Targeting peoples' behaviour for effective policy delivery: Community Energy Saving Programme (CESP) in Aspley, Nottingham

The urge for lower carbon emissions from buildings has seen the development of policies to cater for energy conserving methods in new and existing buildings in UK.,P> As the domestic sector is responsible for over 27% of the total carbon emissions in the UK, hence upgrading existing domestic buildings to higher energy efficiency levels represent a ‘win-win’ opportunity in delivering more carbon reductions faster than the UK’s current carbon budgets. However, in order to meet the carbon emissions reduction target, the government’s approach in confronting household carbon emissions is predominantly policy-based. Policy instruments with standards for limiting energy loss through buildings have succeeded in imposing building codes and standards that take account of energy efficient design and upgrade. However, patterns of consumption and user behaviour have proved to have the effect of negating some of the benefit expected from those policies.Although government can play a pivotal role in changing those behaviours; it needs to engage individuals and the public in supporting the development of new social norms and fostering sustainable behaviour in a long-term approach to behaviour change. Yet in a growing world population and an increasing number of people now living in urban areas, achieving high levels of sustainable behaviour fronts many challenges. Among those is overcoming the barriers that society poses; that of behavioural and social patterns which drive energy consumption and resource use. It is argued that such factors form the basis of choices, habits and values of individuals which in turn dictate an individual’s decision to either adopt environmentally sustainable behaviour or not to. One viable solution to achieve this target is to drive positive environmental behaviour by means of appropriately tailored policy interventions, where the policy could, in effect, drive positive change in people’s energy consumption behaviour.This research reflects on how this specific area of energy policy is being enacted through policy and regulation, particularly in Community Energy Saving Programme (CESP), launched in 2009. A survey questionnaire is undertaken to identify how tenants of energy inefficient homes react to and perceive one of the pilot CESP schemes which is currently under delivery in Aspley area in Nottingham. The aim is to understand residents’ attitudes and behaviour to help develop appropriately tailored approaches that support and maintain effective delivery of current and future policy schemes. Thus, 60 households have been surveyed and data has been collected and analysed to provide significant correlations and findings concerning energy consumption behaviour and the need for suitable means of communication and information dissemination. The outcome is an examination of the likely impacts of the policy on energy consumption behaviour, together with investigating how delivering on the policy may (not)lead to the presumed target