Contextualizing the green gap: Public concerns, energy preferences, and energy consumption in Europe.

This project is focusing on two themes: (i) the interrelated problems of climate change and energy security, and (ii) the complex relationships between environmental attitudes and environmentally friendly behavior. The first theme relates to the question of how European citizens perceive the problems of climate change and energy security. The second theme relates to the question if and how concerns about climate change and energy security translate into more sustainable energy preferences and a more sustainable usage of energy. To address these questions, the project uses a novel combination of data based on the module 'Public Attitudes to Climate Change' of the eighth wave of the European Social Survey as well as the national Household Budget Surveys. By doing so this interdisciplinary project offers a much needed social-scientific perspective on the relationships between energy security and climate change, thereby combining (a) a sociological and a socio-economic perspective and (b) integrating micro and macro approaches when looking for synergies and trade-offs between energy security and climate change policies in different countries across Europe.

Keywords:ENERGY CONSUMPTION, ENERGY USE, CLIMATE, ENVIRONMENTAL BEHAVIOUR

Disciplines:Econometric and statistical methods and methodology, Household behaviour and family organisations, Environmental sociology