Residential Energy Conservation

This article focuses on repetitive behaviors that conserve residential energy. It views repetitive behavior as a function of past experience, attitudes, subjective norms, and intentions. Data from a three-wave panel survey of homeowners living in Decatur, Illinois, form the basis for statistical analysis. Findings indicate that for conservation behavior that is repetitive at a high frequency, adoption is best predicted by past experience, while for less frequent behaviors, intention is the best predictor. Intentions, in turn, are affected by past experience, attitudes, and subjective norms. Adopters and nonadopters are found to differ in the mechanisms through which their intentions change: Adopters alter intentions more through changing attitudes and nonadopters through changing social influences. Policy implications are discussed.

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