SHEDS - Second Wave of Findings

Work Package 2 (2017)

After paving the way in 2016 with a first survey wave, the second wave in 2017 tested different instruments for changing behavior/reducing energy demand by the use of a set of different choice experiments, including the following:

1. “Home owners’ discrete choice experiment” (an investigation of owners’ perceptions about alternative central heating replacement options)
2. “Tenants multiple price lists” (an investigation of tenants’ perceptions about alternative central heating choices)
3. “Effort and climate” (an investigation of perceived effort in energy savings and willingness to contribute to climate mitigation projects)
4. “Electricity saving programs” (an assessment of consumers’ preferences for electricity saving programs)
5. “Status quo” (an investigation of decision-making processes and purchase choices concerning different electricity tariffs including a bonus or malus component)
6. “Experimental vignette study” (an investigation of households’ acceptance of initiatives aiming to reduce household energy consumption).

These choice experiments benefited from much more information than commonly available in such studies because respondents have answered a (very) large questionnaire for two consecutive years. Psychological, sociological, and economic characteristics are thus available and constitute an extraordinary pool of potential determinants for explaining the respondents’ choices in the experiments.

Researchers from SCCER CREST:

Prof. Dr. Mehdi Farsi, Dr. Sylvain Weber, Prof. Dr. Paul Burger, Dr. Annika Sohre, Dr. Iljana Schubert

Research Partners:

University of Neuchâtel, University of Basel

Web Address:

SHEDS