Dr Janet Stephenson Director, Centre for Sustainability

University of Otago, New Zealand

Talk to CEDEC Conference, 19 Nov 2014

Changing from this...

To this?

The Energy Cultures team

Prof. Gerry Carrington physics/

engineering

Dr Paul Thorsnes

economics

Dr Janet Stephenson sociology/

human geography

Prof. Rob Lawson

consumer psychology

Prof. Barry Barton

law & policy

Dr John Williams

marketing

Dr Rebecca Ford

engineering

Dr Sara Walton

management

Dr David Rees

system dynamics

Dr Charles Sullivan

psychology; statistics

Dr Michelle Scott psychology, HCI

Dr Debbie Hopkins

environmental sociology

Alaric McCarthy environmental

science

Dr Ben Wooliscroft macro-marketing

Jane Khan, administrator

Transitions involve behaviour change....

...of consumers

...of businesses

...of sectors

...of governments

...of global agencies

Understanding behaviour can be complicated!

Individual • Theory of Reasoned Action

(Ajzen & Fishbein, 1980; Fishbein & Ajzen, 1975)

• Theory of Planned Behaviour (Azjen 1985)

• Norm Activation Model (Schwartz, 1977)

• Social Norms Approach (Perkins & Berkowitz, 1986)

• Technology Acceptance Model (Ventakesh & Bala 2010)

• etc

Social/Contextual • Systems thinking (von

Bertalanffy 1968; Emery 1969, Midgley 2003, Mingers & Brocklesby 1997)

• Structuration (Giddens 1979, 1984)

• Practice theory (Reckwitz 2002, Batriaux et al 2014; Hand et al 2007; Shove 2004).

• Actor-network theory (Latour 1993, Law and Hassard 1999)

• Socio-technical systems (Smith and Stirling 2007), multi-level perspective (Geels 2002, 2004)

• etc

Material culture

Practices Norms

Have

Think Do

“Energy culture”

Stephenson et al 2010a

Example: heating culture of a household

Heating devices Window glazing

Insulation House structure

Turning on heater

Putting on jersey

Maintaining heating technologies

Drawing curtains

Aspirations for a new heating system

Expectations of warmth

Carrying on traditions

Material culture

Practices Norms

Feedback loops habits

Material culture

Practices Norms

Distinctive clusters of energy cultures amongst households

Lawson et al., 2011

Energy cultures at many levels

Bell et al., 2013

Material culture

Practices Norms

Subsidies Minimum performance standards

Energy prices Social marketing

External influences can reinforce habits - or drive change

Barton et al 2013

CHANGING ENERGY CULTURES

Norms

Material culture

Practices Aspirations

Internal influences on change: new aspirations

Material culture

Practices Norms

Internal influences on change: new material culture

Internal influences on change: new practices

Material culture

Norms Practices

Example – PV uptake in NZ

Material culture

Practices Norms

• Suitable building and site

• Aesthetics • Confidence in

technology

• Home ownership

• Perceived impact on property value

• Smart energy use

• Actively seeking information - hunters and gathers

• Technological competence

• Environmental concern

• Support for renewable energy & microgeneration

• Desire for full or partial grid independence

• Desire for greater financial control

The ‘energy culture’ of adopters of PV

Material culture

Practices Norms

Support for improving technical skills

Supportive social networks

Facilitation of supplier/installer relationships

PV more visible Rising cost of electricity

Support for improving energy literacy

Improving affordability of PV units

Upfront cost

Uncertainty about technical advancements

Lack of financial incentives

Trusted information

Dislike of electricity companies

Material culture

Practices Norms

Support for improving technical skills

Supportive social networks

Facilitation of supplier/installer relationships

PV more visible Rising cost of electricity

Support for improving energy literacy

Improving affordability of PV units

Upfront cost

Uncertainty about technical advancements

Lack of financial incentives

Trusted information

Dislike of electricity companies

Enablers activated or supported by Blueskin Resilient Communities Trust

Material culture

Practices Norms

External influences can reinforce habit - or drive change

Material culture

Practices Norms

External influences creating change in ‘energy cultures’ of electricity sector?

Technology developments?

Climate awareness?

Big data?

New policies/laws?

Changing consumer expectations? New business

models?

Further reading: • Stephenson, J., Barton, B., Carrington, G., Gnoth, D., Lawson, R., & Thorsnes, P. (2010a)

Energy Cultures: A framework for understanding energy behaviours. Energy Policy, 38: 6120–6129.

• Stephenson, J., Lawson, R., Carrington, G., Barton, B., Thorsnes, P., & Mirosa, M. (2010b). The practice of interdisciplinarity. International Journal of Interdisciplinary Social Sciences, 5(7), 271-282.

• Carrington, G., Ford, R., Lawson, R., Stephenson, J., Thorsnes, P., Williams, J. (2013) Energy Cultures: Implications for Policymakers. Research Report, Centre for Sustainability, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand. ISBN: 978-0-473-23717-2

• Bell, M., G. Carrington, R. Lawson, J. Stephenson (2014). Socio-technical barriers to the use of low-emission timber drying technology in NZ. Energy Policy 67: 747–755.

• Ford, R., Doering, A., & Stephenson, J. (2014). Transport Transitions in New Zealand: A scoping study. Report for EECA. Centre for Sustainability, University of Otago, NZ

• Hopkins, D., & Stephenson, J. (2014). Generation Y mobilities through the lens of energy cultures: a preliminary exploration of mobility cultures. Journal of Transport Geography, 38, 88-91.

• Stephenson, J., Hopkins, D., Doering, A. (2014). Conceptualizing transport transitions: Energy Cultures as an organizing framework. WIREs Energy Environ. doi: 10.1002/wene.149

• King, G., Stephenson, J., & Ford, R. (2014). PV in Blueskin: Drivers, barriers and enablers • of uptake of household photovoltaic systems in the Blueskin communities. Centre for

Sustainability, University of Otago, Dunedin, NZ. • Ford, R., Stephenson, J., Scott, M., Williams, J., Wooliscroft, B., King, G., & Miller, A.

(2014). PV in New Zealand: The story so far. Centre for Sustainability, University of Otago.

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