Energy Inefficiencies Remain Persistent in Consumer Behaviours Across Summer and Winter Months

The Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) has today published their Behavioural Energy and Travel Tracker (BETT) Report for Summer 2023, which tracks the residential and travel-related energy consumption behaviours of people in Ireland. BETT seeks to measure Ireland’s energy consumption habits and uncover the factors which influence them to understand how to motivate behavioural change.

Changes in transport behaviours were minimal across the seasons: practically unchanged from winter, seven in ten journeys were taken by car across the summer months. Just under a quarter of reported journeys continued to use active travel (walking or cycling) between May and September, and just 5% of journeys were taken by public transport.

45% of short car journeys (2km or less) were taken for shopping or similar errands. These short car journeys were also more likely to be undertaken by those on higher incomes, women, over 35s, those living as a family, and unsurprisingly, those living in rural areas.

As expected, there was a significant decrease in the use of home heating in the summer months with 10% of people reporting the use of home heating on a given day.

There remain significant misconceptions about energy use, despite people self-reporting a high understanding of energy saving practice. Over three in five participants incorrectly believed electricity was cheaper at off-peak times for everyone with a smart meter, and about three in ten incorrectly believed that setting the thermostat to a higher temperature would make a room heat up faster.

However, people did recognise energy efficiency in cooking behaviours: 59% correctly identified the difference in energy consumption between air fryers and ovens – air fryers use the same energy in an hour as an oven uses in 35 minutes. This was reflected in the increased use of air fryers for cooked meals, which saw an increase from 17% in December to 24% in September.

Energy poverty was lower in the summer months but still worryingly high. Over a third of participants reported spending 10% of their income on energy and struggling to pay bills.

Speaking about the Behavioural Energy and Travel Tracker, SEAI Director Margie McCarthy said:

“There is a collective acknowledgement that we all need to change our energy consumption behaviours to reduce our carbon footprint. However, there is a disconnect between knowing this and implementing the necessary behavioural changes in our everyday lives. Home energy use and transport are the two primary everyday activities where we can all make a real difference through small changes.”

The report puts forward a number of recommendations to address these inefficiencies.

“To encourage the kinds of positive behavioural changes we’d like to see, there are a number of changes that can be made: this includes improving our transport infrastructure to decrease car use and increase active and public transport, and using more education and awareness campaigns to improve people’s understanding of energy consumption. We also need to see additional supports introduced to address energy poverty, which remains an issue for people during the summer months,” McCarthy added.

“People know that changes need to be made – what we need now is to put the structures in place to enable this.”

The full BETT report can be viewed here.