Market, Money and Morals: The Ambiguous Shaping of Energy Consumption in Norwegian Households

This thesis explores the energy consumption and energy efficiency efforts of Norwegian households. How do consumers relate to energy consumption, and how do they make sense of energy efficiency issues? In order to understand the dynamics of household energy consumption in relation to the surrounding context, these matters are investigated from different perspectives, representing policymakers, economists and consumers. This involves an analysis of the political-economic shaping of energy consumption and an investigation of how households think and act with respect to their energy use. The thesis demonstrates that there is a gap between policymakers´ and consumers´ understanding of energy consumption, which makes energy efficiency policies less effective. Another important finding is that households seem to be motivated for energy efficiency by arguments focusing on climate change, comfort and convenience rather than on purely economic concerns. The four research papers, which take different approaches to this area of concern , draw an ambiguous picture of public and private efforts to increase energy efficiency in Norwegian households. The first article shows how consumers were expected to act in relation to electricity consumption over a period of 30 years. The second paper investigates how energy consumption is framed, from the perspectives of both economists and consumers. It analyzes, especially, consumer responses with respect to the intentions of the electricity market, and examines the ways in which consumers view themselves as market actors (or not). The third article compares Norwegian energy cultures in the early 1990s and the late 2000s. It argues that global warming has changed the symbolic domestication of energy consumption. Finally, the fourth paper examines the sense-making processes of households through the concept of “ethos,” which refers to a set of guiding beliefs or values. This paper shows the importance of moral arguments when consumers deal with energy issues in their everyday lives