IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/enepol/v86y2015icp749-758.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

U.S. consumer attitudes and expectations about energy

Author

Listed:
  • DeCicco, John
  • Yan, Ting
  • Keusch, Florian
  • Muñoz, Diego Horna
  • Neidert, Lisa

Abstract

Understanding public perceptions of energy is important for informing energy-related business, research and policy strategies. To this end, a new U.S. consumer survey probes core attitudes about the reliability, affordability and environmental impact of energy. Appended quarterly to the long-running monthly survey of 500 households that produces the Index of Consumer Sentiment, this instrument inherits the sample design and statistical rigor of that household economic survey. First-year results yield several notable findings. Home energy bills are viewed as unaffordable if they were to double for consumers in the lower income tercile but only if they were to triple for consumers in the upper income tercile. Regarding the cost increases deemed unaffordable, consumers report much greater sensitivity to higher gasoline prices than to higher home energy bills. Moreover, consumers express at least as much concern about the environmental impact of energy as they do about its affordability, a result that shows some regional variation but which holds across income brackets. Several other findings are of likely interest to energy researchers and policymakers, and the unique data series generated by this survey will enable deeper analyses of attitudinally related energy topics as time goes on.

Suggested Citation

  • DeCicco, John & Yan, Ting & Keusch, Florian & Muñoz, Diego Horna & Neidert, Lisa, 2015. "U.S. consumer attitudes and expectations about energy," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 749-758.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:86:y:2015:i:c:p:749-758
    DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2015.08.022
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301421515300677
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.enpol.2015.08.022?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. Gadenne, David & Sharma, Bishnu & Kerr, Don & Smith, Tim, 2011. "The influence of consumers' environmental beliefs and attitudes on energy saving behaviours," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(12), pages 7684-7694.
    2. Hosseini, Hamid, 2011. "George Katona: A founding father of old behavioral economics," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 40(6), pages 977-984.
    3. Mihaela ȘTEȚ, 2014. "Economic Effects Of Energy Policies," SEA - Practical Application of Science, Romanian Foundation for Business Intelligence, Editorial Department, issue 6, pages 93-98, December.
    4. Soren T. Anderson & Ryan Kellogg & James M. Sallee & Richard T. Curtin, 2011. "Forecasting Gasoline Prices Using Consumer Surveys," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 101(3), pages 110-114, May.
    5. anonymous, 2014. "Noteworthy: energy, health insurance, federal taxes," Southwest Economy, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, issue Q1, pages 14-14.
    6. Demski, Christina & Poortinga, Wouter & Pidgeon, Nick, 2014. "Exploring public perceptions of energy security risks in the UK," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 369-378.
    7. Christopher P. Borick & Barry G. Rabe, 2010. "A Reason to Believe: Examining the Factors that Determine Individual Views on Global Warming," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 91(3), pages 777-800, September.
    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. Sommerfeld, Jeff & Buys, Laurie & Vine, Desley, 2017. "Residential consumers’ experiences in the adoption and use of solar PV," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 10-16.
    2. Felipe Encinas & Carlos Marmolejo-Duarte & Elizabeth Wagemann & Carlos Aguirre, 2019. "Energy-Efficient Real Estate or How It Is Perceived by Potential Homebuyers in Four Latin American Countries," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(13), pages 1-24, June.
    3. Alexandra Buylova & Brent S. Steel & Christopher A. Simon, 2020. "Public Perceptions of Energy Scarcity and Support for New Energy Technologies: A Western U.S. Case Study," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(1), pages 1-15, January.
    4. Pelau, Corina & Pop, Nicolae Al., 2018. "Implications for the energy policy derived from the relation between the cultural dimensions of Hofstede's model and the consumption of renewable energies," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 160-168.
    5. Olson-Hazboun, Shawn K. & Howe, Peter D. & Leiserowitz, Anthony, 2018. "The influence of extractive activities on public support for renewable energy policy," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 123(C), pages 117-126.
    6. Baghestani, Hamid, 2019. "An analysis of vehicle-buying attitudes of US consumers," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 62-68.
    7. Aune, Margrethe & Godbolt, Åsne Lund & Sørensen, Knut H. & Ryghaug, Marianne & Karlstrøm, Henrik & Næss, Robert, 2016. "Concerned consumption. Global warming changing household domestication of energy," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 290-297.

    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. Petinrin, J.O. & Shaaban, Mohamed, 2015. "Renewable energy for continuous energy sustainability in Malaysia," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 967-981.
    2. Melville, Emilia & Christie, Ian & Burningham, Kate & Way, Celia & Hampshire, Phil, 2017. "The electric commons: A qualitative study of community accountability," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 12-21.
    3. Bonges, Henry A. & Lusk, Anne C., 2016. "Addressing electric vehicle (EV) sales and range anxiety through parking layout, policy and regulation," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 63-73.
    4. Fullerton, Thomas M. & Jiménez, Alan A. & Walke, Adam G., 2015. "An econometric analysis of retail gasoline prices in a border metropolitan economy," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 450-461.
    5. Philippe Aghion & Antoine Dechezleprêtre & David Hémous & Ralf Martin & John Van Reenen, 2016. "Carbon Taxes, Path Dependency, and Directed Technical Change: Evidence from the Auto Industry," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 124(1), pages 1-51.
    6. An, Zidong & Binder, Carola & Sheng, Xuguang Simon, 2023. "Gas price expectations of Chinese households," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).
    7. Briguglio, Marie & Formosa, Glenn, 2017. "When households go solar: Determinants of uptake of a Photovoltaic Scheme and policy insights," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 154-162.
    8. Baharoon, Dhyia Aidroos & Rahman, Hasimah Abdul & Fadhl, Saeed Obaid, 2016. "Publics׳ knowledge, attitudes and behavioral toward the use of solar energy in Yemen power sector," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 498-515.
    9. Zhang, Wenqing & Liu, Liangliang, 2022. "Exploring non-users' intention to adopt ride-sharing services: Taking into account increased risks due to the COVID-19 pandemic among other factors," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 158(C), pages 180-195.
    10. Ella Furness & Harry Nelson, 2016. "Are human values and community participation key to climate adaptation? The case of community forest organisations in British Columbia," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 135(2), pages 243-259, March.
    11. Weron, Tomasz & Kowalska-Pyzalska, Anna & Weron, Rafał, 2018. "The role of educational trainings in the diffusion of smart metering platforms: An agent-based modeling approach," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 505(C), pages 591-600.
    12. Evgeny Lisin & Wadim Strielkowski & Veronika Chernova & Alena Fomina, 2018. "Assessment of the Territorial Energy Security in the Context of Energy Systems Integration," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(12), pages 1-14, November.
    13. Binder, Carola Conces, 2018. "Inflation expectations and the price at the pump," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 1-18.
    14. Nieves García-de-Frutos & José Manuel Ortega-Egea & Javier Martínez-del-Río, 2018. "Anti-consumption for Environmental Sustainability: Conceptualization, Review, and Multilevel Research Directions," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 148(2), pages 411-435, March.
    15. Benedict Belobo Ateba & Johannes Jurgens Prinsloo, 2018. "The Electricity Security in South Africa: Analysing Significant Determinants to the Grid Reliability," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 8(6), pages 70-79.
    16. Wang, Chao & Zhan, Jinyan & Wang, Huihui & Yang, Zheng & Chu, Xi & Liu, Wei & Teng, Yanmin & Liu, Huizi & Wang, Yifan, 2022. "Multi-group analysis on the mechanism of residents' low-carbon behaviors in Beijing, China," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 183(C).
    17. Sisi Wu & Xuan Gong & Yunfei Wang & Jian Cao, 2022. "Consumer Cognition and Management Perspective on Express Packaging Pollution," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(8), pages 1-23, April.
    18. Donna, Javier D., 2018. "Measuring Long-Run Price Elasticities in Urban Travel Demand," MPRA Paper 90059, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    19. Andriosopoulos, Kostas & Bigerna, Simona & Bollino, Carlo Andrea & Micheli, Silvia, 2018. "The impact of age on Italian consumers' attitude toward alternative fuel vehicles," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 299-308.
    20. Donatella Baiardi, 2021. "What do you think about climate change?," Working Papers 477, University of Milano-Bicocca, Department of Economics, revised Aug 2021.

    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:86:y:2015:i:c:p:749-758. 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.