Energy efficiency investments in residential buildings: Does personality matter? ...

• Main Author: Busic-Sontic, Ante
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: Department of Land Economy, University of Cambridge 2019
• Subjects: Personality traits; Energy efficiency investments; Residential buildings; Big Five; Risk preferences; Environmental concern; Ocean acidification
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.17863/cam.31931; https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/284556

In recent years, energy efficiency in the built environment has been attracting considerable interest to mitigate energy consumption. A number of scientific studies indicate that rising air pollution, decreasing biodiversity, ocean acidification and other adverse effects on humans and the environment in recent decades are due to greenhouse gas emissions, and a substantial share of the emissions can be attributed to energy usage in residential buildings. Investments in energy-efficient technologies have been made to alleviate such human induced causes contributing to the emissions, but they are still far from widespread, calling for a thorough understanding of individuals’ decision-making processes to promote further adoption of energy efficiency investments. Although personality has been widely recognised as an explanatory factor of behaviour, a rigorous discussion of it in the context of energy efficiency investments is missing. As such, to understand the role of personality traits in making high-cost ...