES | Dichotomised (single glazed, double glazed and tinted) |
Window covers | WINDOW_COVERINGS | Dichotomised (blinds, curtains) |
Dwelling structure | STRUCTURE | Dichotomised (house, unit, other) |
Insulation location | INSULATION_LOCATION | Dichotomised (wall, floor, roof, hot water system) |
Heating type | HEATING_TYPE | Dichotomised (electric, gas, reverse-cycle appliance, other) |
Cooling type | COOLING_TYPE | Dichotomised (fan, evaporative, reverse cycle, cooling only) |
Appliance energy rating | ENERGY_RATING | Average score for all appliances reported on (number of energy rating stars) |
Appliance condition | APPLIANCE_CONDITION | Average score for all appliances reported on (1: poor to 5: excellent) |
Classification Dimension | Schema-Data Variable(s) | Index Used |
---|---|---|
Total number of occupants | NUM OCC AGE 0 9 NUM OCC AGE 10 19 NUM OCC AGE 20 29 NUM OCC AGE 30 39 NUM OCC AGE 40 49 NUM OCC AGE 50 59 NUM OCC AGE 60 69 NUM OCC AGE 70 79 NUM OCC AGE 80 89 NUM OCC AGE 90 99 NUM OCC AGE 100 | Sum of occupant numbers across age ranges |
Number of children (<20 years of age) | NUM OCC AGE 0 9 NUM OCC AGE 10 19 | Sum of occupants in these two age categories |
Bedroom use intensity | Total number of occupants/BEDROOMS | Average number of occupants per bedroom |
Bathroom use intensity | Total number of occupants/BATHROOMS | Average number of occupants per bathroom |
Tenure of occupancy | TENURE | Dichotomised (rented) |
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Main Barrier | Range of Barriers |
---|---|
Financial | Cost–benefit uncertainty Energy price Hidden costs Income Split incentives (between owner and tenant) |
Personal/ Behavioural | Trust (towards stakeholders) Acceptability (effort, comfort) Aesthetics (appliances and installations) Appearance (building design) Social norms Value–action gap |
Knowledge | Defaults (use of settings on appliances) Discounting the future (preference for early payoff) Lack of information (decisions made based on assumptions not fact) |
Policy | Regulatory (limits to personal energy efficiency choices) Uncertainty (unexpected change of circumstances) |
Asset | Access to capital (affordability of energy efficiency measures) Property value (not increased much by energy efficiency measures) Tenure (owner, tenant, etc.) |
Variance extracted: 67% Items | Factors | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
Behaviours | Stress | Discomfort | Competency | |
How often have you—Shut the door when leaving a room that is heated or cooled? | 0.89 | |||
How often have you—Turned off lights when leaving a room at night? | 0.76 | |||
How often have you—Deliberately turned off appliances to reduce your bill? | 0.74 | |||
How often have you—Adjusted the thermostat on heating or cooling to reduce your energy bill? | 0.52 | |||
Are you worried about being able to pay your energy bill? | 0.86 | |||
Are you worried about being disconnected? | 0.66 | |||
Do you feel stressed when having guests because of the increase in your energy bill? | 0.48 | |||
How often have you—Felt discomfort in your home due to temperature? (too hot/too cold/drafts) | 0.72 | |||
How often have you—Has this affected you at night time? (e.g., having to turn off lights, TV) | 0.67 | |||
How often have you—Felt uncomfortable being home due to energy use? | 0.61 | |||
How often have you—Felt your well-being at home affected by limiting your energy use? | 0.53 | |||
How often have you—Explained different parts of energy bills to others? | 0.91 | |||
How often have you—Helped out friends or family with their energy use? | 0.86 | |||
Do you find your energy bill confusing to understand? | −0.55 | |||
Cronbach’s Alpha | 0.81 | 0.74 | 0.74 | 0.71 |
N = 193 | Paired Differences | t | df | Significance (2-tailed) | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Mean Difference | Standard Deviation | Standard Error Mean | 95% C.I. of the Difference | |||||
Lower | Upper | |||||||
∆ Behaviour | 1.48 | 0.84 | 0.06 | 1.60 | 1.37 | 24.61 | 192 | 0 |
∆ Stress | −0.61 | 1.13 | 0.081 | –0.46 | −0.78 | −7.58 | 192 | 0 |
∆ Discomfort | −0.19 | 1.01 | 0.073 | −0.05 | −0.34 | −2.66 | 192 | 0.01 |
∆ Competency | 1.14 | 1.00 | 0.072 | 1.28 | 1.00 | 15.84 | 192 | 0 |
Effect (∆ = change) | N | ∆ Mean | Standard Deviation | Standard Error | 95% Confidence Interval | ∆ Minimum | ∆ Maximum | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Lower Bound | Upper Bound | ||||||||
∆ Stress | SMH | 38 | −0.15 | 0.94 | 0.15 | -0.46 | 0.16 | −2 | 2 |
STH | 35 | −1.14 | 1.02 | 0.17 | −1.50 | −0.79 | −3.33 | 1 | |
STA | 41 | −0.70 | 1.30 | 0.20 | −1.11 | −0.29 | −3.67 | 2.33 | |
LMH | 14 | −0.48 | 0.67 | 0.18 | −0.86 | −0.09 | −1.67 | 0.34 | |
MMH | 40 | −0.67 | 0.96 | 0.15 | −0.97 | −0.36 | −2.33 | 1.67 | |
LTH | 11 | 0.03 | 1.56 | 0.47 | −1.02 | 1.08 | −1 | 4 | |
Total | 179 | −0.60 | 1.12 | 0.08 | −0.76 | −0.43 | −3.67 | 4 | |
∆ Discomfort | SMH | 38 | 0.18 | 0.89 | 0.15 | −0.12 | 0.47 | −2.25 | 1.75 |
STH | 35 | −0.78 | 1.19 | 0.20 | −1.19 | −0.37 | −2.75 | 2.25 | |
STA | 41 | −0.39 | 0.95 | 0.15 | −0.69 | −0.09 | −2 | 1.75 | |
LMH | 14 | 0.02 | 0.86 | 0.23 | −0.48 | 0.51 | −1.25 | 2.25 | |
MMH | 40 | 0.09 | 0.92 | 0.14 | −0.21 | 0.38 | −1.75 | 3 | |
LTH | 11 | 0.07 | 0.66 | 0.20 | −0.38 | 0.51 | −1.25 | 0.75 | |
Total | 179 | −0.18 | 1.02 | 0.076 | −0.33 | −0.03 | −2.75 | 3 |
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Share and Cite
Perényi, Á.; Bedggood, R.E.; Meyer, D.; Bedggood, P.; Farquharson, K.; Johansson, C.; Milgate, G. Exploring the Effectiveness of an Energy Efficiency Behaviour Change Project on Well-Being Outcomes for Indigenous Households in Australia. Sustainability 2019, 11, 2285. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11082285
Perényi Á, Bedggood RE, Meyer D, Bedggood P, Farquharson K, Johansson C, Milgate G. Exploring the Effectiveness of an Energy Efficiency Behaviour Change Project on Well-Being Outcomes for Indigenous Households in Australia. Sustainability. 2019; 11(8):2285. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11082285
Chicago/Turabian StylePerényi, Áron, Rowan E. Bedggood, Denny Meyer, Phillip Bedggood, Karen Farquharson, Clare Johansson, and Gina Milgate. 2019. "Exploring the Effectiveness of an Energy Efficiency Behaviour Change Project on Well-Being Outcomes for Indigenous Households in Australia" Sustainability 11, no. 8: 2285. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11082285