21 Lifestyles, Wellbeing and Energy Joyashree Roy, Jadavpur University, India

21 Lifestyles, Wellbeing and Energy

Joyashree Roy, Jadavpur University, India.

www.globalenergyassessment.org© GEA 2012 2www.globalenergyassessment.org© GEA 2012

Options do exist beyond supply side interventions

from consumer perspective

• Ultimate energy use is influenced by a number of factors

• income and affluence • non-economic and non-technological drivers: such as lifestyle, culture, religion, desire

for improved well being, and behavior

• Policies and measures can modify or change lifestyles and preferences

• Notions of well-being that are not based on material consumption alone offers new policy

options

• A reduction in energy services demand does not necessarily reduce well-being

• Life style changes are an effective and powerful approach to addressing sustainability issues, as it can provide better multiple benefits

• better health• low fossil fuel based mobility• lower emissions• nutrition without reducing socio-economic status• adds flexibility to supply side options


Weakening of the income-energy coupling: Already happening

While real global GDP increased by 1.6 times from 1990 to 2007, total primary energy use increased by 1.4 times

Need to look beyond economic drivers: behavioral, lifestyle choices, culture, religion etc.

The chapter explores a more fundamental question of whether defining affluence in purely economic terms is an appropriate measure for well-being.

Referring to well-being also means addressing not only absolute reductions in energy services , which might be an issue for high-income consumers and regions, but also absolute increases in energy services, which are still necessary for a huge percentage of the population in developing countries.


Diet Matters

: A Cultural, religious habit but also ‘acquired’ taste

90% Hindus and Buddhist, 75% Muslims, 16% Jews follow dietary restrictions of religion

: Global transition is toward “more-affluent” food consumption patterns-meat consumption (24% beef) increasing- difference between the energy input for plant- and meat-based meals

may exceed a factor of 10

: in internationally connected world through trade:-Preference for overseas food is changing, seasonal/fresh food is

changing

:Over the past few decades, energy needs for transport, storage, and processing increased in the food sector, especially for meat products.

: In high income countries Food accounts for 17–18% of household indirect energy use


Per Capita Meat Consumption Across Regions


Food: how and from where


Mobility Matters

Vehicle ownership and energy use ? Beijing, Shanghai vis-à-vis Tokyo : less ownership more fuel use. In US both are high, with as high as 65% of global passenger km travelled.

Mobility for accessibility: Living near work place

Walking ,bicycling short distances

Telecommuting increases electricity use but reduces primary energy use

International tourism

Private jet

Socially -More value for individual freedom, private space…, marketing strategy, human settlement design, public transport service status, infrastructure- all matters


Direct and Indirect Energy Use


Possible to Influence preference

Lifestyle choice: extrinsic factor. A decision variable amenable to change

Decision levels : Individual (Consumers undervalue energy saving actions), landscape (culture, value, social norm, environmentalism), macro (infrastructure design, market price, zoning)

• Knowledge-based interventions to increase individual intention to adopt energy use strategies.

• Engaging people requires a constructive response from the community to actual or perceived threats.

• Necessary to show individual consumers or small groups of consumers that any one person or a small group of people can have an enormous impact

• Consumers are important in the design, implementation of public policy and decisions and also as peer monitoring groups.


Role of Policies

Laws regulating individual consumption decisions could be supplementary to strengthen informational impact.

Political will to change energy policy, peoples’ support to take on extra burden

Need to build strong environmentalism

Sufficiency led policy strategy: addressing level of consumption

Driving heavy private cars, eating meat, or traveling by airplane and private jet should be prohibited or restricted?

Not really, sufficiency means consumption with moderation and prudence. Developing awareness of the consequences of actions beyond monetized cost-benefit analysis and of markets beyond local or regional scope.

Change in top-down decisions in infrastructure design and educating communities


Beyond Affluence to Wellbeing

Mono-dimensional: consumer

:determinant of wellbeingrich –poor , Income –

expenditure binary:homogenised life style

choices: low human labour/work: acquired dietary choices

Multi dimensional :consumer

:+constitutents of wellbeing : health, happiness, freedom: more diverse lifestyle choices:walking/ cycling/non-

motorised means of transport

: seasonal, local, cultural, religious dietary choices


Income and Wellbeing Correlation Weaker Beyond a Point


Additional entry point

Reduction in phantom load has potential of reducing 10% of energy bill

Limit of lean meat consumption per year recommended by American Heart Association per capita per year @ 62.6 kg. Currently FAO statistics show 54 countries have percapita annual consumption higher than the standard ranging between 63.2 (Mexico)-122.79 (US).

1.4% of current global primary energy use reduction potential

Healthy mobility has 1.3% of primary use reduction potential

Emerging corporate citizenship practices, donations and gifts for environmental programs, incentives for employees to work with community groups on natural resource conservation and protection, drive information campaign, product labeling, and purchase policies .


Research Gap

new welfare & well-being measures

link energy use to such alternative measures

efficiency-led strategies need to be tied to sufficiency to become a widely used strategy that changes values and notions of wellbeing

assess the macroeconomic effects of large-scale switches to more-sufficient lifestyles over various time scales in the future.

A key issue is how a large reduction in consumption could be absorbed by the economy without generating large unemployment.

Simultaneous redistribution of labor could offer a solution, but further analysis is clearly needed.

GEA Chapter 21 authors

Coordinating Lead Author:

Joyashree Roy (Jadavpur University , India)

Lead Authors:

Anne-Maree Dowd (CSIRO)Adrian Müller (University of Zurich)Shamik Pal (Institute of Engineering and Management)Ndola Prata (University of California, Berkeley)

Review Editor :

Sylvie Lemmet (UNEP)

Documents

21 Lifestyles, Wellbeing and Energy Joyashree Roy, Jadavpur University, India