From a general perspective, sufficiency is seen as the balance between nature and society. It is a safe state in which everyone can satisfy their fundamental needs without harming the environmental limits. Since the fundamental needs could be defined and fulfilled in different ways, exploring the alternative ways to satisfy the existing needs of individuals could pave the way to introduce sufficiency as a lifestyle.
From a more specific point of view, energy sufficiency is defined as: “… a strategy aiming at a limitation and reduction of the input of technically supplied energy towards a sustainable level”. According to this definition, energy sufficiency is not a state but a process that implies that energy sufficiency options exist that can be supported by policies. A high reduction potential lies in the building and transport sectors, as major contributors to the CO2 emissions, which are strongly dependent on the behavior and decisions at an individual level. Thus promoting energy sufficiency in these sectors could play an important role in reaching climate neutrality.
This research aims at analyzing the consumption patterns of individuals and identifying the potential for introducing a sufficient lifestyle in the field of housing. Sufficiency as a lifestyle could be practiced and could have influences in different areas. For example increasing the number of shared rooms in multi-family buildings could result in reducing the space needed for individual flats. Similarly, by reducing the use of private cars and consequently the areas allocated to them, more space could be available for greeneries and urban spaces could be designed more environmental-friendly. Likewise, informing individuals and motivating them to reduce their water consumption would be a great help in the countries with water scarcity. This project will address the growing importance of “sufficiency” by analyzing the energy service demand in the field of housing from a behavioral point of view. The future of consumption of the defined representative households will be analyzed through a foresight workshop in which existing expertise from the institute will be used by engaging researchers from different disciplines.
from July 2022 to February 2024
Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research ISI