Beyond climate, culture and comfort in European preferences for low-carbon heat

• Published in: Global environmental change Vol. 66; p. 102200
• Main Authors: Sovacool, Benjamin K., Demski, Christina, Noel, Lance
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Elsevier Ltd 01-01-2021; Elsevier Science Ltd
• Subjects: Carbon; Climate; Comfort; Cross-national survey; Energy policy; Energy services and practices; Environmental policy; Familiarity; Fossil fuels; Heat as a service; Heat decarbonization; Heating; Heating systems; Households; Polls & surveys; Public opinion; Residential heating; Satisfaction; Social acceptance of heat; Sustainability; Thermal comfort; Heat decarbonization; Cross-national survey; Residential heating; Energy services and practices; Social acceptance of heat; Heat as a service
• ISSN: 0959-3780; 1872-9495
• DOI: 10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2020.102200

•People express high satisfaction with existing often fossil fuel based heating systems.•Preferences and expectations for thermal comfort vary greatly within Europe.•Householders are unlikely to change their heating system in the near-term.•Heat satisfaction appears lower as the fuel mix is decarbonized, especially in Sweden.
It is imperative that climate, energy, and sustainability policy researchers and practitioners grapple with the difficulty of decarbonizing heat, which remains the largest single end-use energy service worldwide. In this study, based on a comparative assessment of five original and representative national surveys in Germany, Italy, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom (N = 10,109), we explore public attitudes of household heat decarbonization in Europe. We explore how people conceive of the purposes of low-carbon heat, their preferences for particular forms of heat supply, and their (at times odd) practices of heat consumption and temperature settings. The data reveal four significant challenges to heat decarbonization that are consistent across geographies: 1) High satisfaction with existing, often fossil fuel based, heating systems; 2) Varying and divergent preferences and expectations for thermal comfort; 3) Householders unlikely to change their heating system in the near-term, in part driven by low familiarity and knowledge of alternative systems; and 4) heat satisfaction appears lower as the fuel mix is decarbonized. The paper concludes by connecting these findings with policy and research implications.