Reducing energy demand is not simply about developing energy efficiency measures and technologies, but also changing behaviour and everyday practices. Although the over-emphasis on individual behaviour as the main driver of transition to low-carbon societies may be contested on the grounds that it distracts attention from the wider structural, economic and political factors, it is widely acknowledged that pro-environmental behaviours play an important part in such a transition. But, what constitutes such behaviour? Why do people behave in the way they do? What motivates them to change their behaviour? What are the key factors in behaviour formation and change? This paper aims to address these questions by drawing on three dominant perspectives on environmental behaviour and its drivers: the rational economic, the psychological and the sociological perspectives. The aim is to provide a conceptual understanding of behaviour, illustrated with example from energy consumption.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.