Energy behaviours as promoters of energy efficiency: A 21st century review

Energy behaviours represent a significant untapped potential for the increase of end-use energy efficiency in buildings. Although energy behaviours are a major determinant of energy use in buildings, energy savings potential due to behaviour are usually neglected, albeit being referred to be as high as those from technological solutions. This paper presents a review of recent literature on energy behaviours in order to recognise recent trends, quantify energy behaviours potential savings, characterise energy behaviour modelling strategies and identify potential research gaps. Energy behaviour research is vast and has been essentially focused on the residential sector, striving to establish behaviour determinants and the best strategies and instruments to promote more efficient energy behaviours. Potential savings of energy behaviours are referred to reach 20%, but values differ up to 100% between experiences and additional studies to quantify behavioural savings are needed, in particular by using standard quantification techniques. Different modelling techniques have been used to model energy behaviours: qualitative approaches from the social sciences trying to interpret behaviour, here named energy behaviour frameworks; quantitative approaches from the engineering and economics that quantify energy consumption, here designated by energy models; and hybrid approaches that are considered the most relevant since they integrate multiple dimensions of energy behaviours, here referred as energy behaviour modelling. Energy behaviours have a crucial role in promoting energy efficiency, but energy behaviours characteristics and complexity create several research challenges that must be overcome so energy behaviours may be properly valorised and integrated in the energy policy context. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.