Consuming energy sustainably – consuming sustainable energy
The project “Consuming energy sustainably -consuming sustainable energy. Heat energy in the field of tension between social predictors, economic conditions and ecological consciousness” is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research as part of the topical focus "From knowledge to action- New approaches to sustainable consumption" of the “Socio-ecological research” under the promotional reference 01UV0808.
The inter- and transdisciplinary orientation of the project brings together architects and city planners of the European Institute for Energy Research (EIFER), energy researcher of the Institute for Energy Economics and Rational Use of Energy at the University of Stuttgart (IER), economists from the Bremer Energy Institute (BEI), jurists of the Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt on the Main as well as sociologists of the Interdisciplinary Research Unit on Risk Governance and Sustainable Technology Development (ZIRN) at the University of Stuttgart. With ZIRN (University of Stuttgart) being responsible for the project coordination.
The scientific objective of the project is the comprehensive and interdisciplinary analysis of heat energy consumption on three levels of analysis: On the micro-level, attitudes and actions of consumers are analyzed. On the meso-level, the project studies periptery organizations influencing consumers and the meso-actors representing them. On the structural level, the focus is laid on the technical, city-planning, economic, legal and political surrounding conditions within which the consumers and meso-actors maneuver. The analytical focus is placed on the micro-level. With consumers as well as a detailed analysis of their restrictions, incentives and degrees of freedom in reference to a sustainable handling of heat energy being the cornerstones of analysis. Furthermore the different situations of tenants and landlords are taken into consideration, for example by separately assessing the investment behavior of proprietors in respect to renewable heat energy technologies or measures of redevelopment for thermal insulation.
While the first step of the analysis concerns itself with consumers, the next step focuses on actors in their periphery as well as their influence on the supply and use of heat energy. Structural, institutional and regulative factors and mechanisms are surveyed in close cooperation with practitioners. The participating practitioners come from various domains such as energy providers, building societies, advising institutions and consumer protection.
The project is conceived as a comparison of regions (Stuttgart and Leipzig), so as to incorporate different socialization processes, building- and settlement structures, which might cause diverging consumption and investment habits.
It is the objective of the project to unveil incentives and restraints for sustainable heat consumption and thus derive recommendations for action aimed at specific actors, with the objective of increasing sustainability within the energy sector.
The project runs from March 2008 to February 2011.
