{"title":"Understanding the rebound: normative evaluations of energy use in the United States","authors":"Christine Horne, E. Kennedy","doi":"10.1080/23251042.2021.1958545","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Renewable energy may have smaller environmental benefits than expected because reductions in carbon emissions may be offset by increased consumption. We conduct an online vignette experiment with United States (US) residents to examine how people evaluate household electricity use. We show that participants negatively evaluate households that use a lot of electricity, but that evaluations vary depending on the source of the electricity and the political orientation of the observer. Democrats and Republicans negatively evaluate households that use a lot of electricity and react positively to households that use solar energy. For Democrats, negative effects of high use on evaluations are moderated by electricity source – the household’s solar panels or the utility company. The amount and source of use interact to affect approval of the household and evaluations of the household’s competence, morality, and social desirability. In contrast, for Republicans, use of solar energy has this moderation effect on evaluations of household competence. These results show that Republicans attach less moral and social weight to a household’s energy source than Democrats, and provide evidence of a normative mechanism that may have implications for understanding the rebound effect.","PeriodicalId":54173,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Sociology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.4000,"publicationDate":"2021-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/23251042.2021.1958545","citationCount":"1","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Environmental Sociology","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1080/23251042.2021.1958545","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 1
Abstract
ABSTRACT Renewable energy may have smaller environmental benefits than expected because reductions in carbon emissions may be offset by increased consumption. We conduct an online vignette experiment with United States (US) residents to examine how people evaluate household electricity use. We show that participants negatively evaluate households that use a lot of electricity, but that evaluations vary depending on the source of the electricity and the political orientation of the observer. Democrats and Republicans negatively evaluate households that use a lot of electricity and react positively to households that use solar energy. For Democrats, negative effects of high use on evaluations are moderated by electricity source – the household’s solar panels or the utility company. The amount and source of use interact to affect approval of the household and evaluations of the household’s competence, morality, and social desirability. In contrast, for Republicans, use of solar energy has this moderation effect on evaluations of household competence. These results show that Republicans attach less moral and social weight to a household’s energy source than Democrats, and provide evidence of a normative mechanism that may have implications for understanding the rebound effect.
期刊介绍:
Environmental Sociology is dedicated to applying and advancing the sociological imagination in relation to a wide variety of environmental challenges, controversies and issues, at every level from the global to local, from ‘world culture’ to diverse local perspectives. As an international, peer-reviewed scholarly journal, Environmental Sociology aims to stretch the conceptual and theoretical boundaries of both environmental and mainstream sociology, to highlight the relevance of sociological research for environmental policy and management, to disseminate the results of sociological research, and to engage in productive dialogue and debate with other disciplines in the social, natural and ecological sciences. Contributions may utilize a variety of theoretical orientations including, but not restricted to: critical theory, cultural sociology, ecofeminism, ecological modernization, environmental justice, organizational sociology, political ecology, political economy, post-colonial studies, risk theory, social psychology, science and technology studies, globalization, world-systems analysis, and so on. Cross- and transdisciplinary contributions are welcome where they demonstrate a novel attempt to understand social-ecological relationships in a manner that engages with the core concerns of sociology in social relationships, institutions, practices and processes. All methodological approaches in the environmental social sciences – qualitative, quantitative, integrative, spatial, policy analysis, etc. – are welcomed. Environmental Sociology welcomes high-quality submissions from scholars around the world.