Energy intensive lifestyles: Time use, the activity patterns of consumers, and related energy demands in Finland

Time use survey data has been used to model household activities beyond market transactions. Accordingly, measures such as the ‘goods intensity of household activities’ and the ‘energy and carbon intensity of household activities’ have been derived. In this paper, we build on this approach by using time use data to model the direct and indirect energy use of households. From this, we present a decomposition analysis of the changes in the embedded and direct energy consumption of Finnish households from 1987 to 2009. Relevant questions that arise include that of whether increases in total energy consumption are due to changes in activity patterns, changes in the energy intensity of activities, or due to demographic changes. Beyond the empirical work, we suggest that time use approaches require a more explicit theorization of time.