Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 56 (2016) 810819

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/rser

Understanding household energy consumption behavior: The

contribution of energy big data analytics
Kaile Zhou a,b,n, Shanlin Yang a,b
a
School of Management, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei 230009, China
b
Key Laboratory of Process Optimization and Intelligent Decision-Making of Ministry of Education, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei 230009, China

art ic l e i nf o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Understanding and changing household energy consumption behavior are considered as effective ways to
Received 3 May 2015 improve energy efciency and promote energy conservation. With the increasing penetration of conventional
Received in revised form and emerging information and communication technologies (ICTs) in energy sector, traditional energy systems
3 September 2015
are being digitized. The energy big data provides a new way to analyze and understand individuals' energy
Accepted 3 December 2015
consumption behavior, and thus to improve energy efciency and promote energy conservation. We rst
Available online 21 December 2015
propose a framework of the interdisciplinary research of energy, social and information science, which
Keywords: includes energy social science, social informatics and energy informatics. Then, different dimensions and
Household energy consumption behavior different research paradigms of household energy consumption behavior are presented. Household energy
Energy big data
consumption behavior can be analyzed in time dimension, user dimension and spatial dimension. The eco-
Big data analytics
nomic paradigm (including demand response) and the behavior-oriented paradigm (including intervention
Energy informatics
Intervention strategies strategies) are two major research streams of household energy consumption behavior. Finally, the 4V
characteristics (i.e., volume, velocity, variety and value) of energy big data are discussed.
& 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Contents

1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 811
2. Interdisciplinary research areas of energy, social and information science . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 811
2.1. Energy social science . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 812
2.2. Social informatics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 812
2.3. Energy informatics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 812
3. Household energy consumption behavior . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 812
3.1. Different dimensions of household energy consumption behavior . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 812
3.2. Different paradigms of research on household energy consumption behavior . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 813
3.2.1. Economic paradigm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 813
3.2.2. Behavior-oriented paradigm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 814
3.3. Practical applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 815
4. Energy big data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 816
4.1. Volume. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 816
4.2. Velocity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 816
4.3. Variety . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 816
4.4. Value . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 816
5. Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 817
Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 817
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 817

n
Corresponding author at: School of Management, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei 230009, China. Tel.: 86 551 6290 4948.
E-mail addresses: zhoukaile@hfut.edu.cn, kailezhou@gmail.com (K. Zhou).

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2015.12.001
1364-0321/& 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
 K. Zhou, S. Yang / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 56 (2016) 810819
1. Introduction
The amount of household energy consumption accounts for a
substantial proportion of total energy consumption worldwide. In
some European and American countries, the percentage of
household energy use in total energy consumption is approxi-
mately 30% [1,2]. In China, the rapid development of economy and
society in the past decades has resulted in increasingly high
energy demand, in which household energy consumption
accounted for a signicant proportion [36]. It was reported that
residential energy consumption accounted for about 11% of China's
total energy consumption in 2012 [7]. As a result, household
energy consumption has led to serious environmental problems.
For instance, nearly 38% of the total US carbon emissions come
from the direct energy use of households in the US [8].
The energy consumption patterns of different households show
high variance, due to the fact that their energy use decision
makings are usually affected by various factors. However, house-
hold energy consumption has a large saving potential. It is esti-
mated that up to 27% of current households' energy use can be
saved through more efcient energy use [9]. A case study of
households in EU countries showed that each household can
achieve annual savings of 1300 kWh by a combination of tech-
nological advances and behavioral changes [10]. Therefore,
understanding and changing the energy consumption behavior of
households are considered as effective ways to improve energy
efciency and promote energy conservation [11].
To mitigate the energy and environmental pressures caused by
household energy use, substantial research and development
(R&D) efforts on energy efcient technologies have been made
[12]. Improving energy efciency and reducing energy demand are
widely regarded as the most promising, fastest, cheapest and
safest ways to mitigate environmental pressures and climate
change [13]. Though technological advances and strict regulations
are important ways for promoting energy conservation and
improving energy efciency [14], it has been more and more
recognized that behavioral factors are of great signicance in
achieving energy conservation [1518]. Also, a main objective of
many energy and environmental policies is to achieve households'
energy conservation by changing their energy use behavior [19]. It
has been suggested that behavioral changes can be just as effective
as technological changes [20]. In the past decades, many beha-
vioral and psychological models of consumers have been devel-
oped and adopted in exploring householders' energy consumption
behavior and the inuencing factors [2125]. Then, different types
of intervention strategies were developed, which aimed at sti-
mulating or encouraging changes of people's energy use behavior
and thus achieving energy efciency and energy savings [2632].
With the increasing penetration of sensing and measurement
technology, communication network technology, as well as cloud
computing and big data storage and analytics, traditional energy
systems are being digitized. Large amounts of energy production
and consumption data are generated, collected and stored. This
provides the possibility to implement energy big data mining and
analysis. Decision support based on advanced data analysis is
playing an increasingly important role in the operation and
management of energy systems, driving the formation of smart
energy systems. Smart grid is a specic application form of smart
energy system [3337], in which energy ow, information ow
and business ow are integrated [38]. The smart of smart grid
means the realization of intelligence of the whole power system,
from power generation to consumption. The smart power grid
mainly includes six aspects, namely smart power generation,
smart power transmission, smart power distribution, smart power
transformation, smart scheduling, and smart power use. As one of
the important contents of smart grid, smart power use aims at the
811
realization of exible, efcient and personalized electricity con-
sumption, using advanced data acquisition equipment, data ana-
lysis techniques, and varied interactive terminals. The energy
consumption data in smart grid are mainly collected by the
advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) [39]. Through the smart
meters deployed at the user side, large scale electricity con-
sumption data of residential users can be collected in near real-
time. Through the efcient analysis of electricity consumption data
collected by smart meters and other data acquisition terminals,
daily or monthly electricity consumption patterns of different
users can be discovered [40]. Understanding the electricity con-
sumption behavioral characteristics of different users is important
for both power companies and consumers. For power companies,
more timely, exible and personalized marketing strategies or
demand side management measures can be developed [41]. For
electricity consumers, through the real-time interaction with
power company, they can adjust and optimize their electricity
consumption behaviors, thus reducing their energy costs. The
deepening research and development of energy big data analytics
and its applications have brought new opportunities for under-
standing household energy consumption behavior. Energy science,
social science and information science are no longer independent
disciplines. The large amounts of available energy consumption
data and advanced big data analysis techniques have combined to
trigger the formation of new interdisciplinary research area, such
as energy social science, social informatics and energy informatics.
The rest of this paper is structured as follows. Next section
provides the interdisciplinary research of energy, social and
information science, including energy social science, social infor-
matics, energy informatics and energy social informatics (ESI).
Then Section 3 studies the household energy consumption beha-
vior from two aspects, namely the different dimensions and dif-
ferent research paradigms of household energy consumption
behavior. Energy big data are briey discussed in Section 4. Finally,
conclusions are summarized in Section 5.
2. Interdisciplinary research areas of energy, social and infor-
mation science
Energy science is no longer an independent discipline. Energy
science, social science, and information science intersect one
another, thus forming some new crossed research areas. Fig. 1
shows the intersection of energy, social and information science,
as well as the positioning of interdisciplinary research areas,
including energy social science, social informatics, energy infor-
matics and energy social informatics (ESI).
Information Science
Data &
Social Informatics
Information
Energy Informatics
ESI
Behavior & Energy &
Psychology Environment
Social Science Energy Science
Energy Social Science
Fig. 1. Interdisciplinary research areas of energy, social and information science.
812 K. Zhou, S. Yang / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 56 (2016) 810819
2.1. Energy social science
Research on the energy consumption behavior of consumers is
an important way to improve energy efciency and to seek
effective energy conservation [12]. The objective of energy social
science is to establish behavioral or psychological models to
understand energy consumption behaviors and nd effective ways
to achieve energy efciency and environmental targets.
Traditionally, social science has played an important role in
energy eld studies. Social science methodologies and models
have been successfully applied in solving many energy and
environmental problems. Energy consumption and conservation
are important behavioral and psychological research areas
[27,42,43] in energy social science. The research works of energy
consumption in energy social science have been mainly presented
in the following two aspects.
(1) Behavioral and psychological factors underlying individuals'
energy consumption behavior. People's energy consumption
behavior is affected by many different kinds of factors,
including both objective and subjective factors [4447]. Objec-
tive factors are the ones that do not depend on the subjective
sense of individuals, such as income levels, housing character-
istics, family size, as well as energy prices, climatic conditions,
and energy policies. Subjective factors are those related to
individuals' intention and awareness. The effects of subjective
factors on households' energy consumption behavior are
important research questions of energy social science.
(2) Intervention strategies (e.g., feedback, goal-setting, information
and prompts) that aimed at inuencing people's energy use
behavior and encouraging energy conservation [27]. Generally,
there are three types of interventions, namely structural ones
(e.g., price policies and subsidies), antecedence ones (e.g., goal-
setting, information, and commitment), and consequence ones
(e.g., feedback and rewards) [48]. Some research efforts [4952]
have focused on different kinds of feedback devices, and they
suggested that specic feedback is more effective than general-
ized ones. To implement effective feedback, Ellegrd and Palm
[53] pointed out that it is important to understand the actual
electricity consumption patterns of individuals. The motivation
to reduce energy use was also considered as a key factor in
developing feedback strategies [27].
2.2. Social informatics
Social informatics, a.k.a. computational social science, is a
crossed research area of social science and information science
[54,55]. It represents a research area that focusing on the rela-
tionships between information and communications technologies
(ICTs) and the larger social context in which these ICTs exist [56
58]. The objective of social informatics research is to deal with
social and behavioral issues with data and information. In the age
of big data, the large amount multi-source data provides many
new research opportunities for social science. Big data analytics
can reveal many hidden behavioral patterns of both individuals
and groups [59]. The increasingly available informative social sci-
ence data are making it possible to analyze, interpret, and address
many difcult social issues [60].
Here, the purpose of a brief introduction of social informatics is
to illustrate the signicance of the crossed elds of energy, social
and information science. Though it is an interesting and promising
eld of research, detailed introduction and discussion about social
informatics are not provided due to the fact that it is not parti-
cularly relevant to the research focus of this study.
2.3. Energy informatics
Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), particu-
larly the emerging information technologies (e.g., big data analy-
tics, internet of things, and cloud computing), are constantly
penetrated into the whole process of energy sector from produc-
tion to consumption [61]. Traditional energy system is being
digitalized, with more intelligence, thus forming the smart energy
system. In the smart energy system, large amount of data about
energy production or consumption are generated, collected and
stored, which can serve as valuable resources to support smart
energy management. For instance, the near real-time collection
and analysis of individuals' electricity consumption data in smart
grid can support the behavioral changes of electricity consumers
[62,63].
Information technology is playing an increasingly important role
in the eld of energy and environmental sustainability [6467], and
information science is gradually integrated with energy science.
Energy informatics is an interdisciplinary research eld of energy
science and information science, which applies data and information
thinking and skills to increase energy efciency and reduce energy
consumption. Watson et al. [68] proposed that the objectives of
energy informatics are to increase the efciency of energy demand
and supply systems and optimize the energy distribution and con-
sumption networks, through energy data collection, analysis, as well
as system designing and implementation. Their core idea was pre-
sented as EnergyInformationoEnergy. Goebel et al. [69] pre-
sented an overview of energy informatics and pointed out the scope
of energy informatics research, as shown in Fig. 2.
Moreover, energy social informatics (ESI) is a new inter-
disciplinary research area of energy science, social science and
information science. ESI can be dened as a research eld that
aims at energy efciency improvement and environmental sus-
tainability using advanced ICTs techniques and behavioral models,
from the social and psychological perspectives.
3. Household energy consumption behavior
3.1. Different dimensions of household energy consumption behavior
The energy consumption behavior of households can be
described in three dimensions, namely time dimension, user
dimension and spatial dimension, as shown in Fig. 3.
In the time dimension, the energy consumption behavior of
households can be in an hour, a day, a month or even a year. With
the deployment of smart meters in the demand side of smart grid,
householder' electricity consumption data can be collected in near
real time. Therefore, householders' energy behavior can be
described in different time granularity, from an hour to a year.
Generally, the energy use of a household in an hour has great
randomness. The energy consumption behaviors of households in
a day often show some differences in different times of the day. In
contrast, the monthly and annual energy consumption behaviors
are usually affected by many external factors. Fig. 4 shows the load
prole and electricity consumption prole of a household in China
in a day and in a month, respectively.
In the user dimension, the energy consumption behaviors of
different households also vary greatly. Individual's energy use
behavior is generally inuenced by various factors, including both
internal and external ones. Internal factors are the subjective
intentions, such as habit and environmental awareness. External
factors mainly include housing characteristics, demographic
characteristics, way of working, and other factors.
In addition, the energy consumption behavior of households in
spatial dimension also shows certain differences. In different areas,
 K. Zhou, S. Yang / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 56 (2016) 810819
Fig. 2. Research scope of energy informatics. Source: [69].
User Dimension
In a country
In a city
In a residential district
In a building Time Dimension
Hour Day Month Year
Different buildings
Different residential districts
Different cities
Spatial Dimension
Fig. 3. Different dimensions of household energy consumption behavior.
householders' energy uses are often affected by the geographical
environment, level of economic development, climate characteristics
and other factors. In a smaller spatial range, household energy use
behaviors in different residential districts, or even different build-
ings, also show some differences, due to the impact of regional
location, building structure and other spatial differences.
3.2. Different paradigms of research on household energy con-
sumption behavior
In the past decades, there have been large amounts of research
efforts on energy consumption behavior from different perspec-
tives, including behavioral economics [70], environmental psy-
chology [71], behavioral and experimental economics [72], and
ecological economics [73]. In summary, the research paradigms of
energy consumption behavior can be divided into two major
categories, namely the economic paradigm and the behavior-
oriented paradigm [74,75].
3.2.1. Economic paradigm
The basic principle underlying the economic paradigm is the
rational choice theory (a.k.a. the choice theory or the rational
action theory), which suggests that people with rationality seek to
obtain the maximum benet with minimum cost such that to
maximize their expected utility [76,77]. In the energy sector, the
rational energy consumers make decisions of energy consumption
813
based on the costs, benets and all of the available internal and
external information. From this view, early studies suggested that
users would take actions to conserve energy if sufcient infor-
mation were provided [15]. However, the cognitive burden of
information processing always weakens the ability of consumers
to take deliberative actions, so that they are bounded in the
rationality [78]. Currently, a lot of research efforts have demon-
strated that many social and psychological factors like norms,
habits and emotions may reduce the cognitive deliberation, thus
undermining the assumptions of rational choice theory [74].
From the perspective of economic paradigm, demand response
(DR) programs, or in a broader sense demand side management
(DSM), are effective ways to promote energy consumption beha-
vioral changes of households through price- or incentive-based
strategies. DSM includes the many actions from the replacement of
energy-efcient appliances, to the reduction of energy consump-
tion and the shifting of time when electricity is used, to the
implementation of complex dynamic pricing mechanisms [79].
The objective of DSM is to promote behavioral changes of house-
holds' energy use. These changes in the time pattern and magni-
tude of the network load lead to the desired changes in their load
shapes. The six major types of DSM objectives and tasks are peak
clipping, valley lling, load shifting, strategic conservation, stra-
tegic load growth, and exible load shape [8082]. DR is dened as
Changes in electric usage by end-use customers from their nor-
mal consumption patterns in response to changes in the price of
electricity over time, or to incentive payments designed to induce
lower electricity use at times of high wholesale market prices or
when system reliability is jeopardized [83,84]. According to this
denition, DR programs can be divided into two categories,
namely price-based DR programs and incentive-based DR pro-
grams. Price-based DR programs aim at changing the energy
consumption patterns of consumers by different electricity pricing
mechanisms [85], while incentive-based DR programs mean the
planned changes in electricity consumption that customers have
agreed to response to requests from the operators [86]. Some of
the major DR strategies are shown Fig. 5.
To implement effective DR programs, the collected energy
consumption big data are important resources. By the efcient
analysis of the energy use data, different energy consumption
patterns of different households can be discovered, and the cor-
responding energy use behavioral characteristics can be identied.
814 K. Zhou, S. Yang / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 56 (2016) 810819
2 50
1.5
Load (kW)
1
0.5
0 0
2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16
Hour
Daily load profile
Fig. 4. Daily load prole and monthly electricity consumption prole of a household in China. (a) Daily load prole. (b) Monthly electricity consumption prole.
Fig. 5. Some major DR strategies. Source: [79].
3.2.2. Behavior-oriented paradigm
Different from the economic paradigm, the assumption of
behavior-oriented paradigm is that consumers' energy consump-
tion behaviors are usually determined by the complex interplay of
intrapersonal factors, interpersonal factors and external factors
[87], as shown in Fig. 6.
Currently, there have been some research efforts that focused
on the energy and environment related behaviors from social and
psychological perspectives. Also, some different behavioral models
have been proposed [21,22], including the theory of planned
behavior (TPB) [23] and the improved models [24], the norm
activation model (NAM) [25], as well as the combinational model
[26]. The TPB incorporates individual level variables as predictors
of behavior. It posits that the behavioral changes of individuals are
determined by three major predictors, namely attitudes toward
the behavior, perceived behavioral control, and perceptions of
subjective norms [23,88]. These variables together predict beha-
vioral intentions, which in turn predict actual behavior [89]. The
NAM suggests that normative considerations play important roles
in affecting energy consumption behaviors. Namely, people are
more likely to reduce their energy consumption when they feel
morally obliged to do so. van der Werff and Steg [90] pointed out
that a general conceptualization of the NAM that focus on energy
use in general predict a range of different energy behaviors.
Based on these behavioral models, there are also some studies
that focused on the intervention strategies for energy consump-
tion behavior, including goal-setting, feedback, information and
Elec tric ity c ons umption (k Wh)
40
30
20
10
18 20 22 24 5 10 15 20 25 30
Date
Monthly electricity consumption profile
prompts [27]. The objective of these interventions is to promote
energy conservation through either providing rewards that render
pro-environmental decisions more attractive [28,29] or targeting
an individual's perceptions, preferences, and abilities in order to
induce eco-friendly behavior [3032]. According to the goal-
setting theory [9194], the energy consumption behavior of indi-
viduals is directed by goals that are difcult yet realistic. At the
same time, the anticipation of attaining a goal has a motivating
effect. Feedback is based on the idea that feedback can inuence
behavior since it provides information about some given perfor-
mance that people have undertaken [95]. Feedback information is
mainly the households' energy consumption in terms of energy
units and/or monetary values [27]. Based on the frequency of
information, feedback can be divided into continuous feedback
that using a user interface showing the current energy consump-
tion, and non-continuous feedback that providing daily, weekly or
monthly information of energy consumption via mail or the
Internet. Existing studies have demonstrated that continuous
feedback is more effective than non-continuous one in achieving
energy conservation [9698]. Information aims at providing peo-
ple with sufcient understanding of how to achieve a certain
objective, thus motivating them to change behaviors [99]. How-
ever, it has been found that information is not necessarily in
changing householders' energy consumption behavior and pro-
moting energy conservation, though it can result in higher
knowledge levels [27]. The objective of prompts is to give a
reminder or encouragement to consumers for changing their
energy consumption behavior. For non-complex behaviors, parti-
cularly the well-placed and well-timed ones, prompting is con-
sidered as the most effective intervention strategy [100].
The various intervention strategies, aiming at improving energy
efciency and stimulating energy saving, can be categorized into
three major types, namely structural, antecedent, and con-
sequence ones (shown in Fig. 7) [101].
We also summarize some existing research works that focused
on different factors that affecting household energy consumption
behavior in Table 1.
Table 1 demonstrates that there have been a lot of research
efforts that focused on the energy consumption behavior of
households. Different types of factors including intrapersonal
[4,72,90,102106], interpersonal [107110] and external ones
[48,51,111119] that inuence household energy consumption
behavior have been explored. Intrapersonal factors are the internal
factors from their own of households, such as attitude, awareness
and habit. Interpersonal factors are the social factors come from
interpersonal interaction. External factors are the external eco-
nomic, technological or environmental factors. The research
objects of these studies were households from different countries
of the world, including European countries (e.g., the UK [102],
Netherlands [114], and Sweden [51]), Asian countries (e.g., China
[109] and Japan [119]), Northern America (e.g., the US [112]), and
 K. Zhou, S. Yang / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 56 (2016) 810819 815

Fig. 6. Behavior-oriented research paradigm of energy consumption behavior.

Fig. 7. Intervention strategies. Source: [101].

Oceania (e.g., Australia [103] and New Zealand [115]). We should
note that geographical location is also an important regional factor
that could have a signicant effect on household energy con-
sumption behavior.
Table 1 also shows that the data sample sizes of most existing
studies were not big enough, which were usually less than 1000.
Also, many of the experimental data were survey data collected via
face-to-face interviews/communications, or questionnaires based
on email, telephone and Internet. Therefore, these traditional
research works that have taken very few data into consideration
were insufcient in scalability. Due to the widespread deployment
of advanced metering infrastructure in energy system and the
increasing availability of energy consumption data, energy big data
analytics provides a new direction for the future research on
household energy consumption behavior.
3.3. Practical applications
Existing studies have demonstrated that behavioral factors
have signicant effects on household energy use. However, effec-
tive intervention strategies aiming at stimulating behavioral
changes of households can promote great improvement in energy
efciency and reduction in energy consumption. For example,
compared with other attitudes, the attitudes of households
towards comfort and nances always correlate most with their
energy use [102,120,121]. In addition, due to the fact that people
usually have little knowledge about their indirect energy use
[122], the extent to which they are aware of the environmental
problems and the extent to which they perceive they can con-
tribute to solving the problems can strengthen their feelings of
moral obligation to solve these problems in turn promoting
behavioral changes [90,123]. By changing the energy consumption
behaviors of households, domestic energy consumption can be
reduced by 1030% [124,125].
These research results, particularly the future research on
household energy consumption behavior based on big data analy-
tics, have important practical implications for policies aiming to
improve energy efciency and reduce energy consumption. To
reduce energy consumption, mitigate climate change and promote
sustainable development, a wide range of energy use behaviors of
households need to be changed. The government, local communities
and power companies should take more effective measures to
encourage householders' behavioral changes, including introducing
them more about the relationship between their energy use and
816 K. Zhou, S. Yang / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 56 (2016) 810819

Table 1
Some existing studies on factors that inuence household energy use.

Factors Data sample size

Intrapersonal factors Attitude (emotions, intentions, willingness, etc.) 128 households in the UK [102]; 468 respondents in the Netherlands [90]; 200
consumers in Australia [103]
Environmental awareness 429 households in Libya [104]; 612 households in the US [72]
Habit/lifestyle 57 Swedish homes [105]
Demographical factors (age, gender, education, income, 285 households in Greece [106]
number of persons, etc.)
Past experience 816 residents in China [4]
Interpersonal factors Social norms 447 people in the US [107]; 323 girls and their parents in the US [108]; 280
respondents in China [109]
Social inuence 38 participants in the US [110]
External factors Feedback (tailored information, ) 100 households in Sweden [48]; 4 households in Japan [111]; 28 households in
Sweden [51]; 39 participants in the US [112]
Goal-setting 189 households in the Netherlands [26]
Home energy visit program 118 households in the UK [113]
Technical progress (smart appliances, smart meters, etc.) 77 households from the Netherlands [114]; 9 participants in New Zealand [115]
Geographical factors (area, population, price level, etc.) 30 people in three different types of residential districts of Finland [116]; 560 cus-
tomers in Austria [117]
Climate factors 320 households in the US [118]
Financial incentives (monetary rewards, economic benets, 236 households in Japan [119]; 816 residents in China [4]
etc.)

carbon emissions (or climate change), providing more specic

information about their energy consumption, as well as encouraging Volume
them to replace with more efcient appliances. However, the tech-
nologies or knowledge provided to households should not be too
complex, since people may encounter information overload [26] or
response fatigue [126]. When people have problems or difculties in Velocity Energy Big Data Velocity
understanding the intervention strategies or incentive mechanisms,
they will lose interest in the information and no longer pay attention
to the policies and strategies. Also, people's energy consumption
behavior is complex and often deviate from traditional decision- Variety
making and economic theories, so psychology and behavioral eco-
nomics can play important roles in designing and delivering effec- Fig. 8. 4V characteristics of energy big data.
tive intervention measures [70].

Table 2
Amount of data collected by 1 million smart meters in one year.
4. Energy big data
Collection frequency 1/day 1/h 1/30 min 1/15 min
Big data in the energy sector, i.e. the energy big data, also have Records collected 365 million 8.75 billion 17.52 billion 35.04 billion
the 4V characteristics, namely volume, velocity, variety, and Terabytes collecteda 1.82 TB 730 TB 1460 TB 2920 TB

value [127129] (shown in Fig. 8). a

Note: Assuming 5 kB per records collected.

4.1. Volume
Literally, big data means lots and lots of data. In energy sector,
the wide deployment of smart metering devices (e.g., smart
meters) created massive amounts of data. For instance, for a dis-
tribution network with 1 million smart meters deployed, the
amount of electricity consumption data collected in one year is
very large. Table 2 shows the amount of electricity consumption
data collected by 1 million smart meters in a distribution network
within one year [130].
As Table 2 shows, the amount of electricity consumption data
collected once every 15 mins by 1 million smart meters within one
year will be up to 2920 TB. This presents not only a storage pro-
blem, but an analytic problem of making sense of all that data
[130].
4.2. Velocity
the near real-time decision-makings in energy system, the speed
of data collection and processing ranges from sub-second to 5- or
15-mins intervals.
4.3. Variety
Energy big data has a high degree of variety. Generally, it is a
mix of structured (e.g., the energy consumption data), semi-
structured (e.g., data exchanged between smart energy manage-
ment platform and third-party data aggregators using XML, Web
services), and unstructured data (e.g., email or SMS notication
about energy use, interactions of consumers on social media about
their energy use). In addition, there are also some inter-industry
data (e.g., electric vehicle-related data) and outside-industry data
(e.g., weather data) in the energy big data. These different types of
data all combined will result in a signicant increase in the com-
plexity of energy big data applications.

Velocity mainly means the speed of energy big data collection, 4.4. Value
processing and analysis. Different from traditional post-processing
type business intelligence and data mining, the collection and Energy big data is meaningless unless its value is explored and
processing of energy big data need surprising speed. To support mined, to support either the business decisions or customer
 K. Zhou, S. Yang / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 56 (2016) 810819
services. For energy products and service providers, it helps them
to better understand the energy consumption patterns of different
consumers and thus to develop more competitive marketing
strategies. For customers, the value typically translates to energy
savings, operational efciency, and improved visibility into how
they are using energy.
5. Conclusions
The amount of household energy use accounts for a substantial
proportion of total energy consumption. However, the energy
consumption behavioral patterns of different households show
high variance, due to the fact that their decision makings about
energy use are usually affected by various intrapersonal, inter-
personal and external factors. With the increasing penetration of
sensing and measurement technology, communication network
technology, as well as cloud computing and big data analytics,
traditional energy systems are being digitized. Thus, increasing
amount of energy consumption data is collected. Research and
development of energy big data analytics and applications have
brought new opportunities for understanding household energy
consumption behavior.
The overall objective of this study is to enhance the under-
standing of social issues in energy consumption from the infor-
mation science (or more specically data science) perspective. This
study presented a comprehensive review of household energy
consumption behavior, including demand response strategies and
intervention strategies that aimed at stimulating more efcient
energy use of households. In the context of smart energy man-
agement enabled by advanced ICTs, the increasing penetration and
integration of information science and technologies in the
research and application of energy consumption are also dis-
cussed. This study contributes to the enhancement of people's
understanding about household energy consumption behavior, the
development of more effective intervention strategies, as well as
the achievement of long-term energy conservation and sustain-
able development.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank the anonymous reviewers for
their constructive comments and suggestions. This work is sup-
ported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No.
71501056), Anhui Provincial Philosophy and Social Science Planning
Project (No. AHSKQ2015D42), the Foundation for Innovative
Research Groups of the National Natural Science Foundation of
China (No. 71521001), and the Fundamental Research Funds for the
Central Universities (JZ2015HGBZ0093).
References
[1] EIA. Annual energy review 2009. Washington, DC: US Energy Information
Administration; 2009.
[2] EEA. Energy and environment report. Copenhagen: European Environment
Agency (EEA); 2008 EEA Report No 6/2008, http://www.eea.europa.eu/pub
lications/eea_report_2008_6.
[3] Ouyang J, Hokao K. Energy-saving potential by improving occupants beha-
vior in urban residential sector in Hangzhou City, China. Energy Build
2009;41:71120.
[4] Wang Z, Zhang B, Yin J, Zhang Y. Determinants and policy implications for
household electricity-saving behaviour: evidence from Beijing, China. Energy
Policy 2011;39:35507.
[5] Song M, Song Y, An Q, Yu H. Review of environmental efciency and its
inuencing factors in China: 19982009. Renew Sustain Energy Rev
2013;20:814.
817
[6] Zhou K, Yang S, Shen C, Ding S, Sun C. Energy conservation and emission
reduction of Chinas electric power industry. Renew Sustain Energy Rev
2015;45:109.
[7] National Bureau of Statistics of China (NBSC). China energy statistical year-
book. Beijing: China Statistics Press; 2014.
[8] Gardner GT, Stern PC. The short list: the most effective actions US households
can take to curb climate change. Environ Sci Policy Sustain Dev 2008;50:1225.
[9] European Commission. Communication from the commissionaction plan
for energy efciency: realising the potential. European Commission Report,
COM (2006) 545 Final, 2006.
[10] de Almeida A, Fonseca P, Schlomann B, Feilberg N. Characterization of the
household electricity consumption in the EU, potential energy savings and
specic policy recommendations. Energy Build 2011;43:188494.
[11] Dimitropoulos J. Energy productivity improvements and the rebound effect:
an overview of the state of knowledge. Energy Policy 2007;35:635463.
[12] Allcott H, Mullainathan S. Behavioral science and energy policy. Science
2010;327:12045.
[13] Sorrell S. Reducing energy demand: a review of issues, challenges and
approaches. Renew Sustain Energy Rev 2015;47:7482.
[14] Steg L, Dreijerink L, Abrahamse W. Factors inuencing the acceptability of
energy policies: a test of VBN theory. J Environ Psychol 2005;25:41525.
[15] Lutzenhiser L. Social and behavioral aspects of energy use. Annu Rev
Energy Environ 1993;18:24789.
[16] Socolow RH. The Twin Rivers program on energy conservation in housing:
highlights and conclusions. Energy Build 1978;1:20742.
[17] Dietz T, Gardner GT, Gilligan J, Stern PC, Vandenbergh MP. Household actions
can provide a behavioral wedge to rapidly reduce US carbon emissions. Proc
Natl Acad Sci 2009;106:184526.
[18] Sovacool BK. What are we doing here? Analyzing fteen years of energy
scholarship and proposing a social science research agenda Energy Res Soc
Sci 2014;1:129.
[19] Gardner GT, Stern PC. Environmental problems and human behavior. Boston,
MA: Allyn & Bacon; 1996.
[20] Prindle W, Finlinson S. How organizations can drive behavior-based energy
efciency. In: Sioshansi F, editor. Energy, sustainability and the environment.
Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann: Elsevier; 2011.
[21] Vining J, Ebreo A, Bechtel R, Churchman A. Emerging theoretical and
methodological perspectives on conservation behaviour. New Handbook of
Environmental Psychology. New York: Wiley; 2003. p. 54158.
[22] Jackson T. Motivating sustainable consumption: a review of evidence on
consumer behaviour and behavioural change. Report to the Sustainable
Development Research Network. Guildford. UK: University of Surrey, Centre
for Environmental Strategy; 2005.
[23] Ajzen I. The theory of planned behavior. Organ Behav Human Decis Process
1991;50:179211.
[24] Perugini M, Bagozzi RP. An alternative view of pre-volitional processes in
decision making. In: Haddock G, Maio GR, editors. Contemporary perspec-
tives on the psychology of attitudes. Hove, UK: Psychology Press; 2004.
p. 169201.
[25] Schwartz SH. Normative inuences on altruism. Adv Exp Soc Psychol
1977;10:22179.
[26] Abrahamse W, Steg L, Vlek C, Rothengatter T. The effect of tailored infor-
mation, goal setting, and tailored feedback on household energy use, energy-
related behaviors, and behavioral antecedents. J Environ Psychol
2007;27:26576.
[27] Abrahamse W, Steg L, Vlek C, Rothengatter T. A review of intervention stu-
dies aimed at household energy conservation. J Environ Psychol
2005;25:27391.
[28] Osterhus TL. Pro-social consumer inuence strategies: when and how do
they work? J Mark 1997;61:1629.
[29] Steg L, Vlek C. Encouraging pro-environmental behaviour: an integrative
review and research agenda. J Environ Psychol 2009;29:30917.
[30] Allen CT. Self-perception based strategies for stimulating energy conserva-
tion. J Consum Res 1982;8:38190.
[31] Poortinga W, Steg L, Vlek C, Wiersma G. Household preferences for energy-
saving measures: a conjoint analysis. J Econ Psychol 2003;24:4964.
[32] Steg L. Promoting household energy conservation. Energy policy
2008;36:444953.
[33] Farhangi H. The path of the smart grid. Power Energy Mag IEEE 2010;8:1828.
[34] Amin SM, Wollenberg BF. Toward a smart grid: power delivery for the 21st
century. Power Energy Mag IEEE 2005;3:3441.
[35] Gungor VC, Sahin D, Kocak T, Ergut S, Buccella C, Cecati C, et al. Smart grid
technologies: communication technologies and standards. Ind Inform IEEE
Trans 2011;7:52939.
[36] Lund H, Andersen AN, stergaard PA, Mathiesen BV, Connolly D. From
electricity smart grids to smart energy systemsa market operation based
approach and understanding. Energy 2012;42:96102.
[37] Zhou K, Yang S, Chen Z, Ding S. Optimal load distribution model of
microgrid in the smart grid environment. Renew Sustain Energy Rev
2014;35:30410.
[38] Zhang B, Sun H, Wu W, Guo Q. Future development of control center tech-
nologies for smart grid. Autom Electr Power Syst 2009;33:218.
[39] Bennett C, Highll D. Networking AMI smart meters. In: Proceedings of the
IEEE energy 2030 conference, 2008 ENERGY 2008 IEEE; 2008. p. 18.
[40] Zhou K-l Yang S-l, Shen C. A review of electric load classication in smart
grid environment. Renew Sustain Energy Rev 2013;24:10310.
818 K. Zhou, S. Yang / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 56 (2016) 810819
[41] Moghaddam MP, Abdollahi A, Rashidinejad M. Flexible demand response
programs modeling in competitive electricity markets. Appl Energy
2011;88:325769.
[42] Dwyer WO, Leeming FC, Cobern MK, Porter BE, Jackson JM. Critical review of
behavioral interventions to preserve the environment research since 1980.
Environ Behav 1993;25:275321.
[43] De Young R. Changing behavior and making it stick The conceptualization and
management of conservation behavior. Environ Behav 1993;25:485505.
[44] Barr S, Gilg AW, Ford N. The household energy gap: examining the divide
between habitual-and purchase-related conservation behaviours. Energy
Policy 2005;33:142544.
[45] Branco G, Lachal B, Gallinelli P, Weber W. Predicted versus observed heat
consumption of a low energy multifamily complex in Switzerland based on
long-term experimental data. Energy Build 2004;36:54355.
[46] Fabi V, Andersen RV, Corgnati S, Olesen BW. Occupants' window opening
behaviour: a literature review of factors inuencing occupant behaviour and
models. Build Environ 2012;58:18898.
[47] Lindn A-L, Carlsson-Kanyama A, Eriksson B. Efcient and inefcient aspects
of residential energy behaviour: what are the policy instruments for change?
Energy Policy 2006;34:191827.
[48] Nilsson A, Bergstad CJ, Thuvander L, Andersson D, Andersson K, Meiling P.
Effects of continuous feedback on households electricity consumption:
potentials and barriers. Appl Energy 2014;122:1723.
[49] Darby S. The effectiveness of feedback on energy consumption. A review for
DEFRA of the literature on metering, billing and direct displays. 2006;
486:2006.
[50] Vassileva I, Odlare M, Wallin F, Dahlquist E. The impact of consumers
feedback preferences on domestic electricity consumption. Appl Energy
2012;93:57582.
[51] Vassileva I, Dahlquist E, Wallin F, Campillo J. Energy consumption feedback
devices impact evaluation on domestic energy use. Appl Energy
2013;106:31420.
[52] Vassileva I, Wallin F, Dahlquist E. Analytical comparison between electricity
consumption and behavioral characteristics of Swedish households in rented
apartments. Appl Energy 2012;90:1828.
[53] Ellegrd K, Palm J. Visualizing energy consumption activities as a tool for
making everyday life more sustainable. Appl Energy 2011;88:19206.
[54] Kling R. What is social informatics and why does it matter? Inf Soc
2007;23:20520.
[55] Watts DJ. Computational social science: exciting progress and future direc-
tions. Bridge Front Eng 2013;43:510.
[56] Sawyer S, Eschenfelder KR. Social informatics: perspectives, examples, and
trends. Ann Rev Inf Sci Technol 2002;36:42765.
[57] Sawyer S. Social informatics: overview, principles and opportunities. Bull Am
Soc Inf Sci Technol 2005;31:912.
[58] Wang F-Y, Carley KM, Zeng D, Mao W. Social computing: from social infor-
matics to social intelligence. Intell Syst IEEE 2007;22:7983.
[59] Lazer D, Pentland A, Adamic L, Aral S, Barabsi A-L, Brewer D, et al. Com-
putational social science. Science 2009;323:7213.
[60] King G. Ensuring the data-rich future of the social sciences. Science
2011;331:71921.
[61] Zhou K, Yang S. A framework of service-oriented operation model of China's
power system. Renew Sustain Energy Rev 2015;50:71925.
[62] Loock C-M, Graml T, Baeriswyl M, Staake T. How to motivate energy ef-
ciency online. In: Proceedings of 20th international conference on manage-
ment of technology, Florida, USA, 2011.
[63] Mattern F, Staake T, Weiss M. ICT for green: how computers can help us to
conserve energy. In: Proceedings of the 1st international conference on
energy-efcient computing and networking: ACM; 2010. p. 110.
[64] Chowdhury G. Building environmentally sustainable information services: a
green IS research agenda. J Am Soc Inf Sci Technol 2012;63:63347.
[65] Cai S, Chen X, Bose I. Exploring the role of IT for environmental sustainability
in China: an empirical analysis. Int J Prod Econ 2013;146:491500.
[66] Watson RT, Corbett J, Boudreau M-C, Webster J. An information strategy for
environmental sustainability. Commun ACM 2012;55:2830.
[67] Corbett J. Using information systems to improve energy efciency: do smart
meters make a difference? Inf Syst Front 2013;15:74760.
[68] Watson RT, Boudreau M-C, Chen AJ. Information systems and environmen-
tally sustainable development: energy informatics and new directions for
the IS community. Management. Inf Syst Q 2010;34:4.
[69] Goebel C, Jacobsen H-A, del Razo V, Doblander C, Rivera J, Ilg J, et al. Energy
informatics: current and future research directions. Bus Inf Syst Eng
2014;6:2531.
[70] Frederiks ER, Stenner K, Hobman EV. Household energy use: applying
behavioural economics to understand consumer decision-making and
behaviour. Renew Sustain Energy Rev 2015;41:138594.
[71] Bamberg S, Mser G. Twenty years after Hines, Hungerford, and Tomera: a
new meta-analysis of psycho-social determinants of pro-environmental
behaviour. J Environ Psychol 2007;27:1425.
[72] Sapci O, Considine T. The link between environmental attitudes and energy
consumption behavior. J Behav Exp Econ 2014;52:2934.
[73] Wicker P, Becken S. Conscientious vs. ambivalent consumers: do concerns
about energy availability and climate change inuence consumer behaviour?
Ecol Econ 2013;88:418.
[74] Loock C-M, Staake T, Thiesse F. Motivating energy-efcient behavior with
green IS: an investigation of goal setting and the role of defaults. MIS Q
2013;37:131332.
[75] McKenzie-Mohr D, Nemiroff LS, Beers L, Desmarais S. Determinants of
responsible environmental behavior. J Soc Issues 1995;51:13956.
[76] Elster J. Rational choice. New York: New York University Press; 1986.
[77] Homans GC. Social behavior: Its elementary forms. London: Routledge and
Kegan Paul; 1961.
[78] Simon HA. A behavioral model of rational choice. Q J Econ 1955;69:99118.
[79] Zhou K, Yang S. Demand side management in China: the context of Chinas
power industry reform. Renew Sustain Energy Rev 2015;47:95465.
[80] Gellings CW. The concept of demand-side management for electric utilities.
Proc IEEE 1985;73:146870.
[81] Qureshi WA, Farid MM. Impact of energy storage in buildings on electricity
demand side management. Energy Conversion Manag 2011;52:211020.
[82] Strbac G. Demand side management: benets and challenges. Energy Policy
2008;36:441926.
[83] U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). Benets of demand response in electricity
markets and recommendations for achieving them. A Report to the Unit
States Congress Pursuant to Section 1252 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005;
2006.
[84] Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). A national assessment of
demand response potential staff report. http://www.ferc.gov/legal/staff-
reports/06-09-demand-response.pdf, 2009.
[85] Aalami H, Moghaddam MP, Youse G. Modeling and prioritizing demand
response programs in power markets. Electr Power Syst Res 2010;80:426
35.
[86] Zhong H, Xie L, Xia Q. Coupon incentive-based demand response: theory and
case study. Power Syst IEEE Trans 2013;28:126676.
[87] Gifford R, Kormos C, McIntyre A. Behavioral dimensions of climate change:
drivers, responses, barriers, and interventions. Wiley Interdiscip Rev: Clim
Change 2011;2:80127.
[88] Fishbein M, Ajzen I. Predicting and changing behavior: the reasoned action
approach. New York: Psychology Press; 2009.
[89] Dixon GN, Deline MB, McComas K, Chambliss L, Hoffmann M. Saving energy
at the workplace: the salience of behavioral antecedents and sense of
community. Energy Res Soc Sci 2015;6:1217.
[90] van der Werff E, Steg L. One model to predict them all: predicting energy
behaviours with the norm activation model. Energy Res Soc Sci 2015;6:814.
[91] Locke E. Motivation, cognition, and action: an analysis of studies of task goals
and knowledge. Appl Psychol 2000;49:40829.
[92] Locke EA, Latham GP. Building a practically useful theory of goal setting and
task motivation: a 35-year odyssey. Am Psychol 2002;57:705.
[93] Locke EA, Latham GP. New directions in goal-setting theory. Curr Dir Psychol
Sci 2006;15:2658.
[94] Harding M, Hsiaw A. Goal setting and energy conservation. J Econ Behav
Organ 2014;107:20927.
[95] Kluger AN, DeNisi A. The effects of feedback interventions on performance: a
historical review, a meta-analysis, and a preliminary feedback intervention
theory. Psychol Bull 1996;119:254.
[96] Grnhj A, Thgersen J. Feedback on household electricity consumption:
learning and social inuence processes. Int J Consumer Stud 2011;35:138
45.
[97] Bittle RG, Valesano RM, Thaler GM. The effects of daily feedback on resi-
dential electricity usage as a function of usage level and type of feedback
information. J Environ Syst 1979;9:27587.
[98] Hayes SC, Cone JD. Reduction of residential consumption of electricity
through simple monthly feedback. J Appl Behav Anal 1981;14:818.
[99] Schultz PW. Knowledge, information, and household recycling: examining
the knowledge-decit model of behavior change. New Tools Environ Prot
Educ Inf Volunt Meas 2002:6782.
[100] Geller ES, Winett RA, Everett PB, Winkler RC. Preserving the environment:
new strategies for behavior change. New York: Pergamon Press; 1982.
[101] Han Q, Nieuwenhijsen I, de Vries B, Blokhuis E, Schaefer W. Intervention
strategy to stimulate energy-saving behavior of local residents. Energy Policy
2013;52:70615.
[102] Yang S, Shipworth M, Huebner G. His hers or both's? The role of male and
female's attitudes in explaining their home energy use behaviours Energy
Build 2015;96:1408.
[103] Webb D, Soutar GN, Mazzarol T, Saldaris P. Self-determination theory and
consumer behavioural change: evidence from a household energy-saving
behaviour study. J Environ Psychol 2013;35:5966.
[104] Mohamed AM, Al-Habaibeh A, Abdo H, Elabar S. Towards exporting renew-
able energy from MENA region to Europe: an investigation into domestic
energy use and householders energy behaviour in Libya. Appl Energy
2015;146:24762.
[105] Hiller C. Factors inuencing residents energy useA study of energy-related
behaviour in 57 Swedish homes. Energy Build 2015;87:24352.
[106] Botetzagias I, Malesios C, Poulou D. Electricity curtailment behaviors in Greek
households: different behaviors, different predictors. Energy Policy
2014;69:41524.
[107] Dwyer PC, Maki A, Rothman AJ. Promoting energy conservation behavior in
public settings: the inuence of social norms and personal responsibility. J
Environ Psychol 2015;41:304.
 K. Zhou, S. Yang / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 56 (2016) 810819
[108] Boudet H, Ardoin NM, Flora J, Armel KC, Desai M, Robinson TN. Energy
behaviours of northern California Girl Scouts and their families. Energy
Policy 2014;73:43949.
[109] Mi L, Nie R, Li H, Li X. Empirical research of social norms affecting urban
residents low carbon energy consumption behavior. Energy Proc
2011;5:22934.
[110] Jain RK, Gulbinas R, Taylor JE, Culligan PJ. Can social inuence drive energy
savings? Detecting the impact of social inuence on the energy consumption
behavior of networked users exposed to normative eco-feedback
Energy Build 2013;66:11927.
[111] Matsui K, Ochiai H, Yamagata Y. Feedback on electricity usage for home
energy management: a social experiment in a local village of cold region.
Appl Energy 2014;120:15968.
[112] Jain RK, Taylor JE, Culligan PJ. Investigating the impact eco-feedback infor-
mation representation has on building occupant energy consumption beha-
vior and savings. Energy Build 2013;64:40814.
[113] Revell K. Estimating the environmental impact of home energy visits and
extent of behaviour change. Energy Policy 2014;73:46170.
[114] Kobus CB, Klaassen EA, Mugge R, Schoormans JP. A real-life assessment on
the effect of smart appliances for shifting households electricity demand.
Appl Energy 2015;147:33543.
[115] O'Sullivan KC, Viggers HE, Howden-Chapman PL. The inuence of electricity
prepayment meter use on household energy behaviour. Sustain Cities Soc
2014;13:18291.
[116] Valkila N, Saari A. Attitudebehaviour gap in energy issues: case study of
three different Finnish residential areas. Energy Sustain Dev 2013;17:2434.
[117] Loock C-M, Landwehr JR, Staake T, Fleisch E, Pentland AS. The inuence of
reference frame and population density on the effectiveness of social nor-
mative feedback on electricity consumption. In: Proceedings of the thirty
third international conference on information systems. Orlando; 2012. p. 1
17.
819
[118] Wilson B. Urban form and residential electricity consumption: evidence from
Illinois, USA. Landsc Urban Plan 2013;115:6271.
[119] Mizobuchi K, Takeuchi K. The inuences of nancial and non-nancial factors
on energy-saving behaviour: a eld experiment in Japan. Energy Policy
2013;63:77587.
[120] Samuelson CD, Biek M. Attitudes toward energy conservation: a conrmatory
factor analysis1. J Appl Soc Psychol 1991;21:54968.
[121] Becker LJ, Seligman C, Fazio RH, Darley JM. Relating attitudes to residential
energy use. Environ Behav 1981;13:590609.
[122] Pedersen LH. The dynamics of green consumption: a matter of visibility? J
Environ Policy Plan 2000;2:193210.
[123] Steg L, Groot J. Explaining prosocial intentions: testing causal relationships in
the norm activation model. Br J Soc Psychol 2010;49:72543.
[124] Yohanis YG, Mondol JD, Wright A, Norton B. Real-life energy use in the UK:
how occupancy and dwelling characteristics affect domestic electricity use.
Energy Build 2008;40:10539.
[125] Aldossary NA, Rezgui Y, Kwan A. Domestic energy consumption patterns in a
hot and humid climate: a multiple-case study analysis. Appl Energy
2014;114:35365.
[126] Kim J-H, Shcherbakova A. Common failures of demand response. Energy
2011;36:87380.
[127] Gupta R, Gupta H, Mohania M. Cloud computing and big data analytics: what
is new from databases perspective? big data analytics. Berlin: Springer; 2012.
p. 4261.
[128] McAfee A, Brynjolfsson E. Big data: the management revolution. Harvard Bus
Rev 2012;606(8):128.
[129] Madden S. From databases to big data. IEEE Internet Comput 2012;16:46.
[130] Dunne T. Big data, analytics, and energy consumption. The Lavastorm Blog.
http://www.lavastorm.com/blog/post/big-data-analytics-and-energy-con
sumption/; 2012.