The Relative Roles of Need and Taste in Residential Energy Consumption

• In Event: 383 - Section on Consumers and Consumption Roundtables (one-hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 04. Social Movements and Societal Impacts

Abstract

Energy use is so ordinary it is practically invisible, yet its consumption by industries and individuals undergirds economic growth and implicates the environment. Studies of energy consumption find that material, economic, and social factors influence energy use. However, researchers fail to move beyond their disciplinary preferences to examine the conditions under which these factors are salient, and the ways in which they interact. This project elaborates on existing scholarship by asking: To what extent do need and taste factor into residential energy consumption? Need is operationalized as family structure, and taste is operationalized as educational attainment. I hypothesize that the relative role of need decreases as income grows, and that the relative role of taste increases as income grows. Using a set of log multiple linear and spline regression models, the results of the analysis support the hypothesis that need is a more prominent factor at lower income levels. Results provide mixed support for the hypothesis that education gains prominence at higher income levels. The analysis concludes that income stratification, family composition, and educational attainment do influence energy consumption in meaningful ways. However, educational attainment proves to be an inadequate measure of taste.

Author

• Mikell Alexandra Hyman, University of Michigan