A meta-analytic review of why people save energy at home

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Abstract

Summary There is a pressing need to understand which factors are most predictive of energy consumption and saving behaviors at home. Here, we report the results of a large meta-analytic review (100 papers, 861 effect sizes, 430,878 participants, and 26 predictors), which reveals that the scientific literature of domestic energy saving is interdisciplinary, rapidly growing, and theoretically sophisticated. Results show that all psychological variables are associated with domestic energy saving, ranging from weak (e.g., ecological worldviews, knowledge, and self-identity) to moderate and strong effect sizes (e.g., attitudes, self-efficacy, and personal norms). In contrast, most sociodemographic factors (such as gender, education, or age of home) are not significantly related to domestic energy saving. For some predictors, we find that study characteristics can influence observed effect sizes (e.g., study setting, sampling strategy, and measurement selection such as intentions vs. observed behavior). Our research contributes to the growing efforts to understand domestic energy saving and promote global energy sustainability.