Abstract

In the last decades a group of political conscious and environmentally friendly consumers have been emerging. At the same time global warming has made energy consumption an environmental issue. As changes in consumer behaviour are linked to the dual purpose of fulfilling a need and signalling identity, the changes in consumption have been seen as a sign of a new and increasing reflexivity in the construction of identity. Two diverging dynamics behind this process are identified. Either emphasis is made on a cognitive and conscious self-monitoring, or on an awsthetic and largely context dependent process. If the process is conscious, environmentally friendly behaviour is likely to make its way into energy consumption, but ig it is aesthetic the pattern of alternation are likely to be much more fragmented. The investigation links theoretical elements from Anthony Giddens, Ulrich Beck and Scott Lash to quantitative survey data.

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Panels of

Panel 1: Policy (incentives, normative measures, policy mixes to achive CO_2 reduction)

Panel 2: Technologies and Products (innovation, marketing, market transformation)

Panel 4: Environmental Perspective (externalities and life cycle approaches, local and global impacts and incentatives)

Panel 3: Dynamics of Consumption (social and cultural perspectives, actors and their interactions)

Panel 5: Land use,Transportation and infrastructure (urban and regional planning, approaches to change in well entrenched systems)