Comparing Energy Efficiency Policies affecting Technology Adoption by Households and the Role of the Intermediary

Abstract

Improving energy efficiency is marked as one of the key strategies to tackle global warming. Therefore policy makers try to design policies that steer our society towards a more energy efficient way of living. An important target for policy makers is the residential sector. Households use fuel and electricity, to power all sorts of residential technologies and appliances. However, they often do not adopt the most energy efficient technologies available to them. There is no simple answer as to why households do not adopt energy efficiency sufficiently. This is because the adoption of energy efficient technologies can be described as a complex adaptive system. The decision making of households is dependent on complex attitudes, preferences, perceptions and needs. Nevertheless, policy makers try to influence the adoption decisions of households through the use of multiple policy measures. Academics have developed an interest in the potential effects of intermediary parties on the adoption of energy efficient technologies by households. We can specify an intermediary as: a party that is necessary for the adoption of energy efficient technologies, but cannot accomplish energy efficiency by itself.

In this thesis project policies that include the role of the intermediary in residential technology adoption are compared to other energy efficiency policies by means of an agent-based model. Recommendations on future agent-based models on the role of the intermediary and efficiency policies are made.