Home Body

Leon van Schaik reviews Households, a compelling photographic documentary project by artist and architect Mark Robbins, which portrays actual people in their own homes. Eschewing the ‘somnolent’ mode of styled interior photography, which is more about what people wish for rather than where they actually live, Robbins captures the intimacy of everyday domestic settings and relationships and in so doing engages ‘architecture with the full panoply of human emotions’. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A household’s power load response to a change in the electricity pricing scheme: An expanded microeconomic-physical approach

Energy economists are interested in how changes in electricity prices prompt a response in end-user electricity demand. If historical prices are low or seldom change, it becomes difficult to estimate price elasticities statistically, especially in the short-run. Thus, a framework that merges the physical equations that govern how electricity is consumed, and a utility-maximizing household the responds to varying expenditures on electricity, is used.We have parameterized the physical component to a house in Saudi Arabia. Three electricity pricing schemes are analyzed: progressive tariffs, time-of-use prices, and real-time prices. We show that for a household with a low preference for electricity, slight price increases do warrant adjustment in indoor temperature in the hot summer months and lower consumer electronics use. Since we adopt a dwelling in Saudi Arabia, the response measure that is most exercised is the thermostat set-point adjustment. A subdued response is found for households that have adopted higher energy efficiency, or have high preference for electricity.     

What goes up: Recent trends in Mexican residential energy use

Energy use in the Mexican residential sector is steadily increasing. Important factors contributing to the increase include changes in the types of housing built, heating, cooling, water-heating equipment and other appliances.     

Efficient and inefficient aspects of residential energy behaviour: What are the policy instruments for change?

The empirical part of this study is based on a survey of 600 Swedish households and a number of interviews where questions about residential energy behaviour and possible policy instruments for change were raised. The study provides insight into current behavioural patterns and gives a bottom-up perspective on the realistic perspective potentials for change and ways to achieve them. Residential energy use accounts for a fifth of the total in Northern nations and patterns of behaviour may influence levels of energy use to the same extent as choice of appliances. The study revealed those behavioural patterns that are efficient and those that need to be improved for energy conservation. Several policy instruments for change were identified in the study and they include combinations of information, economic measures, administrative measures and more user friendly technology as well as equipment with sufficient esthetic quality. Policy instruments that have fostered energy efficient behaviour in Sweden include the massive information campaigns during the oil crises in the 1970s as well as energy labelling of appliances. Still, many households are “energy-unaware” and several energy efficient behaviours are motivated not by energy conservation concern but of a perceived lack of time. This shows that it is important to have a broad perspective in energy conservation, to evaluate trends and to use policy instruments timely to support or discourage them.     

Political Economy and Housing in the Twenty-first Century – From Mobile Homes to Liquid Housing?

The recent Global Financial Crisis started as a crisis in the US sub-prime mortgage market, and rapidly spread to a wider financial crisis. This article suggests that beyond the crisis, we can now see that households are playing an evolving role as a site of risk absorption. In so doing, households have become a frontier of capital accumulation, not just as producers and consumers, but also as financial traders. Households are increasingly buying financialized products as an ordinary part of daily subsistence – houses, insurance, education, electricity and mobile phones. But at a level beyond the household’s daily reality, these regular purchases are being re-specified as assets, on which asset backed securities are built and then traded. It is in this way that by securitizing mortgage debt, finance has given global liquidity to housing. The size of securitized markets on housing as well as household assets and payment streams now dwarfs stock markets. The requirements of this emergent financial citizenship for the house and households extend beyond just honouring payments on a home purchase, it is requiring a culture of financial calculation that becomes absorbed as part of the daily norms and dispositions of social being. The presumption of rights of access to housing, education and health care are being replaced by the acceptance of individual financial participation and calculation. Here, we argue housing is being reconstructed as both the capital base for, and site of, individualized life course risk management.     

国内外中低收入家庭住房补贴政策比较研究

住房保障是社会保障的重要组成部分,备受各级政府关注,基于不同目标的住房补贴政策研究也是学术界经久不表的热门课题.本文从“砖头补贴”和“人头补贴”两类政策入手,总结欧美发达国家不同时期中低收入家庭住房补贴的目标与成效,认为在住房整体缺乏的状况下,进行“砖头补贴”能够取得良好收益,但是随着住房短缺情况的缓解,应逐步向“人头补贴”转化.中国现行住房补贴政策以“砖头补贴”为主,在目前市场住房供给比较紧缺的情况下,此类补贴能够起到较好效果.然而,根据发达国家经验并考虑政策效率,可逐步弱化对供给方的补贴,增添对需求方的补贴.     

The Anatomy of Housing Stress in Sydney

The issue of housing affordability is now the focus of a number of policy interventions in Australian metropolitan areas. In this article data from the ABS 1996 Census and 1999 National Housing Survey are used to unpack the geography of Sydney's unaffordability problem at the local level and looks at the numbers, distribution and characteristics of low income households in housing stress.     

Factors influencing residential water consumption in Wallonia,Belgium

Studies on residential water determinants often considered a limited number of possible factors due to lacking data, especially at micro-levels. This study aims to address the simultaneous effects of (1) household characteristics, (2) alternative sources of water, (3) dwelling properties, (4) water appliances, (5) attitudes, and (6) urban form on household water use in Wallonia (Belgium). Results emphasize the importance of household characteristics, use of alternative water sources, and dwelling properties. When compared to these variables, the influence of urban density appears very limited. Accordingly, the often-observed location factors are mainly related to the shared household characteristics, such as composition, income, lot area, or the practice of using rainwater.     

An ex-ante evaluation of a White Certificates scheme in The Netherlands: A case study for the household sector

Increased efficiency of energy demand is generally recognized as a very cost-effective strategy to reduce energy requirements and the related environmental impacts (e.g. the greenhouse effect). In order to improve energy efficiency the use of innovative market mechanisms, such as the White Certificates (WhC), has been proposed. The basic idea underlying this policy instrument is that specific energy saving targets are set for energy suppliers or energy distributors. These requirements must be fulfilled in a predefined time frame. The focus of this paper is on the effect on energy efficiency improvement, on the behavior of the end consumers and the market of energy efficiency measures. Furthermore, we study the possible effects of WhC in The Netherlands by means of a theoretical analysis and an empirical bottom-up model. We compare concrete energy efficient technologies in terms of cost-effectiveness and energy efficiency improvement. In combination with existing Dutch policies for energy efficiency improvement in the built environment, the contribution of this innovative scheme could enhance the accomplishment of energy efficiency targets. In this paper, two packages of energy saving measures of a WhC scheme are studied for Dutch households. The costs of these technologies are estimated through the use of different discount rates, which imply overcoming of the market barriers through the use of the WhC. A scheme that includes all available technologies as flexible options appears as a realistic solution and can generate cost effectively up to 180 PJ primary energy savings and 4550 M€ cumulative net savings in the year 2020, at a discount rate of 5%, under the precondition that the policy and administrative costs can be kept low.     

Residential consumers in the Cape Peninsula’s willingness to pay for premium priced green electricity

A number of studies have explored the willingness (i.e. stated willingness as opposed to actual willingness) of consumers to pay a premium for green electricity in developed countries. However, little is known about how this translates into an emerging economy context. This study investigates the level of willingness of residential households in South Africa’s Cape Peninsula to pay a premium for electricity from renewable energy. It methodologically drew on recent contributions in the literature on norm-motivated behaviour used to identify testable factors that could influence residential consumers’ willingness to pay (WTP).