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Top1. Introduction
Household energy-saving measures have been a hot topic in the last four decades. Early interest in the topic was due to the oil crises and energy shortage, due to global warming. The behaviours of individuals and households have a major and cumulative impact on the ecology and sustainable development (Verplanken, 2017). For energy savings, households are a substantial target group. They are responsible for 15-20% of total energy requirements. There are two ways households can consume energy. One way is direct energy usage such as electricity, natural gas and other fossil fuels. Other is indirect, which refers to the energy used for production, transportation and disposal of goods and services (Steg, 2008). Due to the importance of topic there has been a number of studies on household energy savings (Abrahamse, Steg, Vlek, & Rothengatter, 2005; Barr, Gilg, & Ford, 2005; Dieu-Hang, Grafton, Martínez-Espiñeira, & Garcia-Valiñas, 2017; Johnson, Horton, Mulcahy, & Foth, 2017; Poortinga, Steg, Vlek, & Wiersma, 2003; Steg, 2008; Verplanken, 2017).
Previous studies, have addressed several aspects of household energy savings: 1) Antecedents interventions to promote household energy conservation behaviour (Abrahamse et al., 2005; Brandon & Lewis, 1999; Steg, 2008); 2) Consequence interventions of household energy saving behaviour (Abrahamse, Steg, Vlek, & Rothengatter, 2007; Dietz, Gardner, Gilligan, Stern, & Vandenbergh, 2009); 3) Household energy gap (Barr et al., 2005); 4) Dimensions of household energy conservation (Karlin et al., 2014; Lopes, Antunes, & Martins, 2015; Urban & Ščasný, 2016); 5) Household energy behaviours (Boudet, Flora, & Armel, 2016; Gadenne, Sharma, Kerr, & Smith, 2011); 6) Social norms and Household energy-saving behaviour (Allcott, 2011; Frederiks, Stenner, & Hobman, 2015).However, in addition, household energy-saving measures encompasses several unexplored dimensions that have attracted attention recently. To cite an example, the economy is the most important reason for people indulging in energy-saving measures, followed by comfort and at last environmental concern (Aravena, Riquelme, & Denny, 2016). Despite many empirical studies, a key knowledge gap remains as regards to the determinants of household energy consumption (Dieu-Hang et al., 2017).
Household energy is a dynamic concept and needs further investigation about the changing nature. An investigation about the changes in household energy saving measures for the last ten years becomes perennial to further understand and enrich the body of knowledge. The very little study is done on the changes in household energy saving measures. In this study, we extend the research on household energy saving measures by addressing the gap in extant literature in understanding the changing paradigm of household energy-saving measures in a decade. Household energy-saving measures are broadly delineated into- a) Indoor (Home based energy-saving measures) and b) Outdoor (Transport based energy-saving measures) (Poortinga et al., 2003). The distinction between homebased and outdoor based energy saving measures are based on sojourning of space(indoors) and bridging of space (outdoors). Both the activities require energy. For example, indoor energy use is energy used inside the house e.g. air conditioners, lighting, household appliances. The outdoors activities are basically transportation for example, for work, leisure etc. The indoor and outdoor energy saving measures have different consequences on the people’s quality of life. Therefore, the acceptance of energy saving measures by people will also change. This study investigates the impact of the changes on both home-based and transport-based energy-saving measures over a period. In addition, it will also investigate the percentage of money spent on these energy-saving activities.