Overcoming barriers to energy efficiency in household mobility: a Swiss survey among key players of politics, economy and NGOs

Mozhon Z. Sadeghi and Sonja Lüthi, Institut für Wirtschaft und Ökologie, IWÖ, Switzerland

Keywords

energy efficiency in mobility, energy behaviour, households, combination of institutional and individual approach, transnational qualitative survey, Switzerland

Abstract

Road transport is at present the sector with the second largest energy consumption in the EU. CO₂-emissions grew by 20% between 1990 and 2000. To curb this growth, measures such as road pricing and reduced speed limit have been tried out and technological improvements have led to significantly better energy efficiency in car motors. However, strong counteracting trends reduce the expected results, among them increased car weight, bigger engines, and more passenger miles. Thus, to reach more energy efficiency in mobility, a change in behaviour is of primary importance.

This paper identifies, in the first part, the relevance and strengths of the barriers for an energy efficient behaviour in the context of household mobility. In the second part, it asks the question of how these barriers can be overcome by activities from key players (political authorities, energy producers and NGOs) and other campaigns directed towards individual consumers and households. It concludes by identifying the main drivers for behaviour change.

The paper combines institutional and individual perspectives on consumer behaviour related to energy consumption. It studies both individual and institutional factors and also examines how both may interact in influencing behaviour.

The empirical basis of the paper is a qualitative stakeholder survey that was conducted in Switzerland (among six other European countries including Hungary, Norway, France, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. The trans-national survey is carried out in the context of the EU FP7 project BARENERGY (Barriers for energy changes among end consumers and households).