Andrea Kollmann

• Dr.
• Project Manager at Energieinstitut an der Johannes Kepler Universität Linz

How to engage diverse groups of people in the energy transition in Europe is a pressing issue, one that requires grappling with the role of collectivities and social change dynamics. Based on the results of multi-form Citizen Action Labs (CAL) in four European cities, this article details the different ways in which energy citizenship was practised...

Achieving the European Union's ambitious climate change targets will require substantial additional investment, particularly from private citizens. Despite the considerable potential for citizens to participate in sustainable initiatives, there is a significant gap between their expressed interest and actual investment behavior. Crowdfunding has em...

Background and aims As a part of the framework of the EU-funded Energy efficiency through Behavior CHANge Transition (ENCHANT) project, the present paper intends to provide a “Research Protocol” of a web-based trial to: (i) assess the effectiveness of behavioral intervention strategies––either single or in combination––on electricity saving, and (i...

Decarbonization initiatives rely heavily on shifts in citizen’s behaviour. This study presents findings from a large-scale, controlled field experiment (N=2,554) conducted across six European countries, assessing the effectiveness of intervention campaigns aimed at reducing electricity consumption under real-world conditions. Our findings offer a n...

This study provides the first analysis of geospatial factors on the seasonal decision to commute by bike or use a bike for errands across 31 European countries. The sample was drawn from a survey of 14,845 respondents and combined with geospatial variables that describe the respondents' local areas. Controlling for well-known demographic and subjec...

This paper provides a comprehensive overview of field experiments utilizing social norms, commitment and price-based interventions to promote energy conservation, load shifting, and energy efficiency behaviors. Treatment effects reported in the extant literature, as well as the factors that may strengthen or dampen these effects are reviewed. We fi...

The European industry sector is responsible for about one-third of the EU's total energy consumption and process-related Greenhouse Gas emissions, which makes it a central factor in the EU's climate and energy strategies. Energy cooperation, i.e., the mutualised generation, use and/or acquisition of energy by at least two companies, has the potenti...

We analyze European citizens' willingness to take climate mitigation action with data on one-time donation choices from a survey of 15,951 people across 27 nations. Responses are explored with an interdisciplinary hybrid choice model that integrates principles of psychology and economics. The results suggest that only participants who are certain a...

This paper presents the results of a choice experiment for investments in community renewable energy (CRE) projects administered across 31 European nations. In the sample of 18,037 respondents, a high level of interest in the CRE investments is observed, with 79% of respondents choosing to invest in at least one of the eight investment scenarios sh...

Interdisciplinary research is especially relevant in the energy field where ambitious political targets for the energy transition require rapid advancements in technology and simultaneous developments in social norms and citizen engagement. Challenges related to interdisciplinary communication and the integration of findings across disciplines have...

Despite large amounts of available roof space, long pay-back periods for investments in photovoltaic (PV) power plants often hinder PV installations in industrial parks. Photovoltaic citizen participation initiatives (PV-CPI) are an alternative way of financing PV power plants that add non-financial benefits to these investments. This paper analyze...

Charging infrastructure is one of the key ingredients necessary to further increase the market uptake of plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs). Most public charging infrastructure in Europe is not profitable, and 42% of European households reside in dwellings with no possibility to install a private charger, which are key limitations to the build-up of...

Peak demand reduction is a key element in demand management programs targeting the stabilization of the electricity grid. This study examines a field experiment in Austria that investigated rebates and non-monetary incentives to reduce household electricity consumption during evening peak demand times. The experiment was conducted on 1,257 Austrian...

International survey of the ECHOES project is a large survey dataset than contains responses from 31 countries: EU-28 (2018) + 3 countries. The dataset contains raw data in four different formats: dta, rdata, sav and xlsx. Codebook and survey questionnaire are included.

New network tariffs designed to recover grid operating costs can introduce up to a 500% increase in charges for some households. A transition from volumetric to peak-load-based tariffs will require targeted policy measures such as clear price signals, information about household electricity consumption and temporary compensation or mitigation mecha...

This Deliverable elaborates a consolidated scientific knowledge base stemming from the correlation of the main findings obtained throughout the ECHOES project with the existing literature in order to advance consensus on the key factors and relationships driving (or meaningfully influencing) specific energy choices and related behavioural patterns...

Photovoltaic (PV) units and electric vehicles (EVs) are two household goods that are the focus of much research, and many policy initiatives attempting to promote a more sustainable, low-carbon energy system. Despite both academic and practical interest in household adoption of PV units and EVs, potential linkages in these household decisions have...

With the advent of ICT in the energy system, new possibilities to inform and influence residential electricity consumption become available. We explore the potential of ICT-based interventions in households to decrease electricity usage, improve energy efficiency and thus contribute to reducing GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions from this sector. Based...

Growing self-generation and storage are expected to cause significant changes in residential electricity utilization patterns. Commonly applied volumetric network tariffs may induce imbalance between different groups of households and their respective contribution to recovering the operating costs of the grid. Understanding consumer behaviour and a...

This report forms the basis for further research in ECHOES and gives at the same time an overview about the state-of-the-art. Based on a literature review with an initial screening of several thousand sources (and 597 sources reviewed), research from all three ECHOES research perspectives and technology foci were mapped and research gaps identified...

Unter den Akteuren (Wähler, Politiker, Produzenten, traditionelle und grüne Interessensgruppen und der Bürokratie) in repräsentativen westlichen Demokratien besteht ein breiter Konsens darüber, dass ein Wandel hin zu einer ökosozialen Marktwirtschaft wesentlich für ein zukünftiges, nachhaltiges Wirtschaftswachstum ist.

In this paper we analyse optimal sizing of grid connected rooftop photovoltaic systems from a household’s perspective. We estimate the profit maximizing size for more than 800 households in Austria for various electricity tariffs and subsidy schemes considering economies of scale related to the investment costs of photovoltaic systems in the size r...

In implementing the most efficient instruments in environmental policy, gaining electoral support is essential. One factor influencing this support is people’s trust in their governments. Quantitative analysis suggests that the lower the trust is that people have in their governments, the lower is their willingness to pay for environmental protecti...

Conceptual, empirical, and theoretical analyses of the effectiveness of market-based policy instruments in achieving environmental goals. Economists argue that such market-based policy instruments as environmental taxes and emission trading systems are the best way to target the negative effects of pollution. Yet there is no agreement about whether...

In the LoadShift project, the potential for shifting electricity demand in Austria was surveyed and the economic, technical, legal and organizational aspects of this shift were analyzed. The project examined the potentials separately for the sectors of industry, commercial applications, households and municipal infrastructure, provides consistent e...

Economists argue that such market-based policy instruments as environmental taxes and emission trading systems are the best way to target the negative effects of pollution. Yet there is no agreement about whether the use of these instruments is sufficient, whether they are deployed efficiently, and which factors influence their effectiveness. Nor i...

In der Energieversorgung vollzieht sich ein Strukturwandel zu einer stärker dezentral geprägten Energieversorgung auf Basis regenerativer Energieträger. Den Herausforderungen, die diese fundamentalen Veränderungen für die sichere und zuverlässige Versorgung mit elektrischer Energie mit sich bringen, steht ein Portfolio unterschiedlicher technischer...

The Energy Service Directive has pushed forward the issue of energy savings calculations without clarifying the methodological basis. Savings achieved in the Member States are calculated with rather non-transparent and hardly compara-ble Bottom-up methods. This paper develops the idea of parallel evaluation tracks separating the Member States' issu...

With the ratification of the Kyoto protocol and the installation of the European Emission Trading Scheme, the European Union’s governments showed a basic willingness to commit themselves to environmentally friendly policies. But today, the success of these commitments is questionable: all of the EU-27 countries ratified the Kyoto protocol, but only...

The EU energy service directive (ESD) demands that final energy customers are provided with "comparisons with an average normalised or benchmarked user of energy" to better be able to understand their own consumption patterns. In accordance with the ESD, enhanced electricity consumption information was developed by the project team. This informatio...

One of the central variables in bottom-up energy efficiency and saving calculations is the energy consumption baseline. In the evaluation of energy efficiency measures, developing this baseline is a challenging task, which may involve serious problems, especially if the energy service of the analysed subject has changed while the energy efficiency...

There is a widespread consensus among the most important players in developed countries (voters, politicians, producers, traditional and green interest groups and bureaucracies) that a shift towards an eco-social market economy is essential for sustainable growth. Nevertheless, market-based instruments have not as yet been implemented satisfactoril...

With the ongoing efforts on the European level to promote energy efficiency, the need for the development of harmonised evaluation criteria for energy efficiency measures arises. Such criteria will allow extensive comparisons of the success or failure of the implementation of energy efficiency measures throughout Europe and will support the develop...

Grid tariffs are the main source of income for distribution system operators (DSOs). Reductions of tariffs increase the cost pressure on DSOs; assuming they work efficiently, tariff reductions potentially lead to a decrease of the electricity system's quality if no reliability of supply criteria are incorporated in the regulatory system. Our statis...

Unter den wichtigsten Akteuren in den repräsentativen, westlichen Demokratien (Wähler, Politiker, Produzenten, traditionelle und grüne Interessensgruppen und der Bürokratie) besteht ein breiter Konsens darüber, dass ein Wandel hin zu einer öko-sozialen Marktwirtschaft wesentlich für ein zukünftiges, nachhaltiges Wirtschaftswachstum ist. Dennoch wer...