You are here

RP3028: A “Virtual Market” for Analysing the Uptake of Energy Efficiency Measures in Residential and Commercial Sectors

Project leader name: 
Dr Andrew Higgins
Project status: 
Complete
Project period: 
04/2015 to 12/2018

This project will model the uptake of low carbon and energy efficient technologies and practices by households and businesses under different market interventions. It extends previous work (RP3002 - which addressed the commercial building sector) into the residential and small to medium business sectors, whilst producing innovative methods that accommodate market based incentives. 

It will use agent-based modelling (ABM) to represent consumer behaviour, social networks and their responses to non-financial incentives and barriers. The resulting model will be a “virtual market”.  It will enable the NSW Government and other agencies to better understand, design and evaluate different types of market interventions (e.g. incentives, information, training, finance, codes), through exploring technical, economic and behavioural parameters.  

Publications related to this project

Peer Reviewed Research Publications

This paper draws on interdisciplinary, mixed-method empirical research to explore the contribution of media studies to environmental policy, research, and practice.

CRCLCL Project Reports

This report draws on the media research to address the cultural and communicative dimensions of consumption as everyday practice – focusing on what people routinely do as consumers and media users.

Peer Reviewed Research Publications

This paper describes the Nudge-Emergence-Diversity model, an Agent-Based Model that represents the adoption of energy efficent technology and behaviours within a diverse population, and incorporates: behaviour-driven models of decision making; diversity of the population through rich survey...

CRCLCL Project Reports
The effort to increase energy efficiency in the residential sector depends to a large extent on the consumer behaviour of residents. This report provides a summary of the complexities of consumer choice including the need to consider:cognitive biases,social comparisons, the role of media, limited...
CRCLCL Project Posters
Student Poster – Participants Annual Forum 2017 - Sarah Fiess DIGITAL MUMS: SUSTAINABLE CONSUMPTION AND DIGITAL MEDIA
Fact sheet

This guide note has been provided to assist our researchers in enabling greater uptake and use of their research by applying insights from social and environmental psychology.

Peer Reviewed Research Publications

Moglia, M., Cook, S., and McGregor, J. (2016) A review of Agent-Based Modelling of technology diffusion with special reference to residential energy efficiency. Sustainable Cities and Society (published online 14 March 2017).

Students related to this project