IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/enepol/v55y2013icp105-116.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Lessons for integrated household energy conservation policy from Singapore’s southwest Eco-living Program

Author

Listed:
  • He, H.Z.
  • Kua, H.W.

Abstract

This study describes a district-level energy intervention and conservation program designed and implemented with the help of community stakeholders, which include students and staff of an educational institution, the National University of Singapore, a local non-governmental environmental group in Singapore and the district government. The program – known formally as the Eco-living Program – was funded by the district government and implemented in the Hong Kah North Residential Council in the south western part of Singapore. The research objectives are three-fold: (1) compare the effectiveness of different intervention methods, based on self-reported behavior scores and actual electricity reduction; (2) investigate how behavior and electricity consumption are influenced by values, situational and psychological factors; (3) assess the effectiveness of different methods of intervention and provide recommendations for improvement. It was found that a combined use of leaflets and stickers resulted in highest (that is, 15.8%) reduction in average consumption. Ease of practicing the recommended energy conservation actions is a strong motivators to change energy consumption behavior. This program exemplifies the important role that community-initiated bottom-up programs can play in promoting sustainable consumption with the financial support from the local (district) government.

Suggested Citation

  • He, H.Z. & Kua, H.W., 2013. "Lessons for integrated household energy conservation policy from Singapore’s southwest Eco-living Program," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 105-116.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:55:y:2013:i:c:p:105-116
    DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2012.10.067
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301421512009524
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.enpol.2012.10.067?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Scott, S., 1997. "Household energy efficiency in Ireland: A replication study of ownership of energy saving items," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(2), pages 187-208, May.
    2. Crossley, David J., 1983. "Identifying barriers to the success of consumer energy conservation policies," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 8(7), pages 533-546.
    3. van Houwelingen, Jeannet H & van Raaij, W Fred, 1989. "The Effect of Goal-Setting and Daily Electronic Feedback on In-home Energy Use," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 16(1), pages 98-105, June.
    4. Altan, Hasim, 2010. "Energy efficiency interventions in UK higher education institutions," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(12), pages 7722-7731, December.
    5. Wijarso,, 1983. "Energy conservation measures in Indonesia," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 8(1), pages 93-96.
    6. Coltrane, Scott & Archer, Dane & Aronson, Elliot, 1986. "The social-psychological foundations of successful energy conservation programmes," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 14(2), pages 133-148, April.
    7. Kua, H.W. & Wong, S.E., 2012. "Lessons for integrated household energy conservation policies from an intervention study in Singapore," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 49-56.
    8. Geller, E Scott, 1981. "Evaluating Energy Conservation Programs: Is Verbal Report Enough?," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 8(3), pages 331-335, December.
    9. Schipper, Lee & Hawk, Dianne V., 1991. "More efficient household electricity-use : An international perspective," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 19(3), pages 244-265, April.
    10. Macey, Susan M., 1991. "A causal model of the adoption of home heating energy conservation measures," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 16(3), pages 621-630.
    11. Vanessa Brechling & Stephen Smith, 1994. "Household energy efficiency in the UK," Fiscal Studies, Institute for Fiscal Studies, vol. 15(2), pages 44-56, May.
    12. Chua, K.J. & Chou, S.K., 2010. "Energy performance of residential buildings in Singapore," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 35(2), pages 667-678.
    13. Andrew Gilg & Stewart Barr, 2005. "Encouraging 'Environmental Action' by Exhortation: Evidence from a Study in Devon," Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 48(4), pages 593-618.
    14. Steg, Linda, 2008. "Promoting household energy conservation," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(12), pages 4449-4453, December.
    15. Benders, Rene M.J. & Kok, Rixt & Moll, Henri C. & Wiersma, Gerwin & Noorman, Klaas Jan, 2006. "New approaches for household energy conservation--In search of personal household energy budgets and energy reduction options," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(18), pages 3612-3622, December.
    16. McDougall, Gordon H G, et al, 1981. "Consumer Energy Research: A Review," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 8(3), pages 343-354, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Stephanie Paige Williams & Gladman Thondhlana & Harn Wei Kua, 2020. "Electricity Use Behaviour in a High-Income Neighbourhood in Johannesburg, South Africa," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(11), pages 1-19, June.
    2. Shen, Meng & Lu, Yujie & Wei, Kua Harn & Cui, Qingbin, 2020. "Prediction of household electricity consumption and effectiveness of concerted intervention strategies based on occupant behaviour and personality traits," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 127(C).
    3. Lorenzo Chelleri & Harn Wei Kua & Juan Pablo Rodríguez Sánchez & Kh Md Nahiduzzaman & Gladman Thondhlana, 2016. "Are People Responsive to a More Sustainable, Decentralized, and User-Driven Management of Urban Metabolism?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(3), pages 1-12, March.
    4. Leo Cleverdon & Simon Pole & Roger Weston & Sindy Banga & Terry Tudor, 2017. "The Engagement of Students in Higher Education Institutions with the Concepts of Sustainability: A Case Study of the University of Northampton, in England," Resources, MDPI, vol. 6(1), pages 1-13, January.
    5. Zhu, Zhi-Shuang & Liao, Hua & Cao, Huai-Shu & Wang, Lu & Wei, Yi-Ming & Yan, Jinyue, 2014. "The differences of carbon intensity reduction rate across 89 countries in recent three decades," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 808-815.
    6. Juaidi, Adel & AlFaris, Fadi & Montoya, Francisco G. & Manzano-Agugliaro, Francisco, 2016. "Energy benchmarking for shopping centers in Gulf Coast region," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 247-255.
    7. Balogh, P. & Bai, A. & Popp, J. & Huzsvai, L. & Jobbágy, P., 2015. "Internet-orientated Hungarian car drivers’ knowledge and attitudes towards biofuels," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 17-26.
    8. Lu, Shibao & Wang, Jianhua & Shang, Yizi & Bao, Haijun & Chen, Huixiong, 2017. "Potential assessment of optimizing energy structure in the city of carbon intensity target," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 194(C), pages 765-773.
    9. Uzziah Mutumbi & Gladman Thondhlana & Sheunesu Ruwanza, 2022. "The Status of Household Electricity Use Behaviour Research in South Africa between 2000 and 2022," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(23), pages 1-14, November.
    10. Zhang, Xiaoling & Wang, Yue, 2017. "How to reduce household carbon emissions: A review of experience and policy design considerations," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 116-124.
    11. Agarwal, Sumit & Sing, Tien Foo & Sultana, Mahanaaz, 2022. "Public media campaign and energy conservation: A natural experiment in Singapore," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 114(C).
    12. Spandagos, Constantine & Baark, Erik & Ng, Tze Ling & Yarime, Masaru, 2021. "Social influence and economic intervention policies to save energy at home: Critical questions for the new decade and evidence from air-condition use," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).
    13. Spandagos, Constantine & Yarime, Masaru & Baark, Erik & Ng, Tze Ling, 2020. "“Triple Target” policy framework to influence household energy behavior: Satisfy, strengthen, include," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 269(C).
    14. Hemant Chauhan & Ashutosh Pandey & Saurabh Mishra & Shashi Kant Rai, 2021. "Modeling the predictors of consumers’ online purchase intention of green products: the role of personal innovativeness and environmental drive," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 23(11), pages 16769-16785, November.
    15. Uzziah Mutumbi & Gladman Thondhlana & Sheunesu Ruwanza, 2022. "Co-Designed Interventions Yield Significant Electricity Savings among Low-Income Households in Makhanda South Africa," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-17, March.
    16. Uzziah Mutumbi & Gladman Thondhlana & Sheunesu Ruwanza, 2021. "Reported Behavioural Patterns of Electricity Use among Low-Income Households in Makhanda, South Africa," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(13), pages 1-17, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Kua, H.W. & Wong, S.E., 2012. "Lessons for integrated household energy conservation policies from an intervention study in Singapore," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 49-56.
    2. Kajsa Ellegård & Jenny Palm, 2015. "Who Is Behaving? Consequences for Energy Policy of Concept Confusion," Energies, MDPI, vol. 8(8), pages 1-20, July.
    3. Mills, Bradford & Schleich, Joachim, 2012. "Residential energy-efficient technology adoption, energy conservation, knowledge, and attitudes: An analysis of European countries," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 616-628.
    4. Sardianou, Eleni, 2007. "Estimating energy conservation patterns of Greek households," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(7), pages 3778-3791, July.
    5. Yue, Ting & Long, Ruyin & Chen, Hong, 2013. "Factors influencing energy-saving behavior of urban households in Jiangsu Province," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 665-675.
    6. Uzziah Mutumbi & Gladman Thondhlana & Sheunesu Ruwanza, 2022. "Co-Designed Interventions Yield Significant Electricity Savings among Low-Income Households in Makhanda South Africa," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-17, March.
    7. Lembregts, Christophe & Cadario, Romain, 2024. "Consumer-Driven Climate Mitigation: Exploring Barriers and Solutions in Studying Higher Mitigation Potential Behaviors," OSF Preprints ywus6, Center for Open Science.
    8. Claudia Aravena & Andrés Riquelme & Eleanor Denny, 2016. "Money, Comfort or Environment? Priorities and Determinants of Energy Efficiency Investments in Irish Households," Journal of Consumer Policy, Springer, vol. 39(2), pages 159-186, June.
    9. Delmas, Magali A. & Fischlein, Miriam & Asensio, Omar I., 2013. "Information strategies and energy conservation behavior: A meta-analysis of experimental studies from 1975 to 2012," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 729-739.
    10. Havas, Lisa & Ballweg, Julie & Penna, Chris & Race, Digby, 2015. "Power to change: Analysis of household participation in a renewable energy and energy efficiency programme in Central Australia," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 325-333.
    11. Giraudet, Louis-Gaëtan, 2020. "Energy efficiency as a credence good: A review of informational barriers to energy savings in the building sector," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    12. Uzziah Mutumbi & Gladman Thondhlana & Sheunesu Ruwanza, 2022. "The Status of Household Electricity Use Behaviour Research in South Africa between 2000 and 2022," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(23), pages 1-14, November.
    13. Streimikiene, Dalia & Volochovic, Andzej, 2011. "The impact of household behavioral changes on GHG emission reduction in Lithuania," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 15(8), pages 4118-4124.
    14. Uzziah Mutumbi & Gladman Thondhlana & Sheunesu Ruwanza, 2021. "Reported Behavioural Patterns of Electricity Use among Low-Income Households in Makhanda, South Africa," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(13), pages 1-17, June.
    15. Henningsen, Geraldine & Wiese, Catharina, 2019. "Do Household Characteristics Really Matter? A Meta-Analysis on the Determinants of Households’ Energy-Efficiency Investments," MPRA Paper 101701, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    16. Cellini, Stefano, 2021. "Split incentives and endogenous inattention in home retrofits uptake: a story of selection on unobservables?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 104(C).
    17. Peter Morris & Laurie Buys & Desley Vine, 2014. "Moving from Outsider to Insider: Peer Status and Partnerships between Electricity Utilities and Residential Consumers," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 9(6), pages 1-8, June.
    18. Kazutoshi Tsuda & Michinori Uwasu & Keishiro Hara & Yukari Fuchigami, 2017. "Approaches to induce behavioral changes with respect to electricity consumption," Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, Springer;Association of Environmental Studies and Sciences, vol. 7(1), pages 30-38, March.
    19. Zhao, Tingting & Bell, Lindsey & Horner, Mark W. & Sulik, John & Zhang, Jinfeng, 2012. "Consumer responses towards home energy financial incentives: A survey-based study," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 291-297.
    20. Tovar, Miguel A., 2012. "The structure of energy efficiency investment in the UK households and its average monetary and environmental savings," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 723-735.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:55:y:2013:i:c:p:105-116. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/enpol .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.