Beyond climate, culture and comfort in European preferences for low-carbon heat

Benjamin K. Sovacool; Christina Demski; Lance Noel

doi:10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2020.102200

Beyond climate, culture and comfort in European preferences for low-carbon heat

Benjamin K. Sovacool, Christina Demski, Lance Noel

Department of Psychology

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

30 Citations (SciVal)

Abstract

It is imperative that climate, energy, and sustainability policy researchers and practitioners grapple with the difficulty of decarbonizing heat, which remains the largest single end-use energy service worldwide. In this study, based on a comparative assessment of five original and representative national surveys in Germany, Italy, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom (N = 10,109), we explore public attitudes of household heat decarbonization in Europe. We explore how people conceive of the purposes of low-carbon heat, their preferences for particular forms of heat supply, and their (at times odd) practices of heat consumption and temperature settings. The data reveal four significant challenges to heat decarbonization that are consistent across geographies: 1) High satisfaction with existing, often fossil fuel based, heating systems; 2) Varying and divergent preferences and expectations for thermal comfort; 3) Householders unlikely to change their heating system in the near-term, in part driven by low familiarity and knowledge of alternative systems; and 4) heat satisfaction appears lower as the fuel mix is decarbonized. The paper concludes by connecting these findings with policy and research implications.

Original language	English
Article number	102200
Journal	Global Environmental Change
Volume	66
Early online date	29 Dec 2020
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2020.102200
Publication status	Published - 31 Jan 2021

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
The authors gratefully acknowledge support from UK Research and Innovation through the Centre for Research into Energy Demand Solutions (CREDS), grant reference number EP/R035288/1, the Centre for Climate Change and Social Transformations (CAST), grant reference number ES/S012257/1, and the UK Energy Research Centre (UKERC), grant reference number EP/S029575/1. This paper has also received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement no. 764025. The content of this deliverable does not reflect the official opinion of the European Union. Responsibility for the information and views expressed herein lies entirely with the author(s).

Funding Information:
The authors gratefully acknowledge support from UK Research and Innovation through the Centre for Research into Energy Demand Solutions (CREDS), grant reference number EP/R035288/1, the Centre for Climate Change and Social Transformations (CAST), grant reference number ES/S012257/1, and the UK Energy Research Centre (UKERC), grant reference number EP/S029575/1. This paper has also received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement no. 764025. The content of this deliverable does not reflect the official opinion of the European Union. Responsibility for the information and views expressed herein lies entirely with the author(s).

Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 The Author(s)

Funding

The authors gratefully acknowledge support from UK Research and Innovation through the Centre for Research into Energy Demand Solutions (CREDS), grant reference number EP/R035288/1, the Centre for Climate Change and Social Transformations (CAST), grant reference number ES/S012257/1, and the UK Energy Research Centre (UKERC), grant reference number EP/S029575/1. This paper has also received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement no. 764025. The content of this deliverable does not reflect the official opinion of the European Union. Responsibility for the information and views expressed herein lies entirely with the author(s). The authors gratefully acknowledge support from UK Research and Innovation through the Centre for Research into Energy Demand Solutions (CREDS), grant reference number EP/R035288/1, the Centre for Climate Change and Social Transformations (CAST), grant reference number ES/S012257/1, and the UK Energy Research Centre (UKERC), grant reference number EP/S029575/1. This paper has also received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement no. 764025. The content of this deliverable does not reflect the official opinion of the European Union. Responsibility for the information and views expressed herein lies entirely with the author(s).

Keywords

Cross-national survey
Energy services and practices
Heat as a service
Heat decarbonization
Residential heating
Social acceptance of heat

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Global and Planetary Change
Geography, Planning and Development
Ecology
Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Access to Document

10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2020.102200Licence: CC BY

Cite this

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title = "Beyond climate, culture and comfort in European preferences for low-carbon heat",

abstract = "It is imperative that climate, energy, and sustainability policy researchers and practitioners grapple with the difficulty of decarbonizing heat, which remains the largest single end-use energy service worldwide. In this study, based on a comparative assessment of five original and representative national surveys in Germany, Italy, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom (N = 10,109), we explore public attitudes of household heat decarbonization in Europe. We explore how people conceive of the purposes of low-carbon heat, their preferences for particular forms of heat supply, and their (at times odd) practices of heat consumption and temperature settings. The data reveal four significant challenges to heat decarbonization that are consistent across geographies: 1) High satisfaction with existing, often fossil fuel based, heating systems; 2) Varying and divergent preferences and expectations for thermal comfort; 3) Householders unlikely to change their heating system in the near-term, in part driven by low familiarity and knowledge of alternative systems; and 4) heat satisfaction appears lower as the fuel mix is decarbonized. The paper concludes by connecting these findings with policy and research implications.",

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Beyond climate, culture and comfort in European preferences for low-carbon heat

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Funding

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

UN SDGs

Access to Document

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Cite this