Role of Community-Based Initiatives in Energy Saving, 2010-2014

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.The Role of Community-Based Initiatives in Energy Saving, 2010-2014 project aimed to make a significant contribution to our understanding of the role that community-based initiatives can play in fostering net energy savings in UK households. Specifically the researchers ask, "can community-based initiatives make a measurable contribution to sustained net energy savings and if so how?" The project adopts a mixed-methods approach. A field experiment with action research elements is combined with a quantitative network analysis survey and semi-structured interviews of community group organisers and participants. The main objectives of the research were to: examine whether community action on climate change and energy security issues is likely to achieve significant energy savings through encouraging behaviour change and the establishment of new social practicesexamine the household energy savings from practically achievable improvements in the thermal performance of existing dwellings, taking into account both direct and indirect rebound effectsexplore the conditions required for successful community intervention on energy security and climate change issues, across a range of initiatives and contextsinform policy on climate change and energy security, including schemes to upgrade the UK housing stock motivated by government carbon reduction targets as well as third sector relationship strategiesinform the work of community initiatives and third sector organisations working towards transition to a low carbon economy and societyFurther information is available from the University of Southampton Sustainable Energy Research Group website and the ESRC award webpage. Main Topics:The study includes four separate elements: Energy and spending survey Participants were surveyed on their energy use, including home energy, transport and consumption aspects. They were survey-interviewed in their own home at the start of the project, asked to update the survey online every 4 months, and then survey-interviewed again at the project's close (11 surveys in all, first survey N=185, final survey N=153). The main objective of the survey was to understand the everyday behaviours of participants across a range of activities with embedded energy usage. Social network survey An 8-page survey of all project participants conducted at two points in time. It was administered face-to-face by an interviewer in participants' own homes at the beginning (N=185) and close of the project (N=153). The survey sought to discover participants' motivation for participating in the project, the extent to which people in their social networks talk about and engage in energy saving, the voluntary groups in which they participate and their self-reported energy-saving practices. The main objective of the survey was to measure how social networks might mediate any changes in energy use observed over the course of the project. Gas and electricity consumption meter data Gas and electricity meter data for 185 participating households (75 for the treatment group and 110 for the control group) for 2012-2013 are available to download alongside the survey and interview data. The data were provided by the supplying utility companies. Due to the size of the energy data (c.70GB), the files have been spilt across 8 zip files, each spanning one quarter (three months) of 2012 and 2013. The zip filenames follow the pattern '8129_pwr_1-2-3_2012_csv_', '8129_pwr_4-5-6_2012_csv_', '8129_temp_1-2-3_2012_csv_', etc. Each zip file includes a text readme file with a key to files and contents. Users who wish to use the energy data should first download the interview and survey data in the quantitative format of choice (SPSS or Stata) and then all 8 zip files of meter data. Qualitative interviews Qualitative research was conducted on community groups engaged in energy saving activities, including the Community Energy Group (CEG) involved in the experiment. This was intended both to generate insight into the processes at work in the experiment and to provide insights into the generalisability of the results. The fieldwork included two phases. In phase one, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 36 organisers of CEGs in Great Britain; phase two comprised 71 interviews with participants from 7 of the CEG initiatives, including 4 treatment group and 5 control group participants. The 7 community initiatives were selected with the aim of conducting comparative analysis. There was a mix of initiatives from affluent and deprived areas and with different aims, ranging from a focus on energy saving in the home to a more comprehensive focus on climate change issues. Interviews with organisers covered questions on the aims of the initiative, strategies of attracting interest and engagement with participants, as well as perceptions of and barriers to success. Interviews with participants included questions on their experience of involvement, and practices governing energy use in the home, travel and wider consumption.