Households, Energy and Mobility

• The heat transition: technological decisions, funding, advice and implementation
• Information, expectations and behavioural barriers relating to energy consumption and investment decisions
• Targeted investment incentives to complement CO₂ pricing, taking into account different household circumstances
• Mobility decisions and the cross-market and spatial effects of transport policy
   

The research focus area ‘Households, Energy and Mobility’ explores in depth research into investment decisions, energy consumption and mobility behaviour among private households. The focus is on the interplay between prices, subsidies and regulation, on the one hand, and information, expectations and behavioural barriers, on the other.

A key topic is the heating transition. The aim is to investigate how energy prices, subsidies and regulation influence the choice of new heating technologies and the replacement of existing systems. Using structural models, the evaluation of different subsidy levels and conditions will be examined in depth and compared with price-based instruments. As uncertainty and asymmetric information play a significant role in the heating market, the role of experts in the heating transition will also be examined. Using our own surveys of experts, we aim to investigate the extent to which recommendations for households’ technology choices vary, and what factors account for these differences. To this end, administrative subsidy data and official household and building data will be combined with our own surveys and survey experiments.

In addition, the supply side of the heating transition will be examined. The focus will be on the qualifications and capacities of the heating installation trade, as well as its adaptation to new heating technologies. In the planned collaboration with the Institute for Employment Research, company and employee data, as well as job advertisements, will be used to identify changing qualification requirements, further training needs and operational adjustments.
A further focus is on the consequences of differing perceptions and assessments of investment costs and future energy savings. Building on the work on solar energy and heating technologies, the study will examine how these differences interact with income, building characteristics and opportunities for emissions reduction. The focus is on the implications for the effectiveness of price incentives and the costs of climate protection. Consideration will be given to knock-on effects on energy and CO₂ prices and, consequently, on other households and businesses. The aim is to determine under what conditions targeted investment incentives can usefully complement CO₂ pricing and enable given climate targets to be achieved more cost-effectively.

Another key focus is on the decarbonisation of the transport sector. Building on research into mode choice and mobility behaviour, the aim is, in particular, to take greater account of the indirect effects of climate policy measures across markets and geographical boundaries. For example, the research examines how the expansion of charging infrastructure or local public transport affects the population’s mobility behaviour and car ownership, both in the immediate vicinity and in neighbouring neighbourhoods and regions. Furthermore, impacts on adjacent markets, such as the property and electricity markets, are analysed. Such indirect effects are often overlooked in conventional analyses.

Methodologically, causal and econometric policy evaluation and survey experiments are combined with structural decision-making and equilibrium models. This enables differences between households and market reactions to be captured collectively, and their significance for the effectiveness of climate policy measures to be assessed.