No abstract

Two survcys were conducted t o examine the relationship between homeowners' attitudes toward energy use and their actual summer electric consumption. In Survey 1, 56 couples filled out questionnaires concerning their energy attitudes. A factor analysis of their responses revealed four factors: comfort and health concerns, effort to conserve and monetary savings, role of the individual, and legitimacy of the energy crisis. The factors were entered into a multiple regression analysis to predict actual summer electric consumption. The attitudinal factors together significantly accounted for 55% of the variance in summer electric consumption. The comfort and health factor by itself explained 30% of the consumption variance. Survey 2, consisting of 69 couples, was conducted to elaborate the meaning of the factors. The results of the factor analysis of Survey 2 revealed six factors: comfort, health, individual's role, belief in science, legitimacy of the energy crisis, and effort to conserve. An overall regression analysis showed that the factors significantly explained nearly 60% of the summer consumption variance. The comfort factor was agah the best predictor of summer electric consumption, accounting for 42% of the variance. It was concluded that attitudes about one's comfort are significantly related to household energy consumption (primarily air conditioning). The implications for energy conservation campaigns were discussed.Energy conservation is one of the principal components of the federal government's energy policy. One of the ways in which conservation might be 'This research was supported by ERDA contract No. EY-76-5-02-2789 to Clive Seligman and John M. Darley. We would like to thank Thomas Woteki for his statistical advice and Toby Kriss for data management.'Requests for reprints should be sent to Clive Seligman, who is now at the Department

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract