What can energy efficiency policy learn from thinking about sex?

Panel: Panel 2: Dynamics of Consumption

Author:
Harold Wilhite, Centre for Development and the Environment

Abstract

It should be obvious from the title that the purpose of this paper is to provoke new thinking, and that the object of the provocation is firmly anchored assumptions concerning behaviour and change. When it comes to the domain of energy efficiency policy, simplifying assumptions abound; about human behaviour, theories of social and technological change, and the workings of markets.

The policy discourse which embraces these assumptions has demonstrated remarkable intransigence in the face of persistent evidence of flaws over its 25 year history. The claim of conference title that "energy efficiency can get us there" (to meet the climate challenge) is only partially correct. The cold facts are that in spite of the energy efficiency efforts of the past decades, energy use has continued to increase in OECD countries. Lack of commitment is only part of the problem and more of the same will only keep us from falling further behind.

A renewal of the social theory which informs energy consumption and conservation is called for in the face of environmental challenges. This paper makes a case for the existence of a the dominant discourse in the overlapping domains of energy efficiency policy and applied research and points to weaknesses and anomalies. It argues that conceptualisations of human action have been dominated by the assumptions of neo-classical economics, with its methodological individualism and economically rational actors.

There is an urgent need for the development of a more robust theory of consumption, one which incorporates social relations and cultural context, as well as perspectives on individual agency and social change.

The paper will draw attention to important perspectives which have been absent or marginalised in the energy efficiency discourse, including the acknowledgement that comfort and other energy services are socially constructed. It argues for a replacement of "individual rationality" with a perspective which accounts for how individuals create meaningful lives within a matrix of social relations which both enable and constrain behaviour.