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Energy Use: The Human Dimension
ENERGY USE
The Human Dimension
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Energy Use: The Human Dimension
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Energy Use: The Human Dimension
ENERGY USE
The Human Dimension
Paul C.Stern and Elliot Aronson, Editors
Committee on Behavioral and Social Aspects of Energy Consumption and Production
Commission on Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education
National Research Council
W.H.Freeman and Company
New York
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Energy Use: The Human Dimension
Notice: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Governing Board of the National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the councils of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The members of the committee responsible for the report were chosen for their special competences and with regard for appropriate balance.
This report has been reviewed by a group other than the authors according to procedures approved by a Report Review Committee consisting of members of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine.
The National Research Council was established by the National Academy of Sciences in 1916 to associate the broad community of science and technology with the Academy’s purposes of furthering knowledge and of advising the federal government. The Council operates in accordance with general policies determined by the Academy under the authority of its congressional charter of 1863, which establishes the Academy as a private, nonprofit, self-governing membership corporation. The Council has become the principal operating agency of both the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering in the conduct of their services to the government, the public, and the scientific and engineering communities. It is administered jointly by both Academies and the Institute of Medicine. The National Academy of Engineering and the Institute of Medicine were established in 1964 and 1970, respectively, under the charter of the National Academy of Sciences.
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Main entry under title:
Energy use.
Bibliography: p.
Includes index.
1. Energy consumption—United States—Psychological aspects. 2. Energy industries—Social aspects—United States. I. Stern, Paul C., 1944-II. Aronson, Elliot. III. National Research Council (U.S.). Commitee on Behavioral and Social Aspects of Energy Consumption and Production.
HD9502.U52E565 1984 306′.03 84–1633
ISBN 0-7167-1620-8
ISBN 0-7167-1621-6 (pbk.)
Copyright © 1984 by W.H.Freeman and Company
No part of this book may be reproduced by any mechanical, photographic, or electronic process, or in the form of a phonographic recording, nor may it be stored in a retrieval system, transmitted, or otherwise copied for public or private use, without written permission from the publisher.
Printed in the United States of America
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Energy Use: The Human Dimension
Committee on Behavioral and Social Aspects of Energy Consumption and Production
Elliot Aronson,
Stevenson College, University of California, Santa Cruz
(Chair)
Robert Axelrod,
Institute of Public Policy Studies, University of Michigan
John M.Darley,
Department of Psychology, Princeton University
Sara B.Kiesler,
Department of Social Science, Carnegie-Mellon University
Dorothy Leonard-Barton,
Sloan School of Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
James G.March,
Graduate School of Business, Stanford University
James N.Morgan,
Survey Research Center, University of Michigan
Peter A.Morrison,
The Rand Corporation, Santa Monica, California
Lincoln Moses,
Department of Statistics, Stanford University
Laura Nader,
Department of Anthropology, University of California, Berkeley
Steven E.Permut,
School of Organization and Management, Yale University
Allan Schnaiberg,
Department of Sociology, Northwestern University
Robert H.Socolow,
Center for Energy and Environmental Studies, Princeton University
Thomas J.Wilbanks,
Energy Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee
Sidney Winter,
School of Organization and Management, Yale University
Paul C.Stern, Study Director
Richard Hofrichter, Research Associate
Ellis Cose, National Research Council Fellow
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Energy Use: The Human Dimension
Preface
In 1980, at the request of the U. S. Department of Energy, the National Research Council established the Committee on the Behavioral and Social Aspects of Energy Consumption and Production. Our charge was to undertake a broad review of literature in the behavioral and social sciences with potential relevance to an understanding of energy consumption and production in the United States. The need for such a review was pressing. To take one rather dramatic example, violence broke out among motorists at gasoline stations during the 1979 petroleum shortfall. That behavior was not anticipated by policy makers, although the basis for anticipating it was available in the data and ideas developed over the years in social psychological research on the antecedents of aggression, as well as on ways of curtailing its harsher consequences. The effects of a far greater shortfall could make the violence of 1979 look pallid by comparison unless U. S. policy makers have at their disposal a sophisticated understanding of such phenomena.
By establishing this committee, the Department of Energy has explicitly recognized the potential of the noneconomic social sciences for informing energy policy. This was clear from the initial description of the committee’s purpose and tasks:
Economic paradigms, together with assessments of the potential contributions of new and existing technologies, will continue to provide the basis for the analysis of alternative public policies relating both to energy production and consumption. At the same time, there is considerable evidence to suggest that the noneconomic behavioral and social sciences can contribute significantly to such analyses in at least four major areas.
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Energy Use: The Human Dimension
“1) Increasing the accuracy of predictions of behavioral responses to economic incentives.” For example, analysis of social, psychological, and organizational factors mediating energy use can help explain why economic incentives have not always had the expected effects on the behavior of individuals and firms. Research in the noneconomic social sciences can also illuminate the processes of formation and change of consumer preferences, which are usually treated as exogenous in economic models.
“2) Increasing our knowledge of noneconomic approaches to behavior change.” It has long been observed that under some conditions, changes in social norms, such as those encoded in civil rights laws, produce corresponding changes in behavior. But it is also true that under other conditions behavioral changes occur in the absence of legal sanctions, economic incentives, threats, penalties, and the like. In recent years, research in social psychology has made great progress in differentiating among those sets of conditions. For example, much research has shown that when compliance is induced with minimum pressure, the resulting changes in behavior can be far stronger than those induced by strong sanctions. Such processes of social influence are almost certainly applicable to energy consumption.
“3) Increasing the capacity of the public to make choices about new and existing energy technologies.” Knowledge developed by psychologists, sociologists, and other researchers concerned with organizational behavior can be useful for improving communication systems, understanding the basis of public perceptions of risk from energy technologies, and understanding the responses of producers to changing consumer preferences.
“4) Anticipating the consequences of alternative energy policies.” Energy policies may, for example, influence interregional migration, create needs for new types of skills and training within the work force, and alter housing and transportation patterns. Such changes in major social systems and processes may potentiate or undermine the intended effects of policies, or they may produce important secondary, unintended effects.
Thus, significant potential contributions from the noneconomic behavioral and social sciences are evident. But these fields have only recently begun to address energy issues. As a result their contributions can at present only occasionally take the form of propositions derived specifically from the empirical study of energy issues. More often, basic knowledge developed through the study of behavioral and social processes can call attention to opportunities or problems that might otherwise be overlooked by energy policy makers. Although it cannot be used to prescribe the details of implementation, this knowledge can suggest strategies for im-
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plementing policies and programs; it may point toward new policy initiatives; it may also suggest ways to acquire knowledge that could reduce the likelihood of major policy mistakes.
This book draws together these contributions as they relate to a selection of energy policy issues. Because of the wide range within which potential contributions exist, we have chosen to explore only part of the territory. We treat selected contributions in depth rather than give a superficial account of many, so that readers—especially those unfamiliar with work in the noneconomic behavioral and social sciences—may gain a more substantial understanding of how the knowledge and concepts developed in these disciplines can be useful in energy policy debates.
Our goal, in short, is to offer relevant ideas, theories, and research results from several social and behavioral sciences in the hope of increasing the understanding of policy makers and citizens about vital factors that affect some of the ways people relate to the energy system. It is our belief that without such understanding, energy policy will be at best incomplete, and, occasionally, misdirected.
Finally, I should say something about how our work was actually done. We met periodically as a full committee discussing ideas, reviewing literature, arguing, criticizing, honing, and sharpening written drafts. The committee meetings themselves were almost always stimulating; sometimes they were even enjoyable! In a real sense, it can be said that every member of this committee is an author of the entire manuscript because each of us contributed ideas, insights, criticisms, or research to every chapter.
In addition, we divided into subgroups for the actual drafting of chapters, so that some of us are more responsible for certain chapters than for others. It goes almost without saying, however, that no book or chapter can be effectively pulled together and synthesized by a committee—or even by a subcommittee—unless someone is willing to take on an unusual degree of responsibility for major segments of the project. We were fortunate to have more than a few committee members who performed this function—each for his or her major segment. Paramount among these is our study director, Paul C.Stern, who did the lion’s share of the cajoling, synthesizing, and editing. I am especially grateful to him for his wisdom and effort.
In addition, it is a pleasure to express my personal appreciation to several people outside the committee who contributed a great deal to the project. These include William Lewis, Lester Silverman, Nicolai Timenes, Peggy Davis, Diane Pirkey, and Barry McNutt of the Department of Energy; David Goslin and Heidi Hartmann, executive director and associate executive director of the Commission on Behavioral and Social Sci-
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ences and Education; Richard Hofrichter, our research associate, and Ellis Cose, our NRC fellow.
We would also like to acknowledge editorial help provided by Eugenia Grohman, the Commission’s associate director for reports, and Ellis Cose; and secretarial help provided by Wendy Siniard, Andrea Gershenow, Grace Stewart, and Donna Reifsnider. Various chapters were reviewed by a great many individuals, alas too numerous to name.
Elliot Aronson, Chair
Committee on Behavioral and Social Aspects of Energy Consumption and Production
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Contents
Chapter 1.
The Human Dimension
1
Surprises in the Energy System
2
About this Book
6
Notes
11
Chapter 2.
Thinking About Energy
14
Four Views of Energy
14
The Dominance of the Commodity View
23
The Need for a Broader View
26
Notes
29
Chapter 3.
Some Barriers to Energy Efficiency
32
Energy Invisibility and its Legacy
35
Problems of Energy Information
40
The Symbolic Meanings of Energy Use
46
Limited Choice
47
Summary
52
Notes
52
Chapter 4.
Individuals and Households as Energy Users
55
Five Views of the Individual as Energy User
59
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Energy Use: The Human Dimension
Social and Psychological Processes Affecting Energy Users
65
Making Energy Information Programs Effective
73
Home Energy Audits
89
Summary and Implications
99
Notes
102
Chapter 5.
Operations and Energy Consumption
106
Organizations as Energy Users
106
The Role of Intermediaries in Energy Use
117
Notes
129
Chapter 6.
Energy Emergencies
132
The Variety of Energy Emergencies
133
Prevention and Preparedness
138
Diversity and Conflict in Energy Emergencies
141
Preparing for Surprises
145
Information Needs in Emergencies
148
Implications for the Federal Role
150
Implications and Recommendations
155
Notes
159
Chapter 7.
Local Energy Action
161
The Phenomena
162
How Much Can Local Energy Action Accomplish?
164
Issues Affecting Local Energy Action
169
Implications and Recommendations
178
Notes
180
Chapter 8.
Conclusions and Recommendations
182
The Energy System and Energy Policy
182
Recommendations
195
References
205
Appendix: Biographical Sketches of Committee Members and Staff
221
Index
227
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