Karen Ehrhardt-Martinez

• Human Dimensions Research

Great strides have been made over the past century in our ability to harness energy sources, leading to profound transformations — both good and bad — in society. Looking at the energy system of today, it is clear that meeting the energy needs of the world now and in the years to come requires the concerted efforts of many different actors across a...

University of Colorado energy-use researcher Karen Ehrhardt-Martinez, who in June 2011 became director of the Climate, Mind and Behavior Program at the Garrison Institute in New York, believes that society can cut its energy use by up to 30% through behavioural changes alone. She talks to Nature Climate Change.

This chapter describes the residential energy consumption and energy invisibility. It also explores the potential role of smart meters and feedback devices and programs to identify how households, individuals, and communities can empower themselves, reshape current energy consumption patterns, and potentially reconfigure existing energy production...

A recent book by Horace Herring and Steven Sorrell (Energy Efficiency and Sustainable Consumption: The Rebound Effect) suggests that energy efficiency will not be successful in reducing energy consumption and that a reliance on energy efficiency to reduce carbon emissions may be misguided. Such claims are rooted in concerns over the rebound effect...

There is a burgeoning interest in the “human dimension” of energy use. As but one example, the second annual Behavior, Energy, and Climate Conference (co-convened by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, the Precourt Institute for Energy Efficiency, and the California Institute for Energy and Environment) exceeded capacity almost si...

Objective. We draw on ecological modernization theory and international politi- cal economy arguments to examine the sources of an environmental Kuznets curve (or EKC) that produces an inverted U-shaped rate of deforestation relative to eco- nomic development. Method. We use ordinary least squares regression with White's (1978) correction for possi...

This study examines the social forces that drive deforestation. Neo-Malthusian, modernization, and dependency theories are applied in a cross-national comparison of 51 developing countries. Multiple regression techniques are applied to estimate the rate of deforestation using the level of urbanization, economic growth rate, population growth rate,...

Residential energy consumption is often conceived of as a social problem in need of a technological solution that would allow consumers to use energy more efficiently and thus use less energy. Nevertheless policy makers and researchers are increasingly recognizing the importance of also addressing behavioral change in efforts to reduce energy consu...