Factors Related to Household Energy Use and Intention to Reduce It : The Role of Psychological and Socio-Demographic Variables

This study explored the relationships between household energy use and householders’ intention to reduce their energy use on the one hand, and psychological variables and socio-demographic variables on the other. More specifically, the study examined whether the explanation of household energy use and intentions to reduce it could be informed by variables from the theory of planned behavior (TPB; Ajzen, 1985) and by variables from the value-belief-norm theory (VBN; Stern, et al., 1999), alongside socio-demographic variables. Household energy use appeared to be most strongly related to socio-demographic variables (income, household size, age), while attitudinal variables and self-transcendence values (tradition/security and power/achievement) were important too. Intention to reduce household energy use was positively related to perceived behavioral control and attitudes toward energy conservation. Implications of these results for future research in the domain of household energy use and conservation are discussed.