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Consumers' Behavioral Economics in Energy Transition

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A special issue of Energies (ISSN 1996-1073). This special issue belongs to the section "C: Energy Economics and Policy".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 September 2022) | Viewed by 14576

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Özgür Yildiz

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Guest Editor

Department for Environmental Economics and Economic Policy, Technische Universität Berlin, Straße des 17. Juni 135, 10623 Berlin, Germany
Interests: behavioral economics; environmental economics; energy policy; renewable energy; energy cooperatives; energy finance

Prof. Dr. Reimund Schwarze

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Department of Economics, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), Permoserstraße 15, 04318 Leipzig, Germany
Interests: environmental economics; behavioral economics; sustainability; international climate policy

Dr. Gabriela Michalek

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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The successful transformation of the energy sector depends not only on the successful development and implementation of sustainable energy technologies but also on changes to consumer energy behavior. Consumer behavior is complex and difficult to capture in traditional economic theories of decision making. Accordingly, a behavioral economics perspective on consumer behavior in the energy transition contributes to a deeper understanding of energy consumption and more effective behavioral interventions.

In order to better understand sustainable consumption, several topics across scientific disciplines deserve more in-depth exploration. These topics include the identification of behaviors that need to be changed (e.g., the adoption of sustainable energy sources and energy-efficient technology, investments in energy efficiency measures, co-ownership in renewable energy), factors that underlie energy-related behavior (e.g., knowledge, motivation, and contextual elements), the design of behavioral interventions to promote sustainable energy consumption, and the effectivity of behavioral interventions in general.

This Special Issue addresses these topics and aims at investigating consumers’ behavioral economics in energy transition. Topics of interest for publication include but are not limited to:

Analysis and systemization of factors that influence energy consumption;
Analysis and systemization of factors that influence investment decisions (e.g., in energy efficiency measures, energy infrastructure);
Differences in energy-related behavior depending on the decision environment (e.g., home vs. work);
Analysis of energy-related behavior from a neoclassical and behavioral economics perspective;
Analysis of the design and functionality of technical devices (e.g., smart meters) from a behavioral economics perspective;
Analysis of energy-related behavior and the political context for behavioral interventions;
Nudging and boosting strategies to promote energy behaviors ;
Role changes of end-users in the energy system (e.g., from passive consumers to active prosumers);
Business models promoting role changes of end-users and changing consumption patterns in the context of these business models;
The role of community participation, in particular citizen capital participation, for community-wide energy transition and facilitating sustainable development.

Dr. Özgür Yildiz
Prof. Dr. Reimund Schwarze
Dr. Gabriela Michalek
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

Behavioral economics
Consumer behavior
Sustainable behavior
Decision making
Energy consumption
Behavioral interventions
Nudging
Boosting
Demand-side management
Demand flexibility
Sustainable energy transition
Energy efficiency
Energy finance
Citizen participation
Energy cooperatives
Community energy

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

19 pages, 1229 KiB

Open AccessArticle

by Shucai Bai, Fangyi Li and Wu Xie

Energies 2022, 15(7), 2464; https://doi.org/10.3390/en15072464 - 27 Mar 2022

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1982

Abstract

Consumers are always influenced by external information before making decisions to purchase energy-saving electric appliances. However, the effects of different information sources are overlooked by previous studies. As a kind of green and safe appliance, the Heat Pump Water Heater (HPWH) is expected to be popular in the Chinese market. This study, based on an investigation in eastern China, will reveal the attitudes of potential consumers to HPWHs and verify the effects of different information sources. The results show that official information (Information from enterprises and governments) can arouse consumers’ positive attitudes toward HPWHs, yet can significantly reduce perceived usefulness among consumers, while unofficial information (Information from relatives and friends) negatively affects their attitudes. Although HPWHs are billed as energy-saving and eco-friendly appliances, consumers can obtain different information from online or offline interpersonal communications to obtain user feedback (which might be negative) before purchase. Some suggestions are proposed to promote energy-saving appliances. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Consumers' Behavioral Economics in Energy Transition)

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17 pages, 340 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Does Energy Community Membership Change Sustainable Attitudes and Behavioral Patterns? Empirical Evidence from Community Wind Energy in Germany

by Jörg Radtke, Özgür Yildiz and Lucas Roth

Energies 2022, 15(3), 822; https://doi.org/10.3390/en15030822 - 24 Jan 2022

Cited by 11 | Viewed by 2832

Abstract

Community energy is seen as a helping hand for local, decentralized energy transition. Besides the main goal of supporting the community-friendly and socially acceptable development of renewable energies, the hope is also that a pro-environmental influence on sustainability behavior will be triggered when joining a community energy project. An analysis of a survey among 16 community energy projects in Germany, with 565 completed questionnaires, shows that a certain part of the members pays more attention to their energy behavior and develop a more positive attitude towards a decentralized energy transition and citizen participation after joining the community energy project. Therefore, we can empirically support that climate protection projects, such as community energy, influence pro-environmental attitudes and behavior, but this does not apply equally to all population groups. Members with higher income and stronger interest in returns are less likely to change their behavior. Based on these findings, we recommend the development of community energy policies that are more responsive to differences in social structure and address both privileged and underprivileged groups in a sophisticated way using specific offers and modes of involvement within the associations. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Consumers' Behavioral Economics in Energy Transition)

38 pages, 7418 KiB

Open AccessArticle

An Empirical Study of How Household Energy Consumption Is Affected by Co-Owning Different Technological Means to Produce Renewable Energy and the Production Purpose

by Lucas Roth, Jens Lowitzsch and Özgür Yildiz

Energies 2021, 14(13), 3996; https://doi.org/10.3390/en14133996 - 2 Jul 2021

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2139

Abstract

The transition from fossil fuel-based to renewable energy sources is one of the main economic and social challenges of the early 21st century. Due to the volatile character of wind and solar power production, matching supply and demand is essential for this transition to be successful. In this context, the willingness of private consumers to use energy flexibly has gained growing attention. Research indicates that a viable driver to motivate consumers to be demand flexible is to make them (co-)owners of renewable energy production facilities. However, existing research has only analyzed this question from an aggregated perspective. This article analyses whether behavioral changes triggered by (co-)ownership in renewables differ according to the type of installation; be it solar, wind, or bioenergy. In addition, the prosumption options self-consumption/self-consumption and sale/sale are considered. To do so, we collected 2074 completed questionnaires on energy consumption that entered an econometric model using propensity score matching to control for estimation biases. We find significant differences in the willingness to consume electricity in a flexible manner for (co-)owners of solar installations. However, only the usage of household appliances proves to be statistically significant (p-value = 0.04). Furthermore, the results show that within the group of (co-)owners of solar installation, the choice between self-consumption and sale of the produced energy has a significant effect on the inclination to become demand flexible (p-value ≤ 0.001; p-value = 0.003). Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Consumers' Behavioral Economics in Energy Transition)

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30 pages, 3517 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Households Behaviour towards Sustainable Energy Management in Poland—The Homo Energeticus Concept as a New Behaviour Pattern in Sustainable Economics

by Alicja Małgorzata Graczyk

Energies 2021, 14(11), 3142; https://doi.org/10.3390/en14113142 - 27 May 2021

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2175

Abstract

The presented article belongs to the research school of sustainable development economics as a relatively new science discipline within the broader area of heterodox economics. This paper is based on literature studies of homo concepts in economics, sociology and psychology. It identifies a research gap in sustainable economics, especially in sustainable energy management, formulating a novel concept of an economic man involved in energy management called homo energeticus. Homo energeticus concept is verified by empirical evidence at a local level-quantitative research conducted on a sample of 500 households in Lower Silesia region in Poland. The research’s first objective is to build the original author’s methodology on which the shift patterns from homo oeconomicus (neoclassical economics) to homo sustinens (sustainable economics) may be presented and may be used by scientists worldwide. After preparing a method for identifying concept, the second goal is to identify and describe the new concept of behaviour. The main conclusions are the sustainable behavioural pattern is dominating trend observed among households’ local energy management (homo energeticus). The homo energeticus behaviour was confirmed by every third respondent (critical threshold of 70%) or less restrictive and sustainable behaviour model homo sustinens (critical threshold of 50%) by more than 91.8% of whole respondents. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Consumers' Behavioral Economics in Energy Transition)

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13 pages, 713 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Attitudes and Behaviors Regarding Environmental Protection in the Financial Decisions of Individual Consumers

by Damian Walczak, Leszek Dziawgo, Danuta Dziawgo, Michał Buszko, Jarosław Pawłowski, Agnieszka Żołądkiewicz-Kuzioła and Dorota Krupa

Energies 2021, 14(7), 1934; https://doi.org/10.3390/en14071934 - 31 Mar 2021

Cited by 12 | Viewed by 3189

Abstract

Insufficient environment protection may have serious ecological consequences, resulting in a number of problems in the modern world, many of which are a direct result of human behavior. Therefore, one needs to limit negative ecological effects by consciously shaping environment-related behaviors. The present paper analyzes the declared attitudes of individuals when it comes to taking into consideration pro-environmental factors, including energy, consumption, and waste. We have also studied the social awareness of the socially responsible investment idea, as well as pro-ecological individual behaviors related to private finance. Our survey study, conducted on a representative sample of 1030 Polish respondents, shows that participants’ individual features have little impact on pro-ecological decisions, and that declared pro-ecological attitudes are not reflected in actual behaviors. Polish consumers are still not active enough in making decisions concerning pro-ecological actions, first of all, in terms of energy and waste. As a result of the conducted research, we suggest increasing all activities in the field of environmental policy that could increase the participation of society in facilitating sustainable development. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Consumers' Behavioral Economics in Energy Transition)

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