Sustainable electricity consumption: Analyzing success factors and barriers on the individual and political level

 The consumption of electricity is continuously increasing in German households. This development has consequences for the environment. Now that research findings have shown that there is a high potential for reducing the electricity consumption in individual households, these results must lead to further steps. How can these electricity saving potentials in private households be increasingly tapped?While some factors can facilitate sustainable electricity consumption, others can represent barriers inhibiting the implementation of necessary policy instruments or leading consumers to hesitation instead of action. For analyzing the success factors and barriers, it is necessary to look at the individual behavioral level as well as the political level. In doing so, the complexity of electricity consumption patterns is captured best.At this conference, we aim to focus on both levels of analysis. Especially, we are interested in the following aspects:

• What do new empirical findings have to say about the electricity consumption behavior of private households? Why do some households do their very best to save electricity while others continue to consume high amounts of energy and to buy power-hungry appliances?
• How can these empirical findings be conceptualized in a theoretical way? How can a theoretical model take into account the complex interactions between individual behavior and the social-political context?
• There are some promising political options for overcoming the distinctive barriers which emerge when private households try to save electricity. Mandatory energy labels, grants or subsidies for the purchase of highly efficient electrical appliances, informative electricity bills and smart metering, neighborhood initiatives for saving electricity, or White Certificates are only some examples of various broadly discussed policy instruments. But is there empirical evidence of their success? Do these policy instruments keep what they have promised? What factors influence their success or failure?
• How can the effectiveness of political instruments be measured theoretically? How can their success be compared?
• To what kind of political advice do the empirical and theoretical findings lead?

We expect impact assessments of electricity saving policies in OECD countries, as well as (comparative) case studies explaining individual consumption behavior and evaluating the effectiveness or non-effectiveness of policy instruments in this field of research. As far as the methodological approaches and research designs are concerned, we are especially interested in (comparative) case studies using qualitative and/or quantitative methods.The conference is organized by TRANSPOSE, a social-ecological research project funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research from 2008-2011. The TRANSPOSE Midterm Conference is designed to be a forum for substantive discussion on sustainable electricity consumption among an international audience. Around 40 scholars will be gathered for this workshop-like conference. For further information on TRANSPOSE, please visit our website [1]If you wish to join our TRANSPOSE Midterm Conference, please send us your proposal by Tuesday, 30 June 2009. You can do this by e-mailing your proposal as an attached file in word format to Dr. Hildegard Pamme [2]  and Dr. Kerstin Tews [3]. The proposal should be typed with 1.5 line spacing on one/two A4 pages and should cover your research question, the concrete field of research, the applied methods and your main results. If there are any questions, do not hesitate to contact us!In case your proposal is chosen, travel costs as well as board and lodging will be provided.We intend to publish the results of our discussions in an edited volume.