• Energy Research

The presented article belongs to the research school of sustainable development economics as a relatively new science discipline within the broader area of heterodox economics. This paper is based on literature studies of homo concepts in economics, sociology and psychology. It identifies a research gap in sustainable economics, especially in sustainable energy management, formulating a novel concept of an economic man involved in energy management called homo energeticus. Homo energeticus concept is verified by empirical evidence at a local level-quantitative research conducted on a sample of 500 households in Lower Silesia region in Poland. The research’s first objective is to build the original author’s methodology on which the shift patterns from homo oeconomicus (neoclassical economics) to homo sustinens (sustainable economics) may be presented and may be used by scientists worldwide. After preparing a method for identifying concept, the second goal is to identify and describe the new concept of behaviour. The main conclusions are the sustainable behavioural pattern is dominating trend observed among households’ local energy management (homo energeticus). The homo energeticus behaviour was confirmed by every third respondent (critical threshold of 70%) or less restrictive and sustainable behaviour model homo sustinens (critical threshold of 50%) by more than 91.8% of whole respondents.

The household as the primary decision-making unit is founded on classical and neoclassical economics. However, household behaviour changes have been noticeable in the last decade, moving towards more green and sustainable patterns, which have been pronounced in EU countries striving for a more significant share of renewable energy sources (RES) in energy consumption. These behaviours can be attributed to sustainable economics and are an essential part of energy transformation, as they are focused on pro-ecological attitudes, considering both financial activities and those related to caring for the environment and future generations. This article aims to segment energy consumers and to determine what attitudes prevailed in the selected segments and to what extent consumers were pro-ecologically oriented when making decisions regarding RES management before the pandemic and the energy crisis outbreak in Europe. We propose a three-segment model for archetyping household energy consumers in Poland by considering the following groups of factors: environmental and energy goods protection (F1), the mirror effect (F2), and energy and devices profitability (F3). The segments are distinguished based on factor analysis and the fuzzy c-means method. The number of segments is determined based on the cluster validity measure. The presented results prove that the F1 factor plays the leading role in each segment. The percentage of positive responses for each segment, including a migrating group of households, oscillates over 80%. It gives strong hope for retaining sustainable attitudes regardless of the pandemic and energy crisis that occurred in 2022 in the EU.