• Energy Research

Consumer-oriented environmental policies came high on the political agenda during the 1990s. Internationally, consumers were assigned a key role in environmental policies; also in Denmark, political initiatives were taken to promote sustainable consumer behaviour. In this article, the results of Danish policies related to consumption and environment are assessed by considering first, the environmental impacts of the political measures, and second, whether the policies have succeeded in addressing the dynamics behind increasing consumption. The study combines a theoretical understanding of consumption as an inseparable part of daily practices with empirical analyses of three fields of consumption: Housing, transportation, and information and communication technology. It is pointed out that policies to promote sustainable consumption are successful only when technological development, economic structures, and information are all in accordance with each other, and this is only the case when sustainable consumption does not conflict with economic growth. A more fundamental critique thus concerns the failure of Danish consumer-oriented environmental policies to address consumption growth and the rising standards for “normal consumption”.

It is commonly accepted that occupants have a significant influence on the variation in residential heating consumption. However, the scale of that influence lacks empirical investigation. The aim of this study was to distinguish which part of the variance in actual residential heating consumption can be attributed to the occupants, and which part to the building itself. This was achieved by applying and extending a method suggested by Sonderegger in 1978, using updated and significantly improved data from two different countries: the Netherlands and Denmark. These data contain different types of heating supply systems (district heating and natural gas) and different housing forms (multi and single-family social housing, and private detached single-family houses). For the studied databases, the results indicate that approximately 50% of the variance in heating consumption between houses can be explained by differences related to occupants. The other 50% can be explained by the characteristics of the building itself and other physical parameters, which are often not taken into account in simulation models of heat transmission within buildings. Additional analyses indicate that the relative influence of occupants on heating consumption differs depending on the building characteristics of the dwelling. For example, the influence of occupants is larger when the building is more energy efficient. Based on the research results, it can be concluded that it is unrealistic to aim for a building simulation model that perfectly projects residential heating consumption for individual cases. However, creating building simulation models and occupant consumption profiles that accurately represent average residential heating consumption should be possible.

In the near future, renewable energy sources (RES) will make up an increasing share of energy production in the district heating grid, implying that utilities must enable energy flexibility in order to compensate for the intermittent nature of RES. Current initiatives rely on smart approaches, encouraging a flexible energy demand by integrating various demand-side-management technologies. While praised for their ‘smart’ capabilities, smart home technologies have also been criticized for not meeting their potential in terms of savings and flexibility. This paper examines space-heating practices in everyday life in 16 Danish households. The study relies on qualitative in-depth interviews and ‘show and tell’ tours within these homes. Results show how space-heating practices are reconfigured by embodied knowledge related to respectively space-heating and use of smart technology. This implies that occupants’ adaption to smart home technology is reconfigured by their previous experiences as well as the meanings they ascribed to their practices. By showing the different ways in which occupants ‘get to know’ smart home technology, results highlight forms of embodied knowledge which occupants habitually draw on when they heat their homes. Occupants learn and carry competences for conducting space heating throughout life, and interventions aimed at enabling a flexible energy demand need to consider this. As smart home technology is integrated in homes, interventions should consider embodied knowledge as part of occupants’ competences for controlling smart home technology, as this will impact the reconfiguration of (new) space heating practices.

Much policy effort focuses on energy efficiency of technology, though not only efficiency but also user behaviour is an important factor influencing the amount of consumed energy. This paper explores to what extent energy efficiency of appliances and houses or user behaviour is the more important, both for understanding why some households consume much more energy than others, and when looking for relevant approaches to a future low-carbon society. The paper uses several sources to explore this question, most of them from a Danish context, including results from the researcher's own projects and Danish national statistics. These Danish data are discussed together with international studies. Through the presentation of these different projects and examples, it is shown how user behaviour is at least as important as the efficiency of technology when explaining households' energy consumption in Denmark. In the conclusion, these results are discussed in a broader international perspective and it is concluded that more research in this field is necessary. In relation to energy policy, it is argued that it is not a question of technology efficiency or behaviour, as both have to be included in future policy if energy demand is actually to be reduced. Furthermore, it is also argued that not only individual behaviour is relevant, but also a broader perspective on collectively shared low-carbon practices has to be promoted.

This article develops concepts of what the home is and reflects on smart home technology and the research literature on smart homes in relation to these concepts. The focus is on the aspects of smart home technologies related to energy management within the home (end-uses) and at network or grid level (system). Four aspects of a home are distinguished: a place for security and control, for activity, for relationships and continuity, and for identity and values. These aspects of home are used to discuss approaches to, and ideas of, the smart home, as reflected in the research literature. It is shown that technical and ‘prospective’ research literature focuses on aspects of security and control in the home as well as on activities, whereas research papers that are more conceptual and evaluative are more likely to include questions of relations, values and identities. The paper concludes that a broader understanding of the home in all aspects is needed when conducting research into smart homes. This can be valuable when evaluating how smart home technologies work in real homes, as well as in the more technical and prospective approaches to developing new socio-technical configurations.

According to EU regulations on heat metering, households should be metered individually and pay accordingly. However, in apartment blocks, heating is often provided for the whole building, and different ways of distributing costs are used. In Denmark, an investigation has been carried out into new ways of distributing costs, using indoor climate measurements of temperature, CO2 and humidity. Incorporating these three types of measurements in payment distribution can create an incentive to encourage residents to pursue a healthier indoor climate with lower energy consumption. This paper reports on qualitative interviews with residents as well as housing staff taking part in the experiment, relating empirical findings to questions of justice and ethics raised in the literature. Analysis reveals differing levels of understanding among residents concerning metering systems and rationales, including in relation to cost distribution and questions of justice. The experiment was carried out in social housing blocks where some residents could be categorised as vulnerable in terms of limited income and specific heating needs. Furthermore, issues of global climate and justice from an intergenerational perspective are also considered. This paper therefore draws on wider discussions about energy justice and vulnerability related to types of heat metering, and shows how these issues are interlinked with the socio-material context and the interplay with socio-technical constructions of comfort norms. The relevance of country-specific insights are thus demonstrated at a European level and beyond.

Abstract The energy crisis during Winter 2022–2023 placed energy high on the public agenda in Denmark, including a hitherto unseen focus on dynamic electricity prices. This paper identifies a normalisation of following electricity prices online during the crisis and changing practices accordingly, the aim of the paper being to learn from this normalisation theoretically as well as policy-wise. The paper is based on a quantitative survey (N = 1000) and in-depth qualitative interviews (n = 30). Results showed that among those who indicate that they have flexible electricity prices almost 70% say that they follow prices daily, and an even larger share indicate that they are more aware of the timing of their electricity use compared to one year ago. Furthermore, more than half of the households used timers on their washing machines and dishwashers to time-shift appliance-use. Through an analysis of variation in interest and practices of time-shifting, we construct a parameter that we call ‘care for the energy system’, which showed more correlations than households’ socio-economy. The qualitative interviews revealed how experiences and engagement in time-shifting of practices for some households was prompted by tight economic constraints and for other households by care for energy and interest in green energy consumption. The results suggest that variable prices coupled with media and authority communication can encourage people to care for the energy system through time-shifting. However, as economic incentives can have social consequences, price signals should be coupled with financial support for vulnerable households.