Using formal social networks to promote energy sufficient behavior in cities

Cities are key agents of change in the upcoming energy transition in Switzerland. They promote technical efficiency measures and behavioural change to save energy both as role models and by addressing consumers (Swiss Federal Council, 2013). The importance of cities is acknowledged in the Energy Strategy 2050 as “EnergieSchweiz” (which includes energy saving programmes for cities) represents one of the strategy’s cornerstones. A crucial question is how cities can best motivate private consumers to change their behaviour, i.e. to become more energy-sufficient. The key idea to be examined in this project is that cities can promote the energy transition by taking the social nature of human beings as a starting point. The project aims are: i) to identify activities that cities can promote to reduce private energy consumption (including campaigns, promotion of particular technologies, incentives), and ii) to better understand and test the role of formal social groups in addressing private consumers. Specifically, we aim to examine whether formal social groups, such as sports clubs and district associations, can function as multipliers of communal energy-sufficiency activities. We do not address energy consumption directly; instead, we focus on practices linked to energy use (such as transportation to training facility or showering). We expect a multiplier effect, as behavioural changes adopted in the context of formal social groups might spill over into private activities. Our research approach combines qualitative and quantitative methods from different disciplines (document analysis, interviews, focus groups, psychological real-world experiments, Life Cycle Assessment, expert workshops). At the heart of our project lies a series of psychological real-world experiments. The key idea of these experiments is that an activity promoting energy-sufficiency developed by the city administration might differentially affect energy-saving behaviour, whether it addresses inhabitants directly or through formal social groups.The results comprise an energy-sufficiency strategy for cities. As such, this study supports efforts of cities to promote energy-sufficient behaviour. A close collaboration with the three Swiss cities of Winterthur, Baden, and Zug throughout the project ensures that the results of this study will find their way into policy-making.