Do general pro-environmental behaviour, attitude, and knowledge contribute to energy savings and climate change mitigation in the residential sector?

Abstract

Energy consumption in the residential sector has grown significantly over the last 30 years. In recentyears, a large number of authors have analysed the determinants of behaviour related to climate change.However, in this paper, referring to the behaviour and consumption level, we focused on energy con-sumption and direct household CO2emissions. Thus, the objective of this study was to evaluate thedeterminants of energy consumption and CO2emissions in the Lithuanian residential sector. Energyconsumption was evaluated referring to the residential bills based on the official energy prices; CO2emission equivalent was calculated employing the emission factors for separate energy resources. Theregression analysis revealed that attitudes were significant only in the case of energy consumption forheating, but not in the case of heating-related CO2, which depended solely on the housing area, the typeof fuel, and home heating (centralized). Meanwhile, concerning electricity consumption and related CO2emissions, the pro-environmental behaviour was one of the factors along with the type of house, thenumber of children, family size, and gender. Results indicated that a complex of different factors neededto be considered to increase energy savings and CO2reduction inthe residential sector regarding heatingand electricity consumption.