Understanding teen attitudes towards energy consumption Nicola Toth a , Linda Little a, * , Janet C. Read b , Daniel Fitton b , Matthew Horton b a Department of Psychology, School of Life Sciences, Northumbria University, NB 155, Northumberland Building, Newcastle upon Tyne NE18ST, United Kingdom b School of Computing, Engineering and Physical Sciences, University of Central Lancashire, Preston PR1 2HE, United Kingdom article info Article history: Available online 17 December 2012 Keywords: Teenagers Energy Qualitative Multiple methods abstract Previous research has tended to focus on adults or households as a whole when investigating attitudes and behaviours towards energy use. This study focussed on teenagers, ‘the adults of tomorrow’, and their attitudes towards energy consumption. 114 Teenagers aged 10e19 years took part and multiple data collection methods were used to investigate this topic including: diaries, stories and focus groups. Data was analysed using thematic analysis. Themes that emerged from the data were: energy use, impact of energy use, sources of information, location, barriers to saving energy and green teens. This paper discusses the findings in relation to future research and reflects on the methods used. Ó 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction The reduction of CO 2 emissions is a global issue. According to the International Energy Agency (BBC News, 2011) global CO 2 emissions in 2010 were at their highest level. Within the UK, the Climate Change Act 2008 has set a requirement to reduce greenhouse gases by a minimum of 80%, in comparison with emissions in 1990, by 2050 (HM Government, 2010). The European Environment Agency (2008, p. 9) noted residential energy consumption ‘is one of the sectors with the highest potential for energy efficiency’. Statistics reveal residential energy use for the UK was 32% in 2010 (Department of Energy and Climate Change, 2011), Europe 26.6% in 2005 (European Environment Agency, 2008) and the US 23% in 2010 (U.S. Energy Information Administration, 2010). In 2009e2010 the UK also witnessed a 13% increase in domestic energy use due to: cold weather, an increase in the UK population and a rise in the number of individual households (Department of Energy and Climate Change, 2011). Households have also increased their electricity consump- tion by 74% through the use of consumer electronics from 1990 to 2010 (Department of Energy and Climate Change, 2011). These statistics highlight the problem of increasing energy use in the home. 1.1. Reducing energy use People save energy due to a mix of both economical costs and environmental concern, although there is evidence that much energy consumption takes place without any conscious consider- ation on the part of consumers of either (i) the amount of energy they actually use (Thøgersen & Grønhøj, 2010) or (ii) the resulting impact on the environment (Pierce, Schiano, & Paulos, 2010). A number of factors would underpin a longer-term change in both attitude and behaviour. Gustafsson and Bång (2008) suggest having a positive attitude towards sustainability is necessary, but not sufficient to drive behaviour change, while Petkov, Kobler, Foth, and Krcmar (2011) have argued that a combination of knowledge, comparison, motivation and feedback is associated with longer- term attitude and behaviour change. Knowledge coupled with a positive attitude towards sustainability can leverage behaviour change, particularly when consumers engage in a comparison process in which they see how their efforts relate to their peers, but very few approaches have fully taken individual consumers moti- vations and expectations into account (Petkov, Felix, et al., 2011; Petkov, Kobler, et al., 2011). The invisible nature of energy consumption can hinder saving energy. Fischer (2008, p. 80) describes electricity as ‘abstract, invisible and untouchable’ which therefore makes it unnoticed by the user (Darby, 2006). This was highlighted further with research that explored the understanding of electricity through drawings (Chisik, 2011). Participants’ drawings indicated relatively little awareness of how much electricity different appliances used within the home (Chisik, 2011). With this in mind, a number of studies have helped consumers understand their energy consumption by providing better and more visible feedback. A number of systems now offer instant feedback to the consumer in the form of some kind of vis- ualisation about their energy consumption e and these have proved useful in reducing energy consumption. For example, one key motivating factor for households to reduce energy consumption is * Corresponding author. Tel.: þ44 (0)191 227 7250. E-mail addresses: nicola.toth@northumbria.ac.uk (N. Toth), l.little@ northumbria.ac.uk (L. Little), JCRead@uclan.ac.uk (J.C. Read), DBFitton@uclan.ac.uk (D. Fitton), MPLHorton@uclan.ac.uk (M. Horton). Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect Journal of Environmental Psychology journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jep 0272-4944/$ e see front matter Ó 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2012.12.001 Journal of Environmental Psychology 34 (2013) 36e44