Proposal Papers for Policy Making and Governmental Action toward Low Carbon Society

LCS-FY2016-PP-17

Policy Recommendation toward Low Carbon Society on Promotion of Energy Saving in Household Sector(Vol. 3)

Summary

 This paper aims to propose a strategy for realizing a low carbon society by suggesting energy efficiency improvements in the household sector without deterioration of quality of life (QOL).

 Providing practical energy-saving information to households can be an effective strategy for promoting a low carbon society without additional investment. Based on social psychology, we have developed an energy saving advisory system incorporating the concepts of “Nudge” and target value setting (Goal/Target Setting) and implemented it on “i-cosmos”. Preliminary experiments were carried out to examine how the advisory system actually changed household behavior. The results showed that households that checked the advisory system every week in winter tended to save energy more compared with households that never checked in the same time duration. The Goal/Target Setting was more effective for group energy saving of more than two families and display of the target value of the whole group also produced a higher power saving effect.
 Installing facilities such as photovoltaic power cells and fuel cells can also be effective strategies for CO2 reduction in the household sector. According to analysis based on actual energy data from households that installed new facilities (solar cells, fuel cells and storage batteries), about 2.5 ton of CO2 (equaling 68% reduction of CO2 emission) and 110,000 yen in utility expenses were saved per year. LCS research shows that the installation cost of these facilities is estimated to decrease to around 30,000 yen in 2030 from their 2015 cost of around 210,000 yen. These facilities have been installed mainly in new houses; however, it is speculated that not only because of CO2 reduction, but also other economic advantages will promote their future installation in existing households too.

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