A Review on Energy Consumption from a Socio-Economic Perspective : Reduction Through Energy Efficiency and Beyond

Reducing energy demand and increasing energy efficiency are seen as major elements of the ongoing transformation of energy systems in multiple national and international programs like the EU 20-20-20 targets. Despite the predominately socio-economic nature of energy demand such interdisciplinary viewpoints – albeit on the rise – are still the minority within energy related research. In this paper we provide a review on energy demand both from an economics and a social science perspective. In particular, we aim to identify potential fields for combined socio-economic research efforts oriented at three questions: ‘What drives energy demand?’, ‘Why do consumers behave the way they do?’ and finally ‘How can (end user) energy consumption be influenced?’