Two Better Than One? Exploring Couples’ Home Energy Use Attitudes Shu Yang Visiting doctoral student UCL Energy Institute Current Permanent Behave Conference 2014

Why explore couple energy use attitudes? One might be not enough Energy use the result of all householders’ actions Environmental values and attitudes higher in women

Method – Home Energy Use Survey in 2007 Control Variables. Building characteristics. Socio-demographics Derived from face-to-face interview Dependent Variables. Maximum temperature. Heating hours Derived from temperature sensors in the living room Explanatory Variables. Male partner’s attitudes to home energy use. Female partner’s attitudes to home energy use Derived from self-completion questionnaire

Results – Heating hours per day – Regression Predictor Average Heating Hours per Day Model 1 Building & Socio-demog. (Enter) Model 2A + Male attitudes (Stepwise) Model 2B +Female attitudes (Stepwise) Model 2C +Couple attitudes (Stepwise) constant Male Economic Concern /-0.39 ***/-0.32 ** Female Thermal Comfort //0.33 **0.24 * N 84 Adjusted R ∆R 2 / F **2.32*3.02** ∆F ***8.66**8.640*** *p<0.05; **p<0.01; ***p<0.001

Results – Maximum temperature – Regression Predictor Maximum Temperature Model 1 Building & Socio-demog. (Enter) Model 2A + Male attitudes (Stepwise) Model 2B +Female attitudes (Stepwise) Model 2C +Couple attitudes (Stepwise) constant Male Economical Concern / ** // Male Thermal Comfort / 0.204* / 0.196* Female Economical Concern // ***-0.306** N 98 Adjusted R ∆R 2 / F 2.528*3.586***3.843***3.994*** ∆F2.528*6.839**12.667***8.621*** [ *p<0.05; **p<0.01; ***p<0.001

Conclusion & Implications  Two are better than one  Economical concern and thermal comfort matter most

Thank you for your attention! Any questions? Shu Yang Supervisors: Michelle Shipworth & Gesche Huebner, UCL Energy Institute