Energy Efficiency: The Problem and its Significance

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Values and Behaviour

To obtain a better understanding of what guides energy efficient behaviour, the Foundation for Research Science and Technology issued a call for research to understand underlying personal values and their role in shaping demand. The first stage of the Energy Cultures project was therefore to investigate the relationship between a wide range of personal values and a selection of energy-related behaviours in the home. While there is extensive literature from many different perspectives on consumer behaviour and energy use,41 there is a limited understanding of how energy consumption is related to underlying values. To investigate in depth the way in which values may be related to energy saving behaviours, ‘laddering’ methods were used, which have been developed to identify means-ends chains.42
In laddering only the relevant behaviours are predefined in the research and the values are uncovered by repeated questioning about why particular things are done or are seen to be important. The behaviour (i.e. the means to the end) is first described by the respondent who is then probed as to why they behave in that way. This normally uncovers some conscious rationalisation of the behaviour. This rationalisation is then probed as to why it is important to the individual. The underlying reasons, where a respondent can genuinely articulate them, can be associated with their fundamental underlying values.
Residents in three communities – Pakuranga, Cambridge and North-East Valley in Dunedin – were contacted by randomly selecting numbers from the telephone directory. Another survey was conducted in Thorndon and Wadestown, Wellington.43 A handful of respondents were also recruited by recommendation from interviews on the basis that they would be interested in the study. The three locations were selected because of contrasting climates, housing stock and socio-economic criteria. For the discussions with respondents, the researchers selected twentytwo separate energy practices and/or material culture purchase options that could be undertaken to reduce energy consumption in the home.44
Research results show that the links between behaviour and rationalisations are generally much stronger than the links between behaviour and values. There are many instances where an underlying value for a behaviour cannot be identified. Often there is also no consistent relationship between values and energy behaviours; for example the same value related to capability was identified as underpinning both a willingness to install double glazing and a refusal to install doubleglazing. Different contexts and different rationalisations commonly result in weak and inconsistent relationships between values and behaviour. Different values can underlie the same behaviour; the same value can underlie different and opposing behaviours; and the same values can be connected to the same behaviours but for different reasons (as articulated in respondents’ rationalisations).

Energy Behaviour Change

This section draws from the results of the household survey, focus groups and social network analysis50 (research projects 2, 6 and 7 as listed in Table 2) and discusses the factors involved when households make a change to their space heating. In these parts of the research programme the research team was interested in people’s reported experiences of the change process, particularly in relation to what had helped or hindered them in making the change.
It was evident from the household surveys (Project 2, Table 2) that there is already a great deal of heating-related change occurring in households. In the previous year, 16% had changed some aspect of insulation, and 12% reported that they had changed their main heating method (of these, 44% had changed to heat pumps). We did not analyse the causes for this change in the research, but the existence of WUNZ subsidies during this period is likely to be at least a partial influence.
Despite this level of change, there is still a long way to go to improve New Zealand’s housing stock, and as the focus group participants (Project 6, Table 2) reported, change can be exceedingly complicated, expensive and often daunting. Reviewing the transcipts, the participants’ experiences of the change process could be grouped into (a) the development of the desire to change, (b) choosing what to change to, and (c) implementing the change. These stages are described below.

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The desire to change

The desire to change arose out of both drivers and attractors. Drivers included such things as technology breakdowns, health issues related to existing heating systems (e.g. asthma), high running costs, inefficiency, operational difficultues, and poor fit with aspirations (e.g. aesthetics, comfort). Attractors included such things as anticipated levels of warmth, dryness and comfort, preference for the practices relating to new heating system (e.g. press-button controls), better fit with values (e.g. using renewable resources), and anticipated return on investment through lower running costs or on later sale of house.
While each household had distinct circumstances that led to a change, some points of commonality included experiencing a house that had had a similar change and thus having a point of comparison, and/or having the encouragement of family or friends. Many participants had a good basic understanding of what constituted an energy-efficient heating system, some mentioning the Energy Spot campaign in this regard, but others referring to other sources of information including their own social networks.

1. Executive Summary .
2. Energy Efficiency: The Problem and its Significance
3. New Zealand Policy Framework for Energy Efficiency
4. The Energy Cultures Research Projec
4.1 Energy Cultures Framework
4.2 Research Projects and Methods Used
5. Research Results and Implications
5.1 Values and Behaviour
5.2 Energy Behaviour Change
5.3 Energy Cultures or Clusters
5.4 Understanding Consumer Choice
5.5 Minimum Energy Performance Standards (MEPS) Research
5.6 Energy-Efficient Water Heating
5.7 Legal and Regulatory Research
6. Conclusions