Socio-political factors influencing household electricity consumption: A comparison between Denmark and Belgium

Françoise Bartiaux, University of Louvain
Kirsten Gram-Hanssen, Danish Building Research Institute

Keywords

Household, Electricity consumption, Behaviour, Electric appliances, Cross-cultural analysis

Abstract

This paper compares household electricity consumption in Denmark and Belgium on the basis of survey data and national statistics and it shows that there is a higher level of electricity consumption in Belgium. The first part of the paper focuses on background variables and shows that the Danish background variables can explain 30–40 % of the variations in electricity consumption, whereas the Belgian data only explain 10–30 % of the variations. Thus in both cases other more qualitative aspects explain most of the differences. The second part focuses on comparing the practices that generate electricity consumption. Analysis shows that it is the number and use of appliances more than energy efficiency that explain which households consume most electricity. Furthermore it is shown that electricity used for television, drying clothes and for providing a comfortable indoor temperature might be part of the explanation for the higher level of energy use in Belgium. Comparing attitudes to the environment, there is no reason to suggest that these would be part of the explanation; however, the general knowledge about energy seems to be higher in Denmark. The conclusion suggests that part of the explanation should be found in differences in energy policies, with more focus on saving in Danish energy policies than in Belgian. The paper however also points to factors with a huge impact on electricity consumption in households that are not included in the energy policy in neither Denmark nor Belgium, including the growing size of houses, the growing proportion of single-person households and the growing number of appliances.