Energy sufficiency in private households enabled by adequate appliances

Panel: 7. Appliances, product policy and the ICT supply chain

This is a peer-reviewed paper.

Authors:
Lars-Arvid Brischke, Institut fuer Energie- und Umweltforschung Heidelberg, Germany
Franziska Lehmann, IFEU - Institute for Energy and Environmental Research Heidelberg, Germany
Leon Leuser, IFEU - Institute for Energy and Environmental Research Heidelberg, Germany
Stefan Thomas, Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy, Germany
Carolin Baedeker, Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy, Germany

Abstract

Energy efficiency of a range of domestic appliances covered by the labelling and ecodesign directives has improved significantly over the last 15 years. However, the power consumption of the German residential sector has remained relatively constant over this period. Besides other factors, such as decreasing average household size, the main reasons for this development were the increases of the types, features, size, equipment stock and usage times of appliances and devices in private households.

The project “Energy Sufficiency - strategies and instruments for a technical, systemic and cultural transformation towards sustainable restriction of energy demand in the field of construction and everyday life” investigates how the complementation of energy efficiency with energy sufficiency could lead to more user adequate domestic products and product-service systems and thereby result in an absolute reduction of power consumption.

In this project, energy sufficiency is defined as a strategy to reduce energy consumption by three approaches:

1. Quantitative reduction of sizes, features, usage times of devices etc.

2. Substitution of technical equipment in households by e.g. urban services

3. Adjustment of technical services delivered by appliances to utility needed and desired by users

The energy saving effects of an application of these approaches were modelled for different types of households and the energy saving potentials of energy sufficiency quantified. Innovative approaches for user adequate products and services were developed in open innovation workshops by the Design Thinking method. The paper summarizes some of the intermediate results of theoretical and transdisciplinary investigations of the project that runs until May 31, 2016. Furthermore, a first set of design criteria for user adequate appliances enabling energy sufficiency are developed based on these results. The paper concludes with suggestions for the future development of energy labelling and ecodesign derived from the design criteria and supplemented by examples of existing requirements according to the voluntary environmental label “Blauer Engel”.