Sustainable Change, Behaviour Change and its Drivers at the Household Level

Tuesday 23 June 2009 1300-1400, 45b AZ 04

University of Surrey

Vincent Carragher, Bernadette O’Regan and Richard MolesCentre for Environmental Research, University of Limerick, Limerick,

IrelandEmail: vincent.carragher@ul.ie, vcarragher@tea.ie

So, despite the fact that household appliances have become more energy efficient, the increase in the amount and the use of these appliances nullifies this positive effect.

Abrahamse et al, 2003.

RE & efficiency

Sufficiency

For instance, when the CFL bulb was introduced, it appeared that people who used these light bulbs left their lights on for longer periods of time,

and installed additional lights (Steg & Tertoolen, 1997). Similar trends have

been recorded with installation of insulation in which occupants used the savings benefit to increase their

thermal comfort further. Hence, overall energy use did not decrease.

Energy Reduction Strategies in the household context & Sufficiency

Strategies

The Power of One Campaign

Change.ie

Energyneighbourhoods project

Transition towns

MOBENAW

Community-based EF survey ERB, behavioural antecedents and potential drivers

Productive paradigms for future ERB change

Talk Topics Community

Level

Vast Array of CommunitiesSpatialPopulationPhysicalFunctionalResidentialOfficeFactory FloorSchoolUniversity

A group of people connected through common interest

Noted in CER research in over 80 communities. Examples1) Single Person household using 3,500 Litres of Oil

annually. Four person household using 1000 Litres of Oil annually. Energy, Food, Waste, Transport & Water

2) Benchmarks and experience of EEBP Program in the UK show interalia offices, colleges, schools diverse quantities of consumption

In summary communities and their individuals differ

Within Communities Vastly Different Individual

Consumptions

The Power of One Campaign Ireland's national energy efficiency and sufficiency awareness campaign - was launched in September 2006. Power of One is an ongoing multi-media campaign featuring television, radio, press, outdoor and online messaging, together with sponsorship of selected events, press briefings, media appearances etc. Dedicated websites - and significant online presence through social networking websites are key features of the campaign. Program has included 2 phases and a total of 13 families The campaign objectives include:Building awareness on types of sources of energy, their costs and environmental impacts. Raising awareness of the impact that inefficient energy use has on driving up costs and economic and environmental impacts. Informing and empowering home, business and sectoral users on best practice energy savings. Claims average 20% saving with no continuous monitoring thereafter.Complementing existing programmes. The success of the campaign, in particular the strength of its engagement via the internet, was recognised in the E-Government Awards 2008 with the Department winning the Best Marketing Website category. www.powerofone.ie

Change

In April 2008, the Minister for the Environment, Heritage & Local Government, Mr. John Gormley, T.D., launched the consumer communication aspect of the Government’s climate change campaign. The “Change” campaign has two key and overriding imperatives; firstly to change how people in Ireland think about climate change, and secondly to encourage everyone to change how they behave. The communications campaign includes a comprehensive website, www.change.ie, a lo-call information line, 1890-242 643, and advertising, all of which are backed up by an extensive stakeholder engagement process that is working with all of the sectors to change behaviour and reduce Ireland’s greenhouse gas emissions with a view to halting climate change.

Online calculator ands its difficult to assess the impact of this – unit less

IEE EN TEA Energy Neighbourhood is about communities working together to save energy through efficiency and sufficiency measures. The benchmark for energy saving is 8% compared with the previous years consumption. Project originated in Belgium and all neighbourhoods achieving at least 8% will receive a reward with the top neighbourhoods going to Brussels. Energy saving calculation is based on meter readings and using a user friendly web based tool www.energyneighbourhoods.eu/ie. This website will host :1. All the data from participating neighbourhoods2. Useful material available to download and 3. A forum The achievements will serve to inspire and motivate others to take action, and the methods used to achieve energy savings should present some interesting and replicable ideas. At the end of the project, a local climate debate will be organized and set up to allow participants and their host organizations to discuss openly the issues facing communities around energy use and climate change, and to see what else can be achieved.

EN 1 EN 2 EN 3 EN 4 EN 5 EN 6

Energy Neighbourhoods Town Council

EN 7 EN 8 EN 9 EN 10 EN 11 EN 12

Organise & manage Master576 Houses

EN-Energy Neighbourhood

EN

IEE EN TEA

Rank Neighbourhood Total % change kWh saved CO2 tonnes1 St Ailbes Staff Tipperary Town -17 12944 8.025

2 Cluan Glas Thurles -10 3993 2.476

3 Monastery Primary School Tipperary Town -8 4021 2.493

4 Our Lady of Mercy Primary School in cahir -8 2210 1.370

5 Nenagh Town Council -7 2488 1.543

6 Craft Granary Cahir -5 2098 1.301

7 Emily Tidy Towns -4 703 0.436

8 StAilbe’s Pupils Tipperary Town -3 866 0.537

9 Knockanrawley FRC Tipperary Town -2 651 0.404

10 Ursuline Secondary School Thurles -1 140 0.087

11 TEA Board of Management cahir +8 +3793 +2.352

12 ABC Gardeners Tipperary Town +10 +2192 +1.359

13 Cahir Farm Relief Service +24 +7480 +4.638

14 Cahir Area Office +39 +12374 +7.672

15 Hazelwood, Thurles -11* 1687 1.046

IEE EN TEA

St A

ilbes

Sta

ff

Clua

n Gl

as

Mon

aste

ry p

rimar

y sc

hool

Our

lady

of M

ercy

prim

ary

scho

ol

Nena

gh T

own

Coun

cil

Craft

Gra

nary

Emily

Tid

y To

wns

StAi

lbe’

s pup

ils

Knoc

kanr

awle

y FR

C

Ursu

line

seco

ndar

y sc

hool

-18%

-16%

-14%

-12%

-10%

-8%

-6%

-4%

-2%

0%

Final results saving % per neighbourhood- IRELAND

Series1

IEE EN TEA

Germany, Ireland, Italy and France in broad agreement

Behaviour change and related savings in the region 15 to 20% possible

Spain savings of 60%

No monitoring or survey type assessment of behaviour change

This project will establish a scheme to motivate staff in the workplace to save energy whereby their company will agree to donate a proportion of the energy cost savings to a charity selected by the staff.

MOBENAW Donate Your Energy

MOBENAW Donate Your Energy

Overview: • The program involves Tipperary Energy Agency working with the site

(Facilities/EHS/IT/Production) on two energy conservation programs which save energy and encourage employee participation and energy awareness. In return the site has committed to donating a percentage (20%) of the energy savings made directly from the 2 programs to a local charity, the Children’s Ward in Tipperary General Hospital, with a minimum agreed donation of €2000.

The two energy conservation programs identified are:• 1. Switching off PC’s & Lights (outside of normal working hours) • 2. Identifying & Switching off Non-Production Critical Equipment (outside of

normal working hours)

MOBENAW Donate Your Energy

• The Facilities and IT departments have completed audits (out of hours) to benchmark

how good or bad office areas are at turning OFF their PC’s and PC Monitors when they leave the office at night

• The areas audited included the Main Office (ground, first and second floors), DES Offices,

Computer Training Rooms and SDS Production Offices

Date PC On Monitor On Oct-08 74% 75%

Feb-09 46% 60%

Apr-09 30% 52%

MOBENAW Donate Your Energy

Staff - actorsAltruistic League Table – ‘name and shame’Prompt cards – positive

reminders Emails-encouragement,

reminders and know howPosters - reminders

MOBENAW has picked up from the foundations of a similar scheme, called ASSESS, which operated in UK universities. In ASSESS engineering students carried out energy audits of schools. This work was carried out as part of their coursework & supervised by an academic tutor or lecturer.

The Student Power scheme extends this principle to marketing/business students across europe to work on energy awareness projects as part of their coursework.

MOBENAW Student Power

.........is for students to work with TI to provide support on energy awareness campaigns. The undergraduates would be supervised by a member of the academic staff who has an interest in the subject, & this would contribute to their coursework.

Overall Aim

Campaigns(by organisation)

Sector Type of material Themes

A-D Industry Booklets HeatingE-H Offices Campaign logos LightingJ-M Retail Campaign mascots Office equipment and small power

M-P Hotels and leisure Clipart Good housekeeping

Q-T Universities & colleges Competitions Compressed air

U-Z Local authorities Displays Water Government departments E-mails / E-cards Refrigeration

Utility companies Guides Air conditioning

Distribution &Transport Incentives Motors

Public awareness campaigns Leaflets Lifts / Elevators

Others Letters Transport Newsletters Payslip inserts Pledge cards Posters Presentations & training

Press releases Quizes Quotations Screensavers Slogans Stickers Suggestion schemes Videos ‘Wallpaper’

Other promotional material

Website currently developed is energyexchange.eu

All european partners are collecting best practice awareness campaign material

• As might have been expected there is not one but a multiplicity of ways of promoting greener lifestyles, confirming the need for packages of mutually supporting measures, DEFRA, 2008. Community-based sufficiency type actions should accompany technological type efficiency & renewable energy options.

In Summary

ERB Drivers

SHOW MOVIE

Research Work in CER

RESEARCH ENABLING COMMUNITIES TO REDUCE THEIR CARBON DIOXIDE EMISSIONS

The ecological footprint (EF) measures the impact our lifestyles have on the Earths Resources and calculates the amount of carbon dioxide emissions that are related to our domestic lifestyles.

This research study engages schools enables them to measure and thus appoint responsibility for carbon use locally. Survey forms are distributed annually and once completed define the carbon intensity of each householders lifestyles. The EF Survey looks at six consumption categories and their related carbon dioxide emissions. Low Carbon lifestyles are encouraged using antecedent and consequence type interventions such as dissemination of results and tailored carbon reduction measures. These include renewable energy and efficiency options and sufficiency actions. One village in Tipperary has reduced its emissions by some 30% over a four year period. Equivalent to 11.000 tonnes CO2 in four years.

Further details at www.ul.ie/lowcarbonfutures

EnergyWasteTransportFoodWaterBuilt Land

home energy22%

shelter&water1%

domestic waste21%

food30%

car use15%

flights11%

Top-down drivers for sustainable behaviour change are generally antecedent: • The Rio Declaration and LA21• The Aarhus Convention• International organisations; for example: WWF, UNEO, ICLEI etc• National governments• Financial signals – incentives and disincentives

The bottom-up drivers are both antecedent (a) and consequence (c):• Public fatigue with governance (a)• Population pressures (a)• Demand for land (a)• Environmental damage (a), (c)• Local Authorities (a)• NGO’s, associations and bodies (a), (c)• Human actors (Local groups, Researchers, Project Managers and Individual Interests) (a), (c)• Measurement of energy use - Carbon accounting (a)• Ascription of responsibility for energy use (a)• Social capital – community (a), (c)• Information and awareness (a), (c)• Schools (a), (c)• Feedback (c)• Contextual or situational factors (a)• Commitment (a)• Goal setting (a)• Rewards (c)

Desk Top Review:Phase II Changes

Tools and actors

EF related to domestic energy consumption in Ballina over four years

EF related to annual household energy

consumption per person 07-8

EF related to annual household energy

consumption per person 06-7

EF related to annual household energy

consumption per person 05-6

EF related to annual household energy

consumption per person 04-5

95%

CI

1.2

1.0

0.8

0.6

year07-0806-0705-0604-05

95%

CI O

il EF

0.80

0.70

0.60

0.50

0.40

0.30

0.20

EF related to domestic oil consumption in Ballina

over four years

year07-0806-0705-0604-05

95%

CI C

oal E

F

0.70

0.60

0.50

0.40

0.30

0.20

0.10

EF related to domestic coal consumption in

Ballina over four years

EF related to domestic waste assimilation in

Ballina over four years

EF related to annual waste consumption per

person 07-8

EF related to annual waste consumption per

person 06-7

EF related to annual waste consumption per

person 05-6

EF related to annual waste consumption per

person 04-5

95%

CI

1.2

1.0

0.8

0.6

EF related to landfill waste in Ballina over

four years

year07-0806-0705-0604-05

95%

CI E

F an

nual

land

fill w

aste

1.50

1.25

1.00

0.75

0.50

EF relating to recycled waste in Ballina over

four years

year07-0806-0705-0604-05

95%

CI E

F A

nnua

l Rec

ycle

d W

aste

0.50

0.40

0.30

0.20

0.10

year07-0806-0705-0604-05

95%

CI E

F re

late

d to

food

con

sum

ptio

n pe

r per

son

1.20

1.15

1.10

1.05

1.00

EF related to domestic food consumption in

Ballina over four years

EF related to car transport in Ballina over

four years

year07-0806-0705-0604-05

95%

CI E

F re

late

d to

car

use

per

per

son

0.70

0.60

0.50

0.40

EF related to air flights for holidays in Ballina

over two years

year07-0806-07

95%

CI E

F du

e to

sho

rt h

aul h

olid

ays

by a

ir

0.45

0.40

0.35

0.30

0.25

Notable Change

EF, EAC and related drivers

(2.4 – 1.6)

In Summary Typical Interventions

Develop specific set of drivers which are both actors and tools and which can shape ERB:1. Antecedent strategies (commitment, goal setting, challenge, information,

measurement, infrastructural etc) or 2. Consequence strategies (feedback, rewards, recognition, monitoring and

measurement etc)

EF, EAC and related drivers

Social Physics and the concept of the l’homme moyen, Quetelet, 1832

Variation in behaviours related to consumption, EF, 2009Systems ideas are most appropriate when dealing with ‘messes’: problems which are unbounded in scope, time

and resources, and enjoy no clear agreement about what a solution would even look like, let alone how it could be

achieved, Chapman, 2004

Systems level ERB versus individual ERBExperimentology versus Reductionism

In a system the whole is greater than the sum of its parts

Complex Adaptive SystemsThe result can be a rich

and subtle interplay of interactions, leading to outcomes which are impossible to predict without considering the dynamic of the group as a whole, Ball, 2005

CAS

The richness of interconnections means that any one change hasseveral prior causes and itself may contribute to further changes inthese causes. It is precisely in these circumstances that a holistic or

systems approach is essential, because the components cannot sensibly be separated, as the reductionist approach assumes. It

also means that the behaviour of the system is determined more by its own internal structure than by specific external causes. Furthermore, its own internal structure will have evolved as a

result of its particular history, including its previous adaptations to changes in its environment, Chapman 2004.

Survey design to assess changes

Behaviours

Attitudes, Beliefs, Values, Agency, etc. changed

Social Groupings EF

EAC

related drivers

Resident

And/or

Science of individual behaviour change is

complex. Relationships, interactions, discourses and

effects within social networks are diverse. Many

theoretical models exist

EF, EAC & Survey

Establish cause and effect and associated: •Drivers •Behaviours •Internal factors•External factors and•Normative factors

Contact details and reference websites

Email: vincent.carragher@ul.ievcarragher@tea.ie

Address: Centre for Environmental Research,

University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland.

Phone: 061 213010

THANK YOU!

www.ul.ie/~cerwww.tea.iewww.ul.ie/lowcarbonfuturesEnergyexchange.euwww.energyneighbourhoods.eu/ie

‘Change.ie’, have been a recent part of Irish government policy. Similarly at a community scale local involvement, action and participation is producing low carbon transition at a household level. Projects such as the ‘Energyneighbourhoods’ project and transition towns show that local drivers can be an important ingredient in ERB change. Specific research conducted by the CER in University of Limerick (UL) is focussed on ERB at the household and community levels. This research uses an annual community-based EF survey to monitor and appoint a responsibility for carbon use amongst its residents. Subsequently annual carbon clinics produce specific customised low carbon remedies which are circulated amongst the community and by the community. A synopsis of the results over the last four years will be presented which define a significant reduction in the carbon intensity of the residents domestic-lifestyles. Potential drivers of ERB change have been defined by researchers in CER through a review of the literature. More extensive appraisal is currently ongoing in order to define the importance and nature of behaviour change at the individual level. Complex social interactions also exist, which enable low-carbon behaviour change to be secured by interventions at the community scale. In order to understand this behaviour change it is necessary that the ERB, the behavioural antecedents and their drivers can be defined. To this extent the results of the Energyneighbourhoods project and the EF project will prove useful. Ongoing efforts to define the above will be discussed. The findings of this project will establish and support productive paradigms for future ERB change through the successful and synergistic cooperation of the various sectors of the education system and the community.

MOBENAW