Thermostats with attitudes: A sociological analysis of assumptions underlying common approaches to reducing residential energy consumption

This dissertation contributes to the emerging literature in the sociology of energy consumption by answering three important questions about the assumptions underlying popular approaches to reducing energy consumption behavior. The answers are gleaned from data on Wisconsin households gathered in 1998 and 1999.; The first question has to do with the efficacy of a “cognitive fix” approach of attempting to change attitudes in hopes of changing behavior, and asks whether energy-related attitudes can predict actual energy savings. The results of a regression analysis of heating energy intensity revealed that a variable measuring respondents' attitudes toward energy conservation predict heating energy intensity, but the effect was overwhelmed by control variables for insulation and draftiness. These and other results offer some support for the cognitive fix approach of attitudinal change as a means of reducing energy consumption.; The second question concerns a popular “technological fix” of subsidizing the replacement of manual thermostats with programmable ones, and asks whether programmable thermostats actually save significant home heating energy. The data show that households with programmable thermostats appear to use no less energy than do households with manual thermostats, and that it is behavioral norms, not the type of thermostat, that determine thermostat setting behavior. The results suggest strongly that in aggregate, the installation of programmable thermostats in residential households cannot be expected to deliver promised energy savings.; The third question addressed is whether popular knowledge about global warming or the connection between energy use and global environmental change is growing, and if so, what is the likelihood that these prospective socio-cultural shifts might result in increased residential energy conservation. The analysis suggests that, compared to the findings of earlier studies, awareness of the environmental consequences of energy use is on the increase, but the likelihood that this growing awareness will lead to increased conservation appears to be minimal.; In addition to answering the questions above, this work provides an example of how a comprehensive sociological approach to studying energy consumption can help inform our understanding of energy use in ways that earlier approaches could not.