Sustainability Challenges in Energy Use Behaviour in Households: Comparative Review of Selected Survey-based Publications from Developed and Developing Countries

This review paper studies the differences in the energy use behaviour in households in developing and developed countries, by focus on a geographically diverse selection of publications.  The study has been divided into sections in which energy use, socio-economic factors, policies and the methods used in the surveys have been investigated. The main motivation of the study was to understand user behavioural patterns influencing energy consumption (or reduction in use), and the effect of varying socio-demographic factors on the same.  The methodologies adopted in the papers reviewed have been compared. Surveys were prioritized in the examined papers to see if there was an pattern in household energy use and which behaviours affected this. For the developing countries door knocking were the most used strategy to get hold of information. For the developed countries surveys online were the most effective strategy.  In Japan and Norway clear differences could be seen due to the culture of the countries, which affected the households energy use. For the developing countries energy here is not predominantly electricity. Biofuels and kerosene were the most common fuels used for the daily life of the residents in the developing countries. A transition from these fuels to more modern energy is happening right now in the 21^st century. The government have a big impact on the households energy use and the governments for the different countries prioritize differently as seen in Kuwait where they subsidy 90 % of the final electricity for the households thus increases the energy use significantly which have a negative sustainable development effect. While on the other hand the government in Zambia decided to shut down the whole electricity grid for eight hours per day during a two year period of time to save energy.

Effective strategies for reducing energy use, according to most of the publications, are tailor-made information and feedback to users, and clear outlining of goals by the decision-makers, for both the developed countries and the developing countries.  Future research should focus on effective formulation of the feedback provided to users.