Stimulating Energy Conservation: Applying the Business Heritage of Marketing

Says that the use of energy has always been a key to the supply of food, to physical comfort and to quality of life in general. Posits that the plethora of energy use and low cost since the 1950s had made radical improvements in lifestyle and social and economic structure to Western society. Suggests that some important questions for today's energy policy, these are as follows: what consumer will do in terms of energy conservation; which consumers are most likely to cut down on their energy use; and what influences could best effect a move towards more conservation. Attempts to clear up these questions for the benefit of part of the Dutch public. Data were gathered in April 1978, by use of mail questionnaires sent to consumers in four residential areas in Amsterdam, The Netherlands – these were selected to represent various types of living accommodation (apartments, attached single‐family units, etc.). Discusses the results in depth, offering explanations. Concludes that the essential question in energy policy today is: which consumers are making substantial efforts to conserve energy and what can be done to influence people to conserve?