Saving energy to protect the nature, but monitoring to reduce the bill; Experiences from Adjutantti
Meriläinen, Julia (2014)
Kuvaus
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Tiivistelmä
With the still increasing demand for energy, sustainability and consuming in a manner that supports a better quality of life but still leaves resources for the future generations have increased interest among private consumption. The purpose of the thesis is to understand the complexity of sustainable consumption in the context of household energy consumption. The study aims to understand the dimensions of sustainability relevant for this specific area of consumption. The recognized dimensions guide to identifying the challenges related not only to sustainable consumption in general, but more specifically those that make sustainable energy consuming challenging. The difficulties which consumers face when trying to consume energy in a sustainable way range from informational to social challenges.
After building understanding around the challenges and the Finnish household energy consumption in the literacy review, the study aims to uncover what sustainable energy consumption means to consumers who already live in an energy efficient building in Adjutantti in Espoo. The study will also aim to see if the sustainable consumption of these residents has extended to other areas of consumption, such as food and transportation. This study was a qualitative research and data was collected from the residents by in-depth interviews to be able to answer the objectives of the study.
Findings show that there were several differences between households in consuming and attempts to save energy, despite the enabling solutions being the same for all. The energy consumption is affected by both needs and wants, but this specific target group didn’t seem to face as many challenges as energy consumers in general. The ability to monitor and receive accurate information of consumption was a key motivator. Despite residents having many new routines after moving to Adjutantti, the study was unable to uncover completely new areas of sustainable consumption, as these conscious consumers were already considerate on several other areas of consumption as well.
After building understanding around the challenges and the Finnish household energy consumption in the literacy review, the study aims to uncover what sustainable energy consumption means to consumers who already live in an energy efficient building in Adjutantti in Espoo. The study will also aim to see if the sustainable consumption of these residents has extended to other areas of consumption, such as food and transportation. This study was a qualitative research and data was collected from the residents by in-depth interviews to be able to answer the objectives of the study.
Findings show that there were several differences between households in consuming and attempts to save energy, despite the enabling solutions being the same for all. The energy consumption is affected by both needs and wants, but this specific target group didn’t seem to face as many challenges as energy consumers in general. The ability to monitor and receive accurate information of consumption was a key motivator. Despite residents having many new routines after moving to Adjutantti, the study was unable to uncover completely new areas of sustainable consumption, as these conscious consumers were already considerate on several other areas of consumption as well.