Choosing to save

Various barriers for the uptake of energy-efficiency measures in the domestic sector have been identified. Projects try to quantify the effect of individual barriers like transaction costs, information lack, access to technologies or convenience. We propose to use the ‘consumer choice chain’ as a wider framework to understand energy-efficiency choices by domestic consumers. This allows comparison of energy-efficiency behaviour between consumer segments, applications, and countries. Thus policy makers can target and monitor campaigns and policy measures. As the ‘consumer choice chain’ tracks the movement of consumer shares over time, it also allows the quantification of time lags involved in consumer responses.