Journal of Industrial Ecology

This article proposes a multi-disciplinary and systemic approach to sustainable consumption that combines environmental considerations of energy usage from a life-cycle perspective with a social understanding of consumption grounded in economic anthropology. The goal is to understand both consumption patterns and drivers, with a focus on household energy consumption used for cooling in Metro Manila, the Philippines. For different socio-economic groups, cooling devices also deliver social and cultural services, such as socializing or adhering to Western fashion trends. This article argues for the need to address these aspects, if reductions in household energy usage are to become possible. The limits of individual-choice consumption theories are rendered apparent, with examples of how institutional and structural conditions lock-in consumption patterns and limit household choices. The notion that emerging economies might be able to ̳leapfrog‘ over the environmental errors of more industrialized countries is also raised and critiqued.