ArticlePDF Available

A cross-cultural analysis of household energy use behaviour in Japan and Norway

Authors:

Abstract

In this paper we compare and contrast the results of ethnographic investigations of energy use behaviour in Fukuoka, Japan and Oslo, Norway. These studies show significant differences in end use patterns for space heating, lighting and hot water use. We discuss how these patterns are related to cultural and economic factors. Our findings show that while energy intensive space heating and lighting habits have become an integral part of the presentation of the Norwegian home, Japanese space heat and light habits are more disciplined and less culturally significant. In Japan, the bathing routine is extremely important to the Japanese lifestyle and at the same time very energy intensive. Other energy intensive patterns are identified which do not have the same cultural significance, such as lax temperature setback in Norway and dish washing practices in Japan. The policy implications of these findings are discussed.
A preview of the PDF is not available
... Changes in heating behaviour in response to energy price increases are discussed in several studies (e.g. Wilhite et al. 1996;Day et al. 2009) and confirmed by the sensitivity analysis in this paper. Thus, well-designed fiscal measures could be another effective way to stimulate energy savings. ...
... Cultural beliefs have important implications for many behaviours [88][89][90][91] . For example, in the USA, Hispanic people have the lowest rates of smoking among all racial and ethnic groups 92 , probably owing to less acculturation (the degree to which people from minority groups retain their native cultural language and values relative to those of the new, dominant culture 93 ) than other groups 94 . ...
Article
Full-text available
Unprecedented social, environmental, political and economic challenges — such as pandemics and epidemics, environmental degradation and community violence — require taking stock of how to promote behaviours that benefit individuals and society at large. In this Review, we synthesize multidisciplinary meta-analyses of the individual and social-structural determinants of behaviour (for example, beliefs and norms, respectively) and the efficacy of behavioural change interventions that target them. We find that, across domains, interventions designed to change individual determinants can be ordered by increasing impact as those targeting knowledge, general skills, general attitudes, beliefs, emotions, behavioural skills, behavioural attitudes and habits. Interventions designed to change social-structural determinants can be ordered by increasing impact as legal and administrative sanctions; programmes that increase institutional trustworthiness; interventions to change injunctive norms; monitors and reminders; descriptive norm interventions; material incentives; social support provision; and policies that increase access to a particular behaviour. We find similar patterns for health and environmental behavioural change specifically. Thus, policymakers should focus on interventions that enable individuals to circumvent obstacles to enacting desirable behaviours rather than targeting salient but ineffective determinants of behaviour such as knowledge and beliefs.
... Hence, methods of saving energy can be integrated into various lifestyles without compromising cultural traditions. Furthermore, enhancing users' understanding of energy flow within residential se ings is crucial for the implementation of improved billing methods and conducting energy audits [44]. Following the objective of the cross-cultural analysis, comparative research was undertaken in Denmark and Belgium, with a specific focus on examining the energy policies implemented in each respective region. ...
Article
Full-text available
Sustainable design, which aims to reduce energy consumption and mitigate climate change, is a primary concern of developing countries. Hence, it reduces CO2 emissions. Residential buildings in North Iraq account for approximately 69% of all electricity consumed. To mitigate this issue, this article investigates the design of a sustainable model by considering the local climate, building design occupant behaviour, and sociocultural needs in the region and their impact on energy use. This study used mixed research methods to develop a sustainable single-family house model in semi-arid climates, specifically Erbil (North Iraq), the process consisted of three phases. Phase One saw the collection of all data from analysed literature, observation, worship, case study simulations of the base, and an improved model. Phase Two defined the guidelines for creating sustainable model dwellings based on the main findings in Phase One. Phase Three created a prototype to evaluate the sustainable model, primarily focusing on meeting people’s design preferences while avoiding privacy concerns. In addition, DesignBuilder Software simulation was used to examine the impact of occupancy behaviour (based on local culture and traditions) on the building’s energy performance throughout two phases. In the first step, three occupancy profile types are compared with real-life study bills. These profiles were the base case, which came from an actual case; the statistical profile from surveys; and the international standard ASHRAE 90.1, which was used as the default. The second phase compared the base model with an improved model and developed a sustainable prototype that satisfies local climate and sociocultural needs. The result indicated that the standard occupant profile significantly differs from the actual bill by 40%, whereas the statistical profile and base case reduce the gap to 11% and 4%, respectively. The sustainable prototype model can enhance operative temperature by 4 °C and decrease total energy use by 50% compared to the base case model. Data also showed that occupants keep lights on even when rooms are unoccupied. Therefore, when designing sustainable dwellings, it is crucial to consider occupant behaviour and their sociocultural needs, as they have a significant impact on energy use as a result of their activity patterns and schedules. These factors should be considered in the local code.
... Already in 1985, Hal, together with Richard Wilk, showed examples of the inadequacy of models of economic rationality when studying the extent to which Californian homeowners engaged in the weatherisation of their homes. In 1996, Hal and four Japanese researchers (Nakagami, Masuda, Yamaga and Haneda) undertook a comparative study of bathing and lighting practices in Japan and Norway, demonstrating how differences in energy use could be largely ascribed to differences in cultural significance (Wilhite et al, 1996). In 2000, drawing on decades of research in the field and in collaboration with some of the most prominent contributors to social science energy research (Shove, Lutzenhiser and Kempton), Hal identified the elements that should constitute a new agenda for energy research. ...
... [21], income, education level of occupant [22][23][24]), and other factors (awareness and energy price) [25]. For example, low flow rate of heat water in the pipes and an inaccurate installation of heating meters leaded to a doubtful energy bill, which reduced the enthusiasm of residents to save heat [26,27]. Andersen et al. proposed that there was a strong correlation between the heating on and the outdoor temperature [9]. ...
Preprint
Full-text available
Heat using behavior has a large impact on in heating energy in heat metering system, and therefore a better understanding can assist in behavior guidance to reduce energy. To understand the current situation of indoor thermal environment and heat using behavior for heat metering households in northern China, including adjusting heating end valves and operating windows, 30 households were measured and surveyed. The factors influencing heat using behavior, including outdoor and indoor environmental parameters and time of the day, were analyzed. The results are :1) Thermal neutral temperature for heat metering households is relatively high, up to 24.5℃; 2) The heat using behavior of households is lack of rationality: low proportion of active households; high indoor temperature setting; more frequency of window opening. Improving indoor comfort is the main reason for households to adjust the heating end valve, and only 7.15% of households have considered the economic benefits brought by adjusting the valve. " Thermostat control valve does not work" is the main reason for households without adjustment; 3) Time of the day and indoor temperature affect active households’ willingness to adjusting heating end valve. Time of the day, indoor temperature and outdoor temperature have impacts on opening window during heating period.
... Technical code for retrofitting of heating system on energy efficiency [17] 2017 Evaluation method of energy consumption Evaluation method of energy consumption for district heating system [18] 2018 Functional requirements, physical layer, data link layer, data security, and application layer of household metering data transmission Technical requirements of utility meters data transmission [19] 2020 Manufacture and testing of heat meters Heat meters [20] The factors influencing heat-using behavior consist of metering devices, environmental factors [21][22][23], building and system characteristics (local, age, size of dwelling, room type, and so on) [24][25][26], occupant characteristics (age, gender [27], income, education level of occupant [27][28][29][30]), and other factors (awareness and energy price) [31]. For example, low flow rates of heating water in pipes and inaccurate installations of heating meters led to a doubtful energy bill, which reduced the enthusiasm of residents to save heat [32,33]. ...
Article
Full-text available
Heat-using behavior has a major impact on heating energy in heat-metering systems, and therefore, a better understanding can assist in behavior guidance to reduce energy. The objective of this paper was to investigate heat-using behavior, including adjusting heating end valves and operating windows, and identify the main factors affecting the heat-using behavior of households in heat-metering modes. Thirty households were measured and surveyed. The factors influencing heat-using behavior, including outdoor and indoor environmental parameters and time of day, were analyzed. The results are the following: (1) The indoor temperature for heat-metering households was relatively high, up to 24–25 °C (95% confidence interval). (2) The heat-using behavior of households has a lack of rationality: a low proportion of households with adjusted heating end valves, high indoor temperature settings, and more frequent window openings. Improving indoor comfort is the main reason for households to adjust heating end valves, accounting for 79% (95% confidence interval, CI: 71–87%). “Thermostat control valve does not work” is the main reason for households without adjustment, accounting for 63% (95% confidence interval, CI: 53–72%). (3) Time of day and indoor temperature affect active households’ willingness to adjust heating end valves. Time of day, indoor temperature, and outdoor temperature have impacts on opening windows during heating periods.
... For instance, Xiao and Li [112] noted that the consumers who reported green purchase intention have higher life satisfaction than consumers who do not. Sustainable consumption may serve as a means of showing one's status and identity, which could make people conscious of how their purchases are seen by others [4,15,21,103,109] as income is one of the key determinants of sustainable consumption, with wealthy households being far more likely to buy sustainable goods [29]. ...
Chapter
To navigate the interplay between eco-welfare and energy, this chapter is dedicated to the discussion of energy as a socio-technical system, to acknowledge that low-carbon transition processes entail social and technological implications. In this socio-technical framework, three implications are identified to strengthen the interaction between energy and eco-welfare: justice implications, related to the key notion of energy justice, socio-ecological implications, related to the societal challenges in a time of climate change, and spatial implications of energy justice. This triad leads to the issue of energy inequalities, which are increasingly the object of concerns.
Article
Full-text available
In this paper, we present the results of a three-year investigation of the relationship between billing information and household energy consumption in Oslo, Norway. The hypothesis tested in the study is that a more informative energy bill will result in more efficient energy use in the home. The consumption data from the third and final year of the experiment confirm the hypothesis in a resounding way: more informative bills resulted in energy savings of about 10%. Questionnaire and interview data show that those who received experimental bills paid more attention to the bills, were more likely to discuss bills with other members of the household, and were positive to continuing with the experimental billing system. There are greater costs associated with the more frequent and informative bill which was tested, but we have estimated that costs are minimal in relation to savings. Each kWh of saved energy has a cost of only about 0.07 Nkr ($0.01). Since the techniques which were tested do not require extensive training or major technical innovations, they can be easily put into practice. These results on energy savings and consumer response to better billing feedback should be of interest to the many utilities around the world which have billing systems similar to the one in Oslo.
Article
This paper discusses the effects of the ongoing debate concerning the greenhouse effect in Sweden on the general public in the town of Umeå. Issues that are seen to be of importance include: 1. the people's inability to disassociate the greenhouse effect from the ozone hole debate, 2. the equity issues connected to the region, 3. people's attitudes toward the greenhouse effect, and 4. the solutions considered to be the best for solving the problem of global climate change. These issues are based on twenty four person to person in-depth interviews which took place during July and August of 1990.
Article
The National Energy Policy and Conservation Act of 1978 requires the Federal Trade Commission to mandate labels for appliances indicating their energy consumption. The purposes of this study are to measure the level of awareness of appliance energy labels by recent purchasers of refrigerators and washers, and to measure changes in the degree to which energy considerations entered into the purchase decisions of national samples of consumers before and after introduction of the FTC program.
Article
Room air-conditioner operation was studied in order to understand how energy consumption and peak power demand are determined by user needs, concepts, and behavior. In a multi-family building in New Jersey, thirteen room air conditioners were instrumented in eight apartments, and the residents were interviewed about their cooling needs, decisions about when to turn on their air-conditioning, and their conceptions and operationsof the units. Residents were not billed separately for electricity. They nevertheless limited their use of air-conditioning on the basis of many non-economic factors, including: daily schedule, folk theories about how air conditioners function and the body's heat tolerance, personal strategies for dealing with all machines, and beliefs and preferences concerning health, thermal comport, and alternative cooling strategies.Across physically similar apartments, seasonal air-conditioner energy consumption varied by two to three orders of magnitude while interior temperature varied by only 2.4 °C to 3.7 °C (4.3–6.7 °F). The least-frequent users were effectively achieving comport at greatly reduced energy consumption, but they were not reducing peak demand since they ran their units only on peak hours of the hottest days of the summer. Three-quarters of the residents did not use their thermostats, controlling cooling instead by switching their units on and off manually. Only one resident consistently let his air conditioner operate thermostatically, and many were not aware that their units had thermostats. The prevailing non-thermostatic mode was initially thought to indicate a need for user education. Further investigation suggests that the cause is in fact a startling mismatch of existing room air-conditioner controls to user needs, with a corresponding opportunity for fundamental redesign of controls.
Article
Ethnographic interviews were conducted with a small but diverse sample of US residents in order to understand how ordinary citizens conceptualize global climate change and make value judgments about it. Most informants had heard of the greenhouse effect. However, they conceptualized global climate change very differently from scientists because they interpreted it in terms of four pre-existing categories: stratospheric ozone depletion; plant photosynthesis; tropospheric pollution; and personally experienced temperature variation. The strongest environmental value to emerge was a desire to preserve the environment for one's descendants — it was spontaneously mentioned by twelve of the first fourteen informants. Species extinction and range shifts are among the most significant potential effects of global climate change, yet these effects were virtually unknown. Few informants recognized the connection between energy consumption and global warming, and they typically regarded their personal fuel consumption as inelastic.
Article
A new method to estimate the energy efficiency of households is presented. Households are treated as productive units organized to provide services for the occupants. The approach to measuring efficiency compares a group of productive units along several dimensions of input resources and service outputs. The comparison identifies a subset of units that are considered efficient because they require the fewest resources per unit of service provided. The efficient units form a production possibility frontier of best practice in service provision. All other units are compared to this best practice frontier and their index of efficiency is based on their distance from that frontier. Data from the 1979 Household Screener Survey are used to construct a household typology. Two different energy efficiency models are explored. One model uses the annual consumption of electric and non-electric fuels as the input resources. The other uses the annual expenditures for the two fuel types. Both models use the number of rooms and the number of people in the dwelling as proxies for the service outputs. A regression analysis of the two sets of efficiency scores indicates that the more efficient units used electric heat, had higher ratios of non-electric to electric fuel inputs, and were owner-occupied.
The Beau O' Myth Verso
  • N Wolf
Wolf, N (1991) The Beau O' Myth Verso, London, UK
The 03,santhemum and the Sword
  • Benedict
Benedict. R (1946) The 03,santhemum and the Sword." Patterns o! Japanese Culture Houghton Mifflin, Boston, MA
Social and behavioural aspects of energy use" Annual Review ql'Energv and Environment I g
  • L Lutzenhiser
Lutzenhiser, L (1993) 'Social and behavioural aspects of energy use" Annual Review ql'Energv and Environment I g 247-289